Thought of the Day 01.20.10

What, precisely, was so offensive about Pat Robertson’s recent insinuation that Haiti is reaping what they sowed by making a supposed deal with the Devil for their independence? Well, it’s not the idea that God could punish a nation through natural disasters. Gomorrah’s fire, Egypt’s plagues, and Noah’s flood all demonstrate that He can and has done precisely this.

But Robertson didn’t theorize a possibility. He asserted an explanation. And for those of us who also know the stories of Job, the Tower of Siloam (Luke 13:1-9), and the man blind from his birth (John 9:1-12), we know not all tragedies can be chalked up to Divine vengeance. And even the ones which can be have all been “officially” explained this way by God in His revealed Word. Thus, the real problem was Pat proclaiming certainty where the Bible asserts ambiguity. But we can learn a useful lesson from all this.

See, our reaction to Robertson’s clanging gong is very much like this culture’s reaction to our insistence that Christ and the Bible are true, conclusions most of them regard as dubious opinions. When sharing our faith with them, it’s useful to remember what it feels like to have one’s own strongly held uncertainty assaulted by someone else’s confident dogma.