Will the real Pat Robertson please stand up?

Firefighters are still working to contain and extinguish the deadly wildfires that ravished, among other places, Colorado Springs, and I have still yet to hear anything from Robertson (or anyone else of similar ilk) about these fires being the judgment of God on the city of Colorado Springs. This is a problem. Or at least, it brings up a problem in the kind of Natural-Disasters-Equal-Judgment theology Robertson espouses.

Why would Katrina and her aftermath be judgment and the Colorado fires not be? And if the fires aren't judgment, what are they? A test? A trial? And if so, why is no one talking about that? If the fires were arson related, why hasn't God stopped them, or at least made the weather cooperate better so the firefighters could stop them? Is it really that the Evangelical Mecca of Colorado Springs is under judgment and no one wants to talk about it? Has Focus on the Family angered God? Or maybe the numerous prosperous Christian ministries in Colorado Springs just aren't enough to compensate for the Earth-loving hippies? Someone please explain how exactly this works. When is it judgment and when is it not? And how can we know?

I am rather disinclined to believe any natural disaster is the physical manifestation of God's wrath being poured out on a particular people (though I realize that disinclination probably derives at least in part from my cultural (generational) biases), but are rather a side affect, if you will, of the Fall, part of what Scripture calls the Earth's "groanings" that resulted from humankind's break of fellowship with God, and which will at long last be alleviated when Christ returns to heal all wounds.

What I do know is that the overarching narrative of the Bible affirms God is characteristically in the habit of using anything, no matter how tragic, no matter how opposite from his original/creational orientations, to bring redemption and reconciliation... if we're open to it.

I have close family in Colorado Springs; my throat catches when I think of how they have been in danger and easily could have been in worse danger. I'm not simply writing this post to take a cheap shot at Pat Robertson (because let's face it, he's a pretty easy target). I'm writing because this kind of mini-doomsday theology is problematic and, for many like me, profoundly personal.

Thinking Through Pat Robertson and His Foolish Words

In a humorous holiday episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the Devil is invited to a Thanksgiving dinner where he is asked to tell everyone what he is thankful for. He looks up and replies, "Pat Robertson." It's a funny joke, but many Christians do feel as if Mr. Robertson is playing for the other team. His odd remarks about Haiti have only continued this trend, because what he said was foolish and completely un-biblical.

What, Exactly, Did He Say?

Here's what he said on The 700 Club, on January 13th:

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it,” Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show. “They were under the heel of the French … and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’ “True story. And the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal,”‘ Robertson said. “Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another.”

French historians were quick to point out the flaws in his history lesson.

Is That Sort of Thing in the Bible?

Christianity does not work this way. No part of scripture tells us that God intends to allow natural disasters to overcome any country that involves themselves in sin. Obviously, if things worked this way the Nazis could not have come into power, Stalin would have been struck by lightening, and nations that broadcast pornography during prime time would suffer yearly droughts.

No, there's no precedent for this nonsense in Christianity. Sure, in the Old Testament God punished people as he saw fit, but the Bible doesn't establish a predictable formula for this sort of thing; in fact, His preferred method was to establish good relations with those nations. (See Jonah, for example.)

A lot of questions are unanswered. For starters, how did a bunch of Haitians find the Devil? Does he have a house around there, or is there a way to summon him that French slaves were privy to? Pat Robertson never works this stuff out and the Bible doesn't make it clear that this sort of thing is even possible. The whole story is ridiculous and sounds more like pagan mythology than any part of Christianity.

So...Where Does Pat Robertson Get This Stuff?

Pat Robertson makes news every few months with failed predictions of the future; he has predicted natural disasters and terror attacks that never materialized - often accompanied by the phrase "...that is, if I heard God correctly..." (I don't remember Isaiah ever saying that.) Other times, he is issuing condemnations, like claiming that homosexuals were responsible for Hurricane Katrina; this is a ridiculous notion that is not supported by any statement in the Bible. We are expected to take Robertson's word for it that he is God's prophet, but none of his "prophecies" come true.

So, I don't know where he is coming from. He's certainly not talking about the God that is worshiped at local churches all over the world, nor is he discussing things that are founded in the Bible. The church fathers didn't talk this way, and, for that matter, neither did the villains of the inquisition.

I'm glad that Pat Robertson raised money for Haiti (which is what he was doing when he made these statements), but his message is not the same one that comes from the Bible. I'm not sure what he's doing.

I also don't know who's listening to him; in my entire life, I've never met anyone, in church or elsewhere, who didn't roll their eyes when his name was mentioned.

(Update: Welcome Instapundit readers! Thanks, Glenn.)