This is what the article said Pat Robertson said:
"Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.'
"And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have -- and we need to pray for them -- a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now, we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable."
Okay, now I'm not going to say I agree and believe what he said. I never looked into the history of Haiti and checked with the people to see what went on back then. When people say things like this, and it's not founded in the Bible and solidly true, I take it with a grain of salt. However, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and simply focus on the other parts of what he said, in relation to what people replied. Starting with this quote from the article:
Let's leave aside questions about the veracity of the story -- and there are many. (For instance: Did anything like what Robertson describes actually happen? If it did, was the ceremony dedicated to the deities of the traditional Haitian religion, not Christianity's devil?)
More importantly let's focus on the part I underlined. I feel like this is simply a jab at Christianity, as if to say "Which devil, YOUR devil, since people believe things differently from you, don't assume everyone believes like you do, Pat!" Maybe it's because I grew up in a hostile environment where I was daily beat and rejected and attacked because of my faith. Mostly I'll give it to the fact of discerning people and their words (not saying they consciously meant that, but hey, perhaps subconsciously without realizing it, like so many people do)!
Anyway, let me answer that question: It doesn't matter whether the ceremony was dedicated to the deities of the traditional Haitian religion, or Christianity's devil. Even bowing down to false gods which are supposedly good (or if they did it to their own version of devil), it is still one and the same: the devil. The devil uses idolatry galore to get hold of people. One of the BEST sayings I've heard in my life, is this, "The best trick the devil pulls on people, is to make them believe he doesn't exist." Heck, if the devil doesn't exist in someone's eyes, then he can hide behind anything and mess with that person to his heart's content. And the person won't even fight back because hey, the enemy doesn't even exist! Or it's like a bar fight where Guy A pushes Guy B into Guy C, and Guy C believes that Guy B is the responsible one and fights Guy B! So Guy A gets off the hook so he can do as he pleases.
Moving on . . .
Before getting into the responses let me first make my stance known. I honestly see nothing wrong with what Pat Robertson said. Now I hardly ever believe anything he says. Even growing up, I sensed something with Pat Robertson and I'll be honest: I kinda don't like the guy! I don't hate him or anything, and I love him as a brother, but I don't side with him on his words or generally agree with him on many things . . . . I really don't pay much attention to what he says. However, I see nothing wrong with what he said! Whether I agree or not isn't important, but I feel what he said had no ill-will toward the Haitians or anything of the sort. Where people are reading into his words to say he was saying something like "The Haitians deserve this! They made a pact with the devil and God is punishing them!" is beyond me. He merely said (highly summarized) they made a pact with the devil, and since then they've been having trouble, and that we need to pray they turn to God, and that they were helping the poor people.
Now unless the quote from the article is missing some major pieces, I don't see where he's saying God was judging them through these earthquakes. I see it nowhere . . . Maybe I'm just not reading INTO his words to suit my dislike of Pat Robertson like others may be doing, but hey I try my hardest to remain fair and unbiased, despite how I feel about the guy.
Anyways, let's get onto the quotes again. This is a quote from the article, one of the responses to Pat's words:
"God is ultimately responsible for the earthquake in Haiti and has a reason that is beyond our ability, trapped in time, to understand or comprehend. But it would be theological ignorance coupled with absolute arrogance to try and interpret God's actions as a judgment against a particular person or nation." -- Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, for Newsweek.
Tsk tsk tsk, Dr. To you I say Tsk! You being in a leadership role in the Baptist church, do not know enough to reply with wisdom? Okay, let me say this: God is NOT "responsible" for the earthquake in Haiti. Again, does everyone forget that **GASP!** There is a devil out there that actually does things?! Apparently this one is being tricked into forgetting about the devil (that is, if the quote actually represents what this person said without editing--which would be a surprise considering this is the news media)
The devil does a lot of things in this world. However, even so, not everything is a result of "the devil did it." Does everyone also forget that we live in a sin-cursed world? A world with laws that God set into effect, such as the very laws of Cause and Effect? Sicknesses, Diseases, Natural Disasters . . . these are the products of what happens when SIN and DEATH are introduced into the world, through Adam's (Adam and Eve, Genesis 1-4) rebellion . . . all creation groans and travails as a result (Romans 8:22)! Some things are a cause of the devil, yet not everything is. However still, God does not set His Hand to harm creation (at least not until the time of necessary judgment, which will be upon the whole world, not individual nations and such).
