Phil Robertson, the star of the hit A&E show Duck Dynasty, once again finds himself at the heart of controversy. This time, Robertson joined the Sean Hannity to discuss his new book. However, this discussion quickly turned into a discussion about Robertson’s view of ISIS as Hannity asked Robertson how he would respond.
Citing passages from 1 John and Proverbs 8, Robertson declared that there were only two possible responses to ISIS: convert them or kill them. This response, while not necessarily surprising given his previous statements, reveals a major flaw in Robertson’s theology. He tends to want to create false dichotomies. He will make a statement that is black and white, when what the Bible actually has to say about certain topics is not always black and white.
In this case, Robertson quotes 1 John 5 when the author refers to two types of people–“the children of God” or the “evil one”. He implies that the “evil one” is ISIS, and that they should be killed. While the Bible certainly hinges on themes of justice, Robertson commits a major flaw in biblical interpretation: cherry-picking versus and interpreting them outside of their given context. In this case, the author of 1 John 5 is actually referring to divisions within the church and not muslims at all.
Furthermore, Robertson ignores several other passages that would contradict his message that ISIS should converted or killed. For instance, Jesus tells his disciples to love his enemies in Luke 6. Ignoring other integral teachings of Jesus while cherry-picking a few versus out of context is what should make Phil Robertson an irrelevant voice.