ABC Asks Tornado-Struck Pastor: 'How Do You Reconcile Your Faith With This Tragedy?'

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

For the MSM, there's nothing like the occasion of a natural disaster to challenge the faith of religious believers.

On today's Good Morning America, Kate Snow interviewed the Rev. Larry Lynn, Pastor of the Lady Lake Church of God, whose buildings were totally levelled by the tornadoes that recently struck central Florida.

A minute or so into the interview, Snow asked a question that challenged the core of the pastor's religious belief: "How do you reconcile your faith with the enormity of this tragedy?"

Pastor Lynn answered in a manner consistent with the most basic Christian principles: "This is just a temporal thing. We deal in the eternal. Temporal things change on a daily basis. I don't know what today might bring, but I'm prepared for it. I don't know what tomorrow might bring, but I'm prepared for it, because I know who holds tomorrow. My confidence is not in the things of this world, but in He who sits on the throne and in his son, Jesus Christ."

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net

[The Great RJ]

I just noted on Fox News (news for thinking people) that this church is having Sunday services in the parking lot...their faith is stronger that some media bimbo might think.

Almost 60 years ago my grandmother was one of six people killed in a Palm Sunday gas explosion at my home town church and I can say with certainty than no one in that community was ever asked to reconcile their faith with the enormity of the tragedy.

[brownsfan]

"I know some folks who are still sticking pins in Art Model dolls."

Ok, you're going to get me going... actually, in a weird way, I thank Art. Pro football is nothing more than a business. Art taught many of us in the area that lesson. I used to live and die with the Browns. If that were true now, I'd be 6 feet under, they stink so bad.
The Browns won't ever recover until the current billion dollar baby owner who is disinterested in football, sells the team. In the meantime, the Browns are directionless, and doomed to be the Arizona Cardinals of the AFC, (constantly, terminally bad).
I think Art was incompetent, (the 80s successes had more to do with the WFL folding and grabbing key players than any organizational skill). I don't completely blame Art. Mike White had as much to do with it as Art did. But, it's just a business.
I still love football, and fortunately, college and high school teams don't move. :)

[Eroteme]

I would ask the chick how she reconciles her communism with such high priced clothing.

oooh, good one

[StAnDeliver]

"And I noted that his first idea expressed was that these were temporary (temporal) circumstances, and therefore by implication, not important in the big picture."

"Temporary" means of a limited time.

"Temporal" means of the material world.

"This is just a material thing. We deal in the eternal. Material things change on a daily basis."

[highimpact]

Well, that is not so. The big picture is keyed upon all our reaction to all these little challenges we have in life, including the occasioned big calamity.

You can't "earn" your way into heaven via your actions on Earth. The big picture is not "keyed upon all our reaction to challenges in life." The big picture is that Jesus died to save your soul, and all you have to do is accept his gift of eternal life. The pastor was spot on with his response.

[Lesforlife]

Good Sunday morning laugh!!

Thanks.

[an amused spectator]

City of Evil! alert

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Snow

Kate Snow-Breault is a co-anchor of Good Morning America Weekend Edition on ABC. She became co-anchor in 2004. Snow also frequently appears on the weekday Good Morning America and World News with Charles Gibson as a fill-in anchor or correspondent.

A native of Burnt Hills, Saratoga County, New York, Snow is a 1991 graduate of Cornell, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and a newscaster on WVBR, and holds a Masters in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Snow joined ABC in 2003 as Good Morning America's White House reporter before she was tapped to co-host the morning show's weekend edition. She had worked previously at NPR and NBC Radio, and also worked as a reporter at KOAT-TV from 1995-1998 and at CNN from 1998-2003. Snow is married to Chris Breault and they have a daughter named Abigail and a son named Zachary.

==========================

1991 grad makes her about a 1986 high school grad, which makes her born around 1968. 2006 - 1968 = ~38 years old, which points to severe damage by the publik hi skool sistum, followed by toxic exposure to the City of Evil.

[an amused spectator]

He did not say "temporary," he said "temporal", meaning of this world, not of the eternal.

LOL! The good pastor no doubt said that to short out her tiny little Cornell-ejikated "brain" at the first opportunity.

I can just see her eyes glazing over: "Waa-waa, waa-waa waa waa."

[steelwheels]

I suspect that you are entirely correct. Even a good many that call themselves Christians don't have a clue as to what 'real' faith is.

...and of course you do? Maybe God "spoke" to her to ask the question. You know the heart of Kate Snow?...no I don't think so.

[IronJack]

"Lost his farm and lost his family;
Lost the wheat and lost his home.
But he found the family Bible
Faith as solid as a stone".

-- Matthew, John Denver

[Rumplemeyer]

You maybe correct, I did not hear the conversation, I read it here on FR.

I hear this question every time an event such as this occurs, the pastors answer is a very good one.

[hinckley buzzard]

I don't get this bigoted line of questioning

The question is as old as time. The interesting thing is that news-chickies are so ignorant, they think it is somehow original and worth asking.

[exhaustguy]

Spafford wrote this hymn after he was ruined financially in the Chicago fire and his four daughters drowned crossing the Atlantic. It is one of my favorite hymns.

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
Ho­ra­tio G. Spaf­ford, 1873.

Music: Phil­ip P. Bliss, 1876



When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

[Cheburashka]

I'm sure this interviewer seeks out at least one person every two weeks to ask serious questions about their religious faith. And broadcasts it for the education of her viewers.

Uh-huh.

I also believe in Tinker Belle and Peter Pan.

If it was a softball question it is because of how little thought the interviewer has given to such questions.

If you believe the Drive-by Media is agendaless, well, good luck to you.

[TYVets]

The interesting thing is that news-chickies are so ignorant, they think it is somehow original and worth asking.

As a youngster we were told that newspapers where written at a 12 year old level of comprehension.

As an adult it appears today "reporters" have the mind of a 10 year old.

[Cheburashka]

The question is valid, and each person of faith must come to his or her own answer.

But I'm not foolish enough to believe my enemies are trying to help me by asking the question. And the Drive-by Media is most assuredly my enemy and the enemy of everything I believe, in religious and in other areas of life.

[wintertime]

I would ask the chick how she reconciles her communism with such high priced clothing.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Down the Animal Farm, this Barbie Doll gets to sleep in the Farmer's House. The rest get the barn. ( if lucky)

[pepsionice]

The amusing thing...is that if you had a local channel 4 news team...they would have asked the right questions. What you see from these national media correspondents...is a loss of character and inability to be part of the community. These people attempt to live lives without any social or communal attachment. They look foolish on TV...and likely live very shallow lives. If you asked them for any life advice...you'd just be talking to a tree.

[Getready]

...be always ready to give a defense of your faith...in
season, and out of season...
He gave the basics of the gospels except for the "repent"
part...
Maybe Kate, in her world of inquiry, concern and
reportage, could have been affected by his comments
-only God knows.