There are wages for our actions, as well. Effects to our causes. You can push a ball and God does not have to see it and say "Okay, Ball, roll." The ball will roll because of what God has set as a Physical Law! That would be like me writing a computer program and each time someone uses that program I go and manually generate the results. NO! I made the program to generate the results without having to manually do it!
So, there are things that happen as a result of our actions. And we cannot blame God, nor even the devil, for our own action-related consequences. So if the story of making a pact with the devil is true, is God punishing them? No. God doesn't have to punish them, they brought punishment upon themselves in the same way that if I were to jump off a 20-story building, I brought death upon myself and cannot blame God for killing me or letting me die.Nor can I say "The devil killed me!" At most the devil influenced me to do it, but I was the one who made the choice. (This is not talking about those in bondage to the devil and possessed and such.)
Let's go to the next one:
"Nevertheless, one thing I do know: The Christianity of Robertson and those who are quick to blame tragedy on some angry, vengeful God is a Christianity which I, following Hatuey's lead, reject and want no part of whatsoever." -- Miguel A. De La Torre, director of the Justice & Peace Institute and associate professor of social ethics at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, for the website EthicsDaily.com.
Then I think you need to read Revelation and what will happen. You also need to read Romans 12:19 where it says that Vengeance is GOD'S and that GOD WILL REPAY.
God is definitely a loving God. However, God is also a righteous God, and a JUST God . . . Which means that He is a fair God and must judge fairly. Therefore, vengeance will happen. Otherwise God would not be just at all! Imagine a judge in the legal system who sees a serial murderer and says, "You're sentenced to the death penalty for 12 counts of 1st degree murder." Then he sees a serial rapist and says, "Ehhh . . . you can go. All charges are expunged." What would you call a judge like that? Unjust, right? You'd want that judge out of office and probably even in jail himself! What if the judge expunged all of those he saw? Would he be just? Not at all!
God is the same. He is a just and fair judge. He set certain laws in place (such as Romans 6:23), and if He didn't judge righteously according to them, then He would be unfair, wouldn't you say? God IS fair. And because He's also loving, He make a way OUT of the judgment, through Jesus Christ who basically took the place for us and paid the price for us. However, God being a loving God, doesn't force His gift of being pardoned through Jesus' sacrifice on anyone. He offers it, and people must take it if they want.
Think on that for a while before moving on. . .
Next one:
"The alleged 1791 Haitian pact with the devil would put our Father on the side of slavery and Satan on the side of those seeking freedom. The reverse is actually the case. Satan is a "murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44), a thief who "comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10) and seeks to make us "slaves to sin" (Rom. 6:17). Satan enslaves. God liberates." -- Jim Denison, president of the Center for Informed Faith and theologian-in-residence for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, from the first of three special opinion pieces about this topic he's writing for the Associated Baptist Press.
Why would it put God on the side of Slavery? Because they didn't turn to God to free them, but to the devil, while God stood by and let them remain slaves? **Sigh** Seriously, is the church really this ignorant of Biblical Truths?! It pains me when I think about the ignorance, and it's no wonder why Real Christianity is slipping away and becoming so painfully compromised that it's becoming a brittle lava rock full of holes that it can't stand up to the pressures and questions brought by the rest of the world!
There's not much more I can say on that quote, because if you read up to this part of this blog, you'll have already run into the answer. We live in a sin-cursed world with cause and effect laws in place. God will not force His helping Hand on the world either. He will hold it out and in essence say "Come with Me if you want to live." But it's up to the people to actually take God's hand.
And one last observation:
"Out of all the things you could draw on from your religion to bring comfort to a devastated people and region? Look how big your book is! 'The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those who are crushed in spirit. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. From the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.'
"That almost sounds like it's about a ... earthquake!" [Stewart on The Daily Show]
It's a shame that it takes someone who (I believe) isn't even a Christian, to bring things to light about what the Bible says. Indeed, God reaches out His hand to pull people out of those things . . . . if only they will take His hand!
In the end, I find the replies to Pat Robertson's alleged quote (since I'm, again, trusting the article to have quoted him correctly), to be disheartening. Whether the story Pat Robertson gave is true or not is beside the point. The point is . . . through some reason or another, people automatically assume he said God was causing the earthquakes as some sort of judgment, while ignoring the fact that we live in a sin-cursed world that doesn't need God to cause the trouble---the world get's in enough trouble all by itself!
See you all later,
In Christ,
Michael
