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Title: Why Pat Robertson is Not a Christian
Source:
Counterpunch
URL Source: http://www.counterpunch.com/hagler08232005.html
Published: Aug 25, 2005
Author: Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler
Post Date: 2005-08-25 05:22:14 by Zoroaster
Keywords: Robertson, Christian
Views: 109
Comments: 8
August 23, 2005 The Preacher's Fatwah on Chavez Why Pat Robertson is Not a Christian By Rev. GRAYLAN SCOTT HAGLER Pat Robertson suggested this past Monday that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, be assassinated by operatives of the United States government. Though his comments are newsworthy because of his following in the 700 Club and his political stature and role in the political religious right, his comments however are out of synch with everything that has been handed down to us from the teachings of Jesus Christ. What I am suggesting here is that Pat Robertson and individuals of his ilk are not practicing or preaching Christ but have become adherents of a political movement in this nation that attempts to use Christianity towards their own narrow political ends. I believe that there is a role for Christianity in the events of the world, but the teachings of Christ leads us to love one another, strain and stretch to understand each other, and dare to know each other enough that we come to an understanding of one another and from that create a world that is not built on might and winning but on understanding and unity. Clearly the comments of Robertson defy the framework we find in the gospels of Jesus Christ. Some may argue that Christ existed in another time and did not have an understanding of the kind of world we exist in today. But any follower of Jesus knows that as he was human and he was also fully God, and therefore his understanding of the world, humankind and our needs were not captive to a time but applies to all time! Knowing this I do not see anywhere in the gospels of Christ that he condones, suggests or advocates murder or political assassination! Instead Jesus reminds us to beware of Pharisees, and Robertson, Dobson and others have become the Pharisees of our contemporary world! What do we find in the Good News of Christ? We find love is expressed continually and unceasingly. The gospels admonish us to do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. We finds words in the gospels that define the mission of Christians as the elevation of the poor, freedom for those who are oppressed, salvation for the lost, and hope for the hopeless. Jesus says come unto me all of you who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He does not say come to me those who are looking for political expediency and I will show you who to and how to assassinate! Sure there has been trouble in Venezuela, and some will suggest that it is communism struggling to raise it head. Others will suggest that the poor of Venezuela have been poor too long in a nation that is the 5th largest oil producer in the world. Some will suggest that too much of the resources have been in the hands of too few, and that the poor of the land have found hope in a political leader, Hugo Chavez. I would not suggest that Chavez is a saint, for no person is perfect, but I do know that Chavez was elected even while the greatest power in the world, the United States government, did everything possible to thwart his election. This is hardly the neighborliness that Jesus Christ calls us to emulate. I am continually amazed at how so many preachers have ceased to preach Christ, or to proclaim him out of the rich simplicity of his teachings and have resorted to a kind of theology that is not gospel based but is based on a narrow point of view that keeps the powerful powerful and the poor poor! Therefore, it is impossible to justify the comments of Pat Robertson. His comments are not of the gospel he claims to preach, nor of the teachings of Christ that any Christian claims to love. Instead what Robertson has to say is based on a paradigm from the most conservative voices in this country, and those voices have no God except themselves and no soul except their selfish point of view! Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler is National President, Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice and Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ Washington, D.C.
Poster Comment: Worshipers at Pat Robertson's Church of the Electric Jew are spiritual cripples incapable of reaching a higher level of existence. They can only exist in a natural state. Without television Robertson and his ilk would be relatively harmless, regarded by the public as lunatics.
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#1. To: Zoroaster (#0)
Oh, help me. First lead paint chip wall candy, then this.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice said that the “security of Israel is the key to security of the world.”
I totally agree~!!
Don't force feed me your views... talk to me so I can hear you...
Don't force feed me your views... talk to me so I can hear you...
Robertson is sick. The oil of venezuela should be owned and controlled by the people of venezuela. Their government that they elect should be sovereign in that nation. God makes the nations, he decides who rules over them. Robertson should read his bible, the bible says that. And yet Robertson wants the US to rule over venezuela, and to intervene in their affairs and steal their oil. If we consume their oil it should be by free agreement - we pay for it at a price all parties agree on. Robertson's on the evil side, remember that funny hand sign he gave on the cover of the magazine.
Good for the Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler.
"Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't." - Mark Twain - Victory and Energy cartoon animations.
Re the oil -- The Venezuelan people/governments are not happy with Americans because of the likes of the Rockefellers who tried to dominate their country's oil production and banking way back when. David Horowitz *spit* was a co=author of a book on the Rockefellers, and there is a good section on it regarding Venezuela--I can't remember which one of them got those people up in arms. Re God making nations and deciding who rules-- I believe that that needs some clarification in the sense that God had plans for an eternal King. The Israelites wanted a visible king like other nations around them. God let them, and Saul was the result--not one who God would have personally selected. God lets people have their way many times, to their regret or loss. It doesn't mean that he agrees with them. I believe it is 'lesson' time. Robertson certainly needs to go to II Samuel, I believe the 14th chapter, where Nathan calls King David down on his sin with Bathsheba, and worse, the essentially killing of Uriah, a loyal soldier, who just happened to be her husband and thus in the way of David's desires. King David was being punished for what he did wrong, among which was that his actions allowed those who would blaspheme against God to do so. This is exactly what Robertson and his ilk do when they make these stupid pronouncements. Yes, God loved David.........but he punished him severely in several different ways, and essentially used David's own methods against him--he reaped what he had sown. First with the death of the love baby; then the incestous rape of a daughter; then the premeditated fratercide of Amnon by Absalom (both David's sons); and then the attempted overthrow by Absalom, with David fleeing. How much worse will it be for the likes of Robertson, Falwell,, etc., who profess to be ministers of God. Judgement day will come.
Good Sunday School lesson, thanks. Hitler also quoted selected Scriptures when it suited him, no one thinks of him as a Christian. What's sad is that Robertson makes a living claiming to be a Christian.
"Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't." - Mark Twain - Victory and Energy cartoon animations.
Depends on whose Christianity. Robertson's comments are consistent with the historical Christian religion's Inquisition for eliminating heretics.
Worshipers at Pat Robertson's Church of the Electric Jew
#2. To: Zoroaster (#0)
#3. To: wbales, Zoroaster (#1)
Worshipers at Pat Robertson's Church of the Electric Jew Oh, help me. First lead paint chip wall candy, then this.
#4. To: Zoroaster (#0)
#5. To: Zoroaster (#0)
Therefore, it is impossible to justify the comments of Pat Robertson.
#6. To: Red Jones, Zipporah (#4)
#7. To: rowdee (#6)
#8. To: Zoroaster (#0)
Why Pat Robertson is Not a Christian
I've already said too much.
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