Haiti and Pat Robertson
This was spoken by a Haitian citizen:
"It's [the earthquake is] a catastrophe and it is
God who has put this upon us," said Jean-Andre Noel, 39, a computer technician.
(From
Tampa Bay Online, January 17, 2010)
I do not know if God was behind the earthquake in Haiti (if He was, I don't know what His reasons were; I can only theorize).
I don't know if Satan was behind the Haitian earthquake, or if it was simply nature being permitted to take its course.
I'm not dogmatic about who or what caused the Haitian earthquake.
What annoys me is that so many other Christians are being pretty dogmatic about it, and that they are doing so in contra to Robertson's
implied position, and his implied position is, in my view, entirely biblical.
I certainly do not agree with some of Robertson's views on some topics, but I do think he is being treated unfairly in this controversy.
The God of the Bible is a God of love and mercy, and He is willing to forgive the repentant, true enough. However, God still hates sin, and He still judges it.
I don't care for overly judgmental, unloving Pharisees or legalistic types myself, but I also find myself frustrated with Christians who are overly "lovey-dovey" and entirely too (easily) dismissive of God's wrath, fury, and anger.
And in the context of this latest Robertson fiasco, I'm seeing the overly lovey dovey ones come out of the wood work in droves, all over the web and on TV shows.
tinytim said:
Anyone that has any reasoning skills can come to the same conclusion that Barney Fife had with Ernest Bass...
"That guy's a nut!"
Have you ever heard of the genetic fallacy?
Or the expression that even a broken clock is right twice a day?
tinytim said:
Which hurricane did Pat turn away with his magical prayers?
"Magical?"
You make it sound as though petitioning God is of the occult.
Far from being occultic, prayer is sanctioned in Scriptures, and we are encouraged to approach God with any and all our needs and requests.
JTornado1 said:
Pat Robertson is known for saying bizarre and ridiculous things.
That is true.
However, part of the problem is a lot of people, even Christians, took Robertson's words regarding the Haitian earthquake out of context, misquoted him, and / or read things into them that were not there, and they keep doing this,
even now.
All one has to do is look up the transcript online to see what the man
actually said and not what the atheistic, secular, liberal humanists
think he said.
I expect the Non-Christians to jump all over Robertson for something like this, but to see so many Christians do so is unsettling and a disappointment.
tinytim said:
Mmmm hmmm... God punished them {Roll eyes}
How do you know God did not?
Why are so many Christians so uncomfortable with the fact that God has, and will again (see the book of Revelation), use natural disasters to judge unrepentant sinners, and that this
might have been the case with the Haitian earthquake?
(By the way, if you look at the book of Revelation, it is recorded that in the end times, God will have angels wreck havoc on the natural order, and God will
not send prophets beforehand to warn the people in each and every case.
God did not even technically have to do so with the Hebrews, since He already told them from the start if they broke the covenant, He would send judgment on them. The Israelites already knew there would be penalties if they sinned.)
The nation of Haiti is heavily steeped in voo-doo and has been for many years.
I just saw a news segment last night on Fox cable news where a reporter mentioned that Haitians have turned to voo-doo to calm their nerves.
The Fox network then showed recently filmed video of a local Haitian man engaging in a voo doo ritual: spitting rum (or some kind of liquid) in the air to calm the angry spirits.
I do not think it heartless, unorthodox, or unbiblical to wonder if, or to suggest, that the earthquake may have been divine retribution over the Haitians' pagan (ultimately what we know to be
demonic) religion, or over their high crime rate (many Haitians are involved in drug running, and they mug and kill one another).
If not retribution or punishment per se, maybe the earthquake was a "wake up call" by God to the Haitian people.
At the very least, voo doo is a form of idolatry, and God will not bless or protect anyone who engages in whole scale, chronic paganism.
You'll notice God did not tolerate idolatry from His chosen people. He allowed the lapsed Israelites to be carried off in captivity, endure famine, or suffer defeat in war.
What makes anyone think God would let Haiti, or any other nation, off the hook for the same sins?
Is it because this is the year 2010 and divine punishment seems "old fashioned" to us?
God says in the Bible that His character does not change. If God didn't approve of idolatry 5,000 years ago, He's not going to be any more tolerant of it now.
The Bible says that physical death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person: spiritual death is more serious.
Jesus told people if their hand caused them to sin, to cut if off, for it would be better to enter the kingdom handless than to burn in hell with two hands.
Jesus also said not to fear one who could kill the body, but rather to fear the one who could kill
both body and soul.
Christian missionaries have been in Haiti for years now, so I would think by now more than a few Haitians have heard the Gospel.
Just because there was a handful of godly, Christian people (including American ones) when the earthquake struck does not negate the possibility that it could've been divine judgment.
The rain falls on the just and the unjust, etc.
The Bible makes it clear that good people are not always going to be immune from tribulation, even the same tribulation that falls on the bad.
tinytim said:
Well, here is one conservative pastor who thinks it is ridiculous to think a person can know what God is thinking. And I think PR is a heretic idiot who happens to be a false prophet... He preaches the heretical prosperity false gospel.. thinks he can heal people.. and makes predictions like a new age prophet...
PR does not speak for Christians...
He is a preacher from Hell!
Robertson himself is a conservative, especially on social issues: he frequently speaks out against abortion and the legalization of homosexual marriage in the United States, for example.
Robertson does not agree with liberals, whether of the political stripe, or the religious variety (e.g., Christian liberals who run around telling us that the Bible is filled with error).
Regarding this comment:
"[Robertson] thinks he can heal people"
What is out of bounds with that?
Believers were given authority to heal in the name of Jesus. After Jesus ascended, the apostles went about healing the lame and the blind in His name.
Is your ridicule merely because the guy offers prayers over the TV set for healing?
God is not limited or bound by physical dimension
just because we are.
You don't have to be seated right next to someone to ask God to heal that person.
The Roman soldier got Jesus to heal his servant, and told Jesus he did not need Jesus physically present at his house to do the healing.
The Roman believed if Jesus just gave the word on the spot that his servant, who was back home, probably miles away, would be healed - and he was.
EDITED to add:
tinytim said:
Well, here is one conservative pastor who thinks it is ridiculous to think a person can know what God is thinking.
What a strange comment. We can know, to an extent what "God thinks" about some topics, since God plainly spells out for us in the Scriptures what He thinks!
God even tells us what He wants us to think about some issues.
Even when the Bible is not "black and white" or clear-cut on a topic, we can still derive at an educated guess of what God thinks, based upon other Bible precepts.
For example:
The Bible does not specifically mention "Playboy" magazine, but based upon Jesus' admonishment that to look upon a person in lust is considered to be just as bad as adultery, I think we can safely arrive at the conclusion that God does not condone "Playboy" magazine.