Over the course of his life, Pat Robertson has said an awful lot of things that have been very hurtful to people.
One of the primary leaders of the Christian right, he’s taken mighty swings at all the usual suspects, including homosexuality, feminism, abortion, pornography and liberal professors. He advocates something called Christian Dominionism—that society should be governed by the word of God (Bible)-- worked for a spell as a faith healer, tried to become President of the United States back in 1988 and each year shares with the world some prophetic truths that God had revealed to him, such as the end of the world back in 1982.
A wealthy and powerful man, Robertson often makes his proclamations from his TV show The 700 club. It was from this platform, that when discussing the tragic earthquake in Haiti, he posited that the disaster could be the consequence of a pact with the devil that the people of the island made in the 18th century in order to secure their liberty from French slave owners.
This is the clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5nraknWoes
Pat Robertson is a very easy target. Morally and culturally imperious, he projects an indoctrinated view of Christianity out into the world, one that seems to champion intolerance rather than acceptance. It’s kind of scary, and liberal secular humanists just about go bananas whenever he opens his mouth. And his comments on Haiti, of course, were no exception.
When I watched the clip-- which must have been posted by a dozen different people on my Facebook page-- I saw somebody’s aging grandfather. Nearly 80, Robertson seemed like somebody who had some very old-fashioned beliefs, and some very old-fashioned ways of expressing those beliefs. He didn’t seem evil to me, just lost in time and culture. He was trying to make sense of a natural catastrophe in the only way (biblical) that made any sense to his antiquated worldview.
And yes, of course it seems absurd and insulting to those living in the modern world, but he wasn’t waving his arms about telling people not to help Haiti, that this was their just deserts. No, he was imploring his constituents to donate money to the nation. He was actually doing more—in some very simple and very complicated ways-- to help the people in Haiti, than you or I likely ever will.
And so, even those who fear and loath Pat Robertson, have to concede that yes, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Mighty Terry:
It all feels terribly complicated, but I think that the presiding ethos is that we should hate the sin, but love the sinner. All the same, if the universe if predisposed to a moral order, then shouldn't we recognize and act upon that which is, well, evil? We will never truly understand the forces that shape a person and guide them to the decisions they make, and in that regard we must not judge them, but sometimes we have an obligation to stand against their actions.
Or something like that.
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ie: <b>bold</b>
Good article. It's important to strip away the media hype since Fundamental Christians are an easy target.
However, a fundamental belief I hold is that judgment is not something that God wants humans to do. In fact, God doesn't even do it. I remember reading somewhere in the Bible that at the end of the ages God will send out his angels to judge who will be gathered and brought home to eternity with God. So, it does not make sense for anyone to make judgment statements.....am I judging by saying this? I'm sure glad God does not judge me until the end!