If there was one guy I wish who would go out to pasture and live out his remaining years in solitude and quit speaking in public, it's Pat Robertson. Pat has found a very successful way of opening mouth and inserting foot without any contortion problems. Pat's latest open-mouth-insert-foot is the assertion that Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for 'dividing God's land' of Israel. Pat has a long history of making statements that seem to only further divide Christians and non-Christians.
Let's make one thing clear, Pat Robertson does not speak for all Christians. I'm not sure he even speaks for his own people anymore (whoever they are). I don't know anyone who is even remotely conservative who supports this man. He has no influence and he has seen his better days (if he ever had any) as a 'high' profile Christian conservative. I have read that the television program 'The 700 Club' stills pulls down a pretty decent airtime figures. According to Nielsen Media Research, CBN's 'The 700 Club' had an average of 863,000 viewers last year. That's a little better than CNN and MSNBC. Not too shabby. But are the viewers tuning in to see Pat or is the viewership focusing more on the son Gordon Robertson, the stories and the news by Lee Web. I would say it's not Pat their tuning in to.
Robertson, by making looney and off the wall statements, is not only making the gap between Christians and non-Christians grow but is also making it harder to reach non-Christians with the Gospel. If non-Christians are seeing Pat as one of our high profile leaders who represent the Christian community, we are in huge trouble.
It's time for Pat to step down and let Gordon take the reins and make CBN a respectable Christian network that Christians could be proud of and the rest of the world might tune in to for a glimpse of what Christianity looks like.
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6 comments:
Well spoken you are, pops. I witnessed Pat Robertson speak these words on the Daily Show, and thus commenced Jon Stewart's humorous bashing of him. It is unfortunate that the non-Christian populace so frequently witness such incongruous examples of Christian people. I am not saying this guy isn't Christian, but in my Christian discernment Pat sounds a wee bit mistaken on a statement that doesn't seem to hold a lot of logicity to back it up.
I'm wondering what Pat would say if he had a stroke or heart attack and survived it? ..
Would he say that it must have been some unfortunate blockage of built up crap in his arteries?
I bet he would never assert that God caused the stroke because of all the crazy stuff he has said over the years.
Hey Waynedawg,
Just thought I would check out your blogspot sitting here on a Sunday night. You bring up an interesting subject when discussing Pat Robertson. The thought crossed my mind, and this may sound harsh, but Pat Robertson declares himself a Christian. I wonder, by his works, if this be true.
I will define the word Christian as "Christ-like" or "aspiring by actions to be Christ-like." Does Pat Robertson truly fit this definition?
Now I am not going to be so bold and say that Pat Robertson is not born-again, as I do not possess the power to that judgement. However, judging the tree by the fruit it bears, I wonder.
We all say things we should not, but Pat Robertson possesses the knack of saying a lot of things he shouldn't and publicly at that. Can one who claims that disease or illness is God's retribution for such actions as, for example, Ariel Sharon's ceding of Jewish land to the PLO be truly showing forth a Christian attitude? No doubt, mortal men will pay for mortal sin before closing their eyes in death, but who is to say what punishment fits what sin? Jesus himself said some pretty hard sayings while he walked the earth, but I do not remember reading anywhere that Christ attributed illness or death to any one sin. The harshest thing that comes to mind is when he told the woman accused of adultery to "go and sin no more".
Some may say that we should look at all the good works that Pat Robertson has done to prove his Christianity. Good works can be done by both Christians and non-Christians. Atheists can start children's orphanages or pregnancy centers designed to steer women toward having babies rather than aborting. Many high profile "Christians" do such things, but does this prove their Christianity?
I believe that we could compare many high profile "Christians" with the Jesus of the Bible, and we would find few similarities. Again, salvation being a personal relationship between God and man, I do not possess the ability to know the true hearts of such people. The Judge of all will handle that for one and all. Likewise, I do not believe that I can be so bold, as has Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, to name just a couple, to say that a disease or illness is God's retribution or punishment for particular sins.
Amen brother Badbeans, amen.
Well said wayne.
Whether or not Robertson is Christian is one thing, but his record (not in isolated incidents, but on numerous occasions) easily impeaches him as a pastor. He is not above reproach and discerning by his recent fumbling around in Scripture, it doesn't seem that he is an apt teacher (cmp. 1 Timothy 3.2; Titus 1.7-9). Robertson's ripping of words out of the Prophets and using those words as a means to speak his own self will was not only stupid, but dangerous. The sad truth is that there are many 'pastors' out there just like Robertson and worse. They are on the pay roll of more churches than most would want to admit. The Christian church as a whole would do well to distance Herself from "pastors" like Robertson.
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