This video was sent as a comment to my previous post on Haiti where I am collecting resources for prayer and donations. In case readers skimmed over that, I am embedding it here. It is an orthodox Christian response from an Episcopalian church to the totally unacceptable claim by Pat Robertson that this earthquake is a result of a nineteenth century pact that Haitians made with the devil.
Amen to all that!
All i can think of is my favorite song: “this little light of mine” and “shine Jesus shine”, it is where God`s works are shown, as said in the vid.
I do pray that God sends his angles to sit by those who might still be under the collapsed buildings waiting for help, and that rescuers may be protected in their dangerous work.
Great message Reverent.
thank you for this.
I thought your link to the “Pact with the Devil” video was a poor choice. The Young Turks? Come on. In this video says not to send money to Robertson for Haiti relief intimating that the money may not get there. It should be noted, however, that according to “Charity Navigator,” an independent organization that analyses various charities, 99.1% of the funds sent to Robertson’s Operation Blessing International are used for the actual program. o.3% goes to administration expense and 0.5% goes to advertising. You will search far and wide to find another humanitarian organization with that low of administration costs. The Young Turks also didn’t do any homework before making this video. The “deal with the devil” was a real, historical event, not something Pat Robertson made up. I’m not making excuses for Robertson, just stating my displeasure with your choice of video commentary.
Steven, I appreciate you comment, thanks. The Young Turks video is the one that the YouTube original of the video I have embedded is responding to. I was attempting to keep faith with their approach in highlighting to readers here the King of Peace parish contribution in a comment on this site. I do not have the expertise to evaluate the Charity Navigator, but am also aware of accusations that Pat Robertson used his Operation Blessing charity airplanes primarily to transport equipment for a Robertson-owned diamond-mining operation in Zaire (now the Republic of the Congo) called African Development Corporation. And so forth. There are plenty of other sites where you can debate the pros & cons of Pat Robertson, his theology, integrity, and whether money given to him will reach Haiti. I am willing to stand by the charities I have listed. I am not willing to stand by Pat Robertson’s and certainly strongly disagree with his analysis. Debating whether there was a “real, historical devil-deal event” will also not be furthered on this site as it is a distraction from the issue: where is God in this suffering, and how can we work with God to help?
Thank you for this video response, it most needed in the midst of all the religious judgments. I’m posting this on my FB page.
What misguided people you are:- Your God is here to help AFTER the fact – but for some reason didn’t use any of his omnipotent power to prevent it – seems like the power of GOD is great after the horse has left the stable. “For the good”?? – Either the great sky fairy did this – so is a cruel God that likes to use the death of people to boost his popularity vote after the fact when “God’s love helps” or he had his eye of the ball?
If I was to say that Zeus was helping people through this pain after brought such destruction – you’d say i was MAD and that Zeus is not a God – and doesn’t exist – You’d say – “nah this is the result of tectonic plate movement” — get it?
Sorry folks — This is nature that does this now and again – but it is the HUMAN spirit – not GOD’s spirit that is the good after the fact that is trying to help.
Trying to justify a roll of a GOD in this is frankly quite sick.
Thank you, Ted, for visiting this site. You appear to be unaware of the comments policy and culture of this site. On other sites you would have been told to first go and learn to spell before trying to debate (“…eye of the ball… roll of a GOD…”) – but that is not the approach here. You appear to not actually be responding to this particular post which includes essentially saying “this is the result of tectonic plate movement”. Calling people here “misguided” and “quite sick” are ad hominems that do not move any discussion positively forward. And putting words into people’s mouths also does not move a discussion forward. Personally, I would have responded quite differently to your suggestion that Zeus is helping people. IMO reality does not have the simple binary options you place before yourself. It is good we agree humans have a spirit and I hope that you are encouraging those who think like you to be as generous as those of us who don’t.
Is there a transcript of this somewhere? This is absolutely beautiful.
I promise you that the first question I will ask Jesus when I am in heaven is why do people suffer. I don’t want man’s response of original sin, sin nature, etc. I want to know why suffering is necessary to accomplish God’s plan. I am not without faith at all, but it is obviously beyond our understanding and when my glass is no longer half empty, I am looking forward to knowing that.
~3:00 “The christian answer to why this happened is that the world is built so that things to occur, eartquakes happen, hurricanes happen, tornados, floods….”
Might have been a good move to build a world without earthquakes. If you believe in a creator, this is clearly his doing.
Why does God allow suffering – a question many of us who have great faith ask. I truly don’t think I’ve heard an adequate answer, but what I do know is that suffering of others is God’s call to ALL human beings to respond in love.
Imagine if we could continue to be as concerned about our brothers and sisters suffering throughout the globe every day – as we are now concerned about those in Haiti.
My prayer is that when the spotlight leaves Haiti and the world moves along – we do NOT forget Haiti or Darfur or North Korea and other places where people suffer terribly every day.
As a Christian I pray God reminds me daily that I have much and it is my obligation to share what I have in the ways that I can.
“to whom much is given – much is expected”
We tend to question God in such circumstances. Yes, there was an earthquake. However, the terribly high death toll is directly related to the poor quality buildings, which are directly related to poverty and a history of injustice and bad governance. I like the headline: “The high death toll in Haiti is due to poverty, not nature.” http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-high-death-toll-in-Haiti-is-due-to-poverty-not-nature/. I will be looking for more in depth analysis than this, though.
And the cause of the poverty?
See the May 2009 article in the Times of London, called “Haiti: The land where children eat mud: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6281614.ece. And see the comment on the Times story in Foreign Policy Magazine entitled “Cancel Haiti’s Debt” http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/01/13/cancel_haitis_debt
Do we blame God again for what people have done themselves through practices of cruelty and greed? Scripture, as I read it, teaches that the character of God is entirely and truly revealed in Jesus. Jesus spoke out against injustice and greed and bad governance, and stated that He (Jesus) revealed the true character of God. We as supposed followers of Jesus can continue to believe in a cruel, despotic God (and reveal this terrible God in our own characters), or we can trust Jesus (and reveal Him in our characters).
Thank you, Bosco Peters, for raising this topic for discussion. Yesterday, our pastor commented on the comment “that came from Pat Robertson’s “filthy mouth” and that it’s no wonder Christians don’t enjoy a good reputation. Not “nice.” It was surprising to hear such a strong statement from this pulpit. But, frankly, I felt that the term “filth” was entirely fitting. Not only that, it revealed the character of Jesus, who from time to time did a bit of name-calling — referring to the religious bigots of His day as “vipers brood.”
Wish I could fix some typos etc, in the above (given Rev Peters’ preference for proper speling and grammer. ;o )
As all things come together through history we try to continue to understand the continuum of this woven human tapestry created by God to help us learn that all things come together for the good .
Those who pay the highest suffering are those closest to God . By losing faith in God you lose faith in all that God has created therefor those suffering in order to bring us together are for nothing .
By keeping your dreams your keeping your faith
Don’t give up your dreams
Mickey Carroll
http://www.mickeycarroll.com
I just decided to send relief for Haiti’s people. I suggest that people donate to those scarred by this unfortunate disaster as well.