Could someone give Mr. Robertson a time-out?!?

And here's to you, Mr. Robertson
Jesus loves THEM more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God help you please, Mr. Robertson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

First, my apologies to Simon and Garfunkle for associating their inspired (it's no Zephaniah 2:4, but it's good) music with the subject of this rant.

 Dear Rev. Robertson,

Maybe you think you are helping. Maybe you think that you are doing and saying the things that God wants you to say. Please stop. Thanks for all your help, but I think we can handle it from here. You are entitled to your opinions, no matter how inappropriate they are, just don’t say them around a microphone, near a reporter, into the phone, or anywhere else someone might accidentally hear you. I tend to be a live and let live kind of person, but you are making my job all the harder and I think it is way past time for someone to speak up.

 To presume to speak for God is something that is best left to God. I am cautious to point this out lest I fall into the same position of passing the judgment of God on someone else, let me just point out where I think God might be coming from on a few of these topics and see which makes more sense.

 Today it dealt with Mr. Sharon, and suggesting that a stroke might have something to do with “dividing God’s land”. In the past it has been “taking out” world leaders and a plethora of “just desserts” comments regarding 9/11, and hurricanes at Disney and

Bourbon   Street

, just to rattle off a few off the top of my head. I always believed with age came wisdom, but you seem to have a very sophomoric grasp of the nature of God. 

 First of all, it’s the

Holy Land

, not because it belongs to God and we have to protect it, but because it was a gift from Him. I would imagine that God is more interested in HOW we live in it than WHO lives in it.  Do you really think God cares more about a strip of dirt than all the people who live there? That brings me to my second point, and that is we are ALL God’s children. We might not have all realized it yet, but God has. We are all his children, and I suppose that is why we act so childishly. But we are expected to grow up, to learn the lessons of life, to experience all the gifts that God has given us, and hopefully, if we so choose, when our faith is mature, to follow in the footsteps of our heavenly father. It’s just too bad so many never choose to grow up. 

 Your comments of the past seem always to deal with judgment. Judgment is real, yes, but it is not the whole message and definitely not the most important part of the story. To live by judgment, especially trying to interpret Divine Judgment is a very childlike mistake. It is the mistake that has the world in the mess it is in today. The argument goes “good things happen to us so god likes us and bad things happen to them because god doesn’t like them.” I don’t think I have heard that said out loud since the playground in 1^st grade. If trouble in your life causes personal reflection and a commitment to live life better, great, but to suggest that God goes about using natural disasters to inflict punishment is stone-age thinking and not worthy of being taken seriously. A father does not treat his children in that manner, at least not our Heavenly one. 

 The message, Mr. Robertson, is grace. It is not about getting what one deserves, it’s about pardon and mercy. If you want to speak of judgment, than so be it, but you must also live by that judgment. Or, would you rather grow up, and realize that life is about grace. That the entire universe is God’s Land, and it is a gift from Him to us. I am not big into all the “What Would Jesus Do?” t-shirts, hats and wristbands, but I am pretty sure, that looking back over the stands you have been taking lately, there isn’t too much that you have said that would ever have come out of his mouth. Jesus said, “Love one another” and your mom used to tell you to “play nice”. Same advice, take whichever one you understand better.

 Well, I started with Paul and Art, I will close with a little Harry Chapin. . . .

 “Now if a man tries, to take his time on Earth, and prove before he dies, what one man’s life could be worth, well I wonder what would happen to this world. . . . .”

Comments

[the big fat fib]

from the NYTimes:

"JERUSALEM, Jan. 11 - Israel said Wednesday that it was breaking off negotiations on a tourism project with the evangelical leader Pat Robertson in response to his remarks suggesting that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution.

"We cannot accept these statements, and we will not sign any contracts with Mr. Robertson," said Ido Hartuv, a spokesman for the Tourism Ministry.

Israel has been in advanced negotiations with American evangelicals over a proposal for a large pilgrimage and tourism center in the hills near the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus lived and preached. Mr. Robertson has been the leading figure in the negotiations. Mr. Hartuv said Israel would be willing to continue the talks without him."

well Pat, seems like your measure of judgement is coming back at you. how does it taste?

[jack]

Just another case of first world christian schadenfreude.