Dear Readers,
No doubt you’ve heard about the earthquake in Haiti.
And if you’re a news junkie like me then you’ve heard about what Pat Robertson said about the earthquake in Haiti.
If you haven’t heard, Pat Robertson said that he thought that God caused the earthquake because a long time ago when the Haitians were under French rule, the Haitians made a pact with Satan so that they could get their Independence. According to Pat, Satan, who is always willing to lend his goat-ish hoof to sinners, gave these people independence as long as the Haitians kept doing voodoo and kept sinning a lot. Now about 200 years later, God is punishing the Haitians for making that pact with the Devil.
Well, I don’t want to defend Pat Robertson too much, but I do want to defend him a little bit.
First, though, let me make it clear that I don’t believe in Pat Robertson’s version of Christianity, so he has no real authority over me. I don’t accept the man as a prophet. Also, I don’t know much about him. There are accusations that he misuses the funds that believers give to him, and I wouldn’t doubt that those accusations are valid. But I do recognize Pat Robertson as a spokesman for Christianity and for conservative values, so that’s why I feel like I should defend him a little bit.
Plus I’m bored and I like arguing with no one and sorting out my thoughts on my blog.
What Pat Robertson did, and what some people are so mad about, is he brought up the uncomfortable idea that people get punished now and then by God for being wicked. And that’s true. Natural disasters come from God because people are wicked. That’s what I believe. We’ve read about it in the Scriptures, and we’ve been seeing the wicked get punished as history marches on.
But the righteous get punished, too, you know, God sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)
Editor’s Note: I was going to fully develop this, and get long-winded and preachy and philosophical, but I really should go do something more productive, so I’ll just post the scraps of thoughts about the earthquake in Haiti I have here and leave it at that. And I’ll number the scraps of thoughts, since numbering them creates the illusion of conceptual cohesion.
1. Once again, I’m glad to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I’m glad to hear that the Church has sent over a whole bunch of food, water, rescue workers, hygiene kits and stuff like that.
2. I wonder if part of God’s plan is like, “I’ll knock ‘em down, you set them up.” God destroys an area with a famine or a flood or a war, and then people are compelled to be humbled, and they repent in sackcloth and ashes, and then the LDS missionaries move in, and then POOF! now we have Happy Mormon Land, formerly known as Haiti.
3. It’s like the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon.
4. Punishing children for the sins of the parents… Third and fourth generation of them that hate me… the supposed deal with the devil happened about two hundred years ago… his blood be on us, and on our children… I hope my ancestors didn’t make any deals with the devil that I don’t know about… ha ha ha
5. Pat Robertson didn’t pull the deal with the devil stuff out of nowhere, though. I think a lot of people in Haiti have heard about the deal with the devil or believe in it. I read about all the voodoo stuff that went on in the Revolution in a book I had to read for my Colonial and Postcolonial Literatures class called The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier
6. We ought to give the Haitians food, water, shelter, clothing, try our best to rescue them from the rubble.
7. But I’m afraid of some of the backlash against Pat Robertson is bad… and I’m sure that his comments will be used for a long time by anti-Christian people who will say, “See, Christians love it when the people they call “wicked” suffer! They’re all about death and destruction!!!
8. We’re so afraid to attribute stuff like earthquakes to the wrath of God for fear of looking like religious freaks.
9. God works in mysterious ways.
Sincerely,
Telemoonfa
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1 comment:
And I’ll number the scraps of thoughts, since numbering them creates the illusion of conceptual cohesion.
I don't think it was good for Pat Robertson to say that. I mean he's human, and he can say what he wants. but I think it was mean for him to say that.
Even if somebody deserves God's Wrath, even if its a million people that deserve God's wrath, its still not fun when it happens.
The Earthquake killed a whole bunch of people.
Death is sad.
The death of "sinners" is sad too.
And Jesus will Forgive whom he'll forgive, but of you it is required to forgive seventy times seven.
I'm sure Jesus says that somewhere.
So Mr. Pat should forgive the Haitians for causing an earthquake. (there's a character in Alice in Wonderland who's named Pat the Pig)
The book of Leviticus is my favorite book ever.
but I'm really liking the Koran
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