It seems that for the past few years, Pat Robertson has repeatedly made big news for his colorful and sometimes bizarre comments. His most recent comment was about Haiti’s latest earthquake tragedy. I thought I would weight in on Robertson’s comments, and briefly discuss it.
What Did Pat Robertson Say About the Haiti Earthquake Exactly?
Pat basically told a story about how the Haiti people swore a “deal with the devil” some years ago during their struggle with the French. He then goes on to say that they have dealt with curse after curse, and that we need to pray for them. The full video is below from Youtube:
First of all, I do agree with a great many people that Pat should not have said those comments during such a tragedy. While it may be true that Haiti has dealt with lots of tragedies, and perhaps even made a “deal” in some historical event hundreds of years ago, it is pointless to try and blame every tragedy on some “pact” that may have happened in the past.
After all, good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to good people. The book of Job shows us that sometimes tragedies have nothing to do with a sin or “bad person or country.” Sometimes tragedies happen randomly while God’s will is passively being fulfilled. Whether or not something good or bad happens sometimes has nothing to do with what your beliefs are, or whether or not a country or person is “righteous.” Therefore, I feel we shouldn’t go out of our way to try and analyze any particular event to determine whether or not it was caused by God’s active will, or passive will. Let us all find comfort that God has a will, trust in that, and leave it at that.
So I do think Pat should not have brought that up at this time of devastation. Yes, some Haiti people practice an odd blend of Voodoo and Christianity, but nonetheless, we shouldn’t be focusing on that. The important thing right now is to help those who are suffering, regardless of their past or beliefs. Again, it is impossible to know the mind of God on any number of events that may transpire daily. And both good and bad people are experiencing terrible mental stress, pain, and worse. So let us focus on that.
However, before we throw him on the cross to crucify him (like most secular news organizations are doing), I think we need to be realistic and realize that this is a 79 year old man, who was speaking from him opinions on a country from a historical & religious perspective, on a show that provides sole commentary from a religious perspective. Again, 79 YEARS OLD, people!
I’ll bet if leading atheist Richard Dawkins came out at age 79 and said he believed in God, this is what would happen: the atheists would immediatly say, “Oh, that is just because his mind isn’t as good and he is old now, don’t pay him attention.” And don’t think they wouldn’t do that, because they used the same arguments when former atheist Anthony Flew turned theist. But yet, a 79 year old Christian says something in bad timing, and they jump him like a hyena on a dying animal (or like Obama on a bad healthcare policy).
Also, let us not forget the fact that towards the end of the video (which many people are not showing on their news station of course), Pat does come in their defense and says we need to pray and also help all of the suffering individuals down there. So it isn’t like he just bashed Haiti in a cruel way and left it at that. He simply gave his opinion on perhaps why the tragedy happened, and then said regardless we need to help and pray.
So to summarize, Pat should not have brought up their “deal with the devil” thing, of course. It was bad timing, and lacked some taste. However, on the other hand, I don’t think this 79 year old man deserves to be bashed with such extreme measures considering some of the great work he has done for others, and ( is presumably going to do) to help the Haiti people. Especially given the fact that immediately after the comments he says we need to pray and help them all.
So that’s my 2 cents.
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This post was written by Revelation on January 15, 2010
