Pat Robertson said yesterday that Haiti's earthquake was a result of the country's "pact with the devil." I don't even know what he means, nor does it matter much to me. As I reflected on Robertson's comments, I was reminded of how many times he has embarrassed so many fellow Christians with his intemperate comments. As a Christian leader, I have had to spend too much of my time trying to overcome an image of Christianity that was created by the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. When people thought of Christians, these far-right leaders and their ideas are all they knew. But truthfully, Pat Robertson is increasingly irrelevant, except for weird soundbites in the media.
Even though Robertson has become marginal, his extreme comments can still shape people's views of Christianity and God. So, I thought I'd take Robertson's comment as an opportunity to set the record straight. The God I serve, the God of the Bible, does not cause evil. God is not a vengeful and retributive being, waiting to strike us down. Evil happens, whether at the hands of corrupt people or because the earth shifts along a fault line and the world rumbles.
When evil strikes, it's easy to ask, where is God. The answer: God is suffering in the midst of the evil with those who are suffering. Throughout the Scripture, we find a picture of a God who is with the people, even in their darkest hours. Today, in Haiti, God is suffering with those who are suffering. My prayers go out to the families who are suffering.
Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street--A Moral Compass for the New Economy, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.
Follow Jim Wallis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jimwallis
Sherman A. Jackson: The Problem of Suffering: Muslim Theological Reflections
It seems to me that there is confusion among Christians about what Christianity is and what it means to be Christian. Everyone claims the mantle then assumes everyone else knows what they mean and is in agreement with them. Clearly that is not the case. Being Christian for you means something different than it does to Pat Robertson. Maybe it is time for the leadership to acknowledge the problem and to actively and publicly start looking for a substantial consensus. The contradictions have to be acknowledged and resolved. That may mean that approaches to the faith need to be re-examined including the notion that the Bible is an historical document. So be it. In our connected world, a Christianity meaningful only in a partisan sense is useless.
They shall cry, “My punishment is greater than I can bear”.
But bear it they must, as their suffering waxes worse and worse with the passing of the ages.
God is love.
It doesn't mean there isn't a god or a creator, just that our attempts to describe him (contain him in things we understand -- i.e. using the word "him" ) have been in vain.
And he, obviously is not running to make himself known to us such that all people would put aside either Thor or either Christ and agree, yes that being that emailed us all at the same time and appeared on every channel and radio program announcing himself, really is god.
Is God able but not willing, then he is malovent.
Is God willing and able then wence commeth evil.
Is God neither able nor willing, then why call him God?"
Epicurus
There is no God and because of that – God is. To speak it (in either direction of denial or affirmation) is to go beyond the moment where “it” does not exist and in so doing to enter the eternal flow of yes or no, right and wrong, weak and strong, up and down, defeat and triumph and all the other things that encompass existence but may have nothing and yet everything to do with non-existence which remains beyond the realm of that known and therefore spoken.
Understand: my path takes me as far from Christianity as I can go for I heard a different call a long time ago. But Christianity at its best can thrive this new century if it follows the vision you do.
Then why call him God?
-Epicurus, philosopher (c. 341-270 BCE)
The New Testament
Matthew 10:34-38
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."
___________
Jesus sounds violent, anti-family, and appears to be the ultimate narcissist. He doesn't seem to be all about love.
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For those reading these comments that don't buy such simplistic reasoning, and who may be wondering why there are billions of Christians in the world, I encourage you to read the entire New Testament (and much of the Old Testament, as well, so you can see the ways the N.T. brings the O.T. to fulfillment), and talk to kind people you know who exemplify the best aspects of the church's beliefs and teachings. There's a much greater and more positive side to it than Cunningham would have you believe.
It's a book of horrors. Murders decreed by god, slaughters of innocent babies ordered by the same entity. Rape, incest, plagues, misogyny, slavery, selling of daughters, sacrifices. Outrageous claims of fantastic miracles without any supporting evidence. Contradictions abound. "Prophets" sounding like they took way too many drugs. Laws of physics, totally abolished. It's fantasy, it's farce IMO.
I'd love to keep going, but have things to do tonight. Please, provide any proof for any claims made in that work of fiction (which was heavily edited to control the sheep).
I know many good, moral, loving, decent people who are believers. It doesn't make them any better than the good, moral, loving, decent people I know who aren't believers.
If you believers would keep your religion in your churches, homes, and private schools, I wouldn't care. Unfortunately, believers try to force their beliefs into our laws and govt. Unacceptable.
Ta