Andy Barlow Blog

I can honestly say I’m not surprised any longer by comments that come from TV personality Pat Robertson (I personally don’t believe him to be an evangelist). I find myself, emotionally, having invested my own life into the people of Haiti, in a similar place as that of author Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What) – I’m not angry with Robertson, I just hope and pray at this point that many more will see the fallacies behind his logic.

My desire is no longer to be angry with half-witted comments like these and the people that speak them, but for people, both inside and outside of the Christian faith, to take these comments for what they are – opinionated, lacking Biblical backing, and full of wrong views of God, grace, and salvation.

Mr. Robertson has made headlines recently for 2 statements concerning the recent earthquakes in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. Watch for yourself…

If I understand what he’s saying correctly, he believes the earthquake in Haiti is completely upon the shoulders of the Haitian people. They got what they deserved, in other words. Not only that, he seems to imply that God has blessed their island counterpart, the Dominican Republic, and the proof is that they have resorts. Las Vegas, Miami, Fiji, the Grand Caymans, and thousands of other locations have resorts, but the Dominican Republic’s resorts are a sign of blessing.

Let me say this again – I’m not angry. But I do strongly believe Mr. Robertson’s comments to be full of error. Let me be more specific – I believe his comments are flat wrong.

They got together and swore a pact with the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. – Pat Robertson, 1/13/10

It is my continued pursuit of Christ-likeness and study of the Gospel story that lead me to believe there are several reasons why Mr. Robertson’s statements are wrong. Maybe you can relate?

1. Mr. Robertson leaves no room for the innocent. What about the children who will be without fathers and mothers, even more so now than they were before the earthquake? If you thought the orphan population was high in Haiti before, you should expect to see a rise in that population again. Are the innocent to blame for this earthquake?

2. He assumes every person in Haiti has made a personal decision to reject God. What about those who had truly never heard of the Gospel? This most obvious assumption is to me the most asinine of them all. No one can make this assumption with any degree of accuracy and it’s foolishness to attempt such. Here’s a little reminder from Scripture – Matthew 28: “Go and make disciples of all nations…”; it does not say “stand up and from afar make assumptions about all nations.”

3. Jesus never blamed the poor for being poor, but had compassion on them. Jesus called the rich to give selflessly and generously to those who were less fortunate, but never blamed the poor for their condition. I wonder which of Robertson’s cars he chose to drive to work this morning?

Moreover, it is my personal belief that Mr. Robertson is standing at the corner of what I’m going to call Heresy St. and Madness Ave., a corner upon which he loves to dwell and from which he loves to speak. I’m just glad at this point that more and more people, both Christians and non-Christians, are seeing through his smokescreens and banter, refusing to let his opinion be accepted as that of the “conservative.” He does not speak – now or ever – for this conservative. So Mr. Robertson, you can have your platform at the corner of Heresy St. and Madness Ave.; I’ll be in Haiti come June serving the widows, children, and other pagans who are cleaning up what they deserved.

I think this all was best summed up by a Tweet I read last night from Matthew D. Hansen, co-founder of Restore Austin, when he said, “Pat, we all made a deal with the Devil, and God responded with the cross…”