There are days that I'd like to quit the whole Christian thing -- hang it up, turn in my card, resign, retire, whatever. It's not because I don't believe in God or Jesus, but because of the other people on the team. People that are making the rest of us look bad because of their poor play. People like Pat
Robertson. On Monday Robertson called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the freely elected president of Venezuela. Robertson's reason for wanting to have Chavez killed? "I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."
That's right Pat! If anyone is a little paranoid they should be executed. Immediately. End of story.
WHAT?!?
Okay, to make an attempt at fairness, Chavez has been talking about not selling as much oil to the United States because of his paranoia. So clearly Robertson has every right to call for his assassination! So take THAT you liberal media!
Today, Robertson apologized, said he spoke out of frustration, and then blamed the media for taking him out of context and misquoting him. Uhhhh, Pat, are you sorry, or are you making excuses? I'm really confused by your statement! It seems like you're trying to say the words, "I'm sorry," without really taking any blame for your completely asinine statement. Clever. GREAT PR move. Slick! I'm sure in heaven it was noted how you called for a blatant violation of the sixth commandment, ignored pretty much everything in the sermon on the mount and avoided taking any real blame for it!
Really thought, I don't think I'll quit, not today. I just hope that the people in the stands -- the people that Jesus told us we should "turn the other cheek to," maybe even the people that qualify as our enemies as in "love your enemies," get the difference between the way the most of us are trying to play the game and the way the people like Pat Robertson play it! It saddens me how the Christian community just quiets themselves during a flap like this. When do we ever stand up and say, "enough is enough," this man does not speak for us?
Robertson. On Monday Robertson called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the freely elected president of Venezuela. Robertson's reason for wanting to have Chavez killed? "I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him."
That's right Pat! If anyone is a little paranoid they should be executed. Immediately. End of story. 
WHAT?!?
Okay, to make an attempt at fairness, Chavez has been talking about not selling as much oil to the United States because of his paranoia. So clearly Robertson has every right to call for his assassination! So take THAT you liberal media!
Today, Robertson apologized, said he spoke out of frustration, and then blamed the media for taking him out of context and misquoting him. Uhhhh, Pat, are you sorry, or are you making excuses? I'm really confused by your statement! It seems like you're trying to say the words, "I'm sorry," without really taking any blame for your completely asinine statement. Clever. GREAT PR move. Slick! I'm sure in heaven it was noted how you called for a blatant violation of the sixth commandment, ignored pretty much everything in the sermon on the mount and avoided taking any real blame for it!
Really thought, I don't think I'll quit, not today. I just hope that the people in the stands -- the people that Jesus told us we should "turn the other cheek to," maybe even the people that qualify as our enemies as in "love your enemies," get the difference between the way the most of us are trying to play the game and the way the people like Pat Robertson play it! It saddens me how the Christian community just quiets themselves during a flap like this. When do we ever stand up and say, "enough is enough," this man does not speak for us?
4 comments:
CKD,
i love you man. i love jesus. and because of that i love Pat. he messed up big, but if he is going to apologize, (no matter how trite it sounds) love says i accept it and embrace him as my brother who has returned.
i don't want to be the brother of the prodigal...
I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this one, since I posted last night. It just hit a nerve with me, and here’s why…
Evangelicals are so quick to call out the “secular media” or “famous people who sin” all the time, and then when one of our own does something stupid we’re absolutely silent…Maybe we should be calling out at our own and silent when the “sinners” act like sinners….
To renew a discussion you and I had a while ago, maybe we should be silent when Lance Armstrong (a pagan) divorces his wife, but call out Christians who don’t act anything like a Christian. It seems to me in my reading of the gospel that this was often the tactic of Jesus…treat the “sinners” with gentleness, and call the religious bigots “broods of vipers” who turn well-meaning seekers into “twice the sons of hell that they are.” Out current evangelical climate feels just the opposite.
In the end, I agree totally with what you said…with much effort, I love Pat Robertson and I forgive him, but I don’t think Christians should let him off the hook so easily, or at least if we’re going to, we better learn what it means to have a lot more grace to our culture at large.
One last thought…if Bill Clinton had uttered the exact same words as Robertson, how much grace we he have been afforded by the evangelical community?
Several alert leaders have pointed on that in my zeal to lynch Robertson, I credited Hugo Chavez to the wrong country...He's from Venezuela, NOT Chile...I'm a moron. I've corrected the mistake in my post! Thanks for the "heads up."
sounds like Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz) could add Robertson to his list of people to apoligize for in his confession booth ...
jb
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