Posted on 01/13/2006 6:36:42 AM PST by rattrap
Pat Robertson, who every so often says something really outrageous just to get attention, has apologized for saying Ariel Sharon's stroke was God's retribution for giving up the Gaza strip. He wrote a letter to Ariel Sharon's son. In part, he said: "My zeal, my love of Israel, and my concern for the future safety of your nation led me to make remarks which I can now view in retrospect as inappropriate and insensitive in light of a national grief experienced because of your father's illness. I ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of the people of Israel for saying what was clearly insensitive at the time." That's an understatement.
But the real story here is how much attention is paid to Pat Robertson when he says the things that he does. The agenda is clear: to paint every Republican and conservative as a right-wing extremist nutcase. So now Pat Robertson has apologized...and he'll go back to his TV show. Sometime down the line he'll say something outrageous, and it will be the top story on CNN again.
The media really is becoming quite predictable.
Does it matter how many people are at your sendoff?
It was posited as a measure of who is more respected, Robertson or John Paul the Great.
Let's...
Christ commanded the seed of the "Good News" -- eternal redemption through His blood -- be sown throughout the world, and thus souls "saved."
Though a great man, did JPII accomplish that?
The ecumenism JPII espoused is/was NOT the goal of Jesus Christ, thus neither a goal of His disciples then and now.
Moreover, the kissing of the Koran could be considered nothing but blasphamous.
"Pat Robertson: one of the most divisive figures on the stage, and that's just in the United States."
That may or may not be, but wasn't Christ Himself considered "divisive"?
At least the imperfect (as we ALL are) Pat Robertson is sowing some seeds of faith and spreading the Gospel amidst his occassion mistakes.
At the time of His death, yes.
At the time of Jesus death, He was less respected than John Paul was at the time of John Paul's death.
""Jesus didn't have three million at his send off."
I assume the "receiving end" is a slightly more important deal than a "send off" from a huge audience of mortals ;-)
If I was on a long drive with my parents, and saw that on a roadside-attraction billboard, the unanimous outcry from us kids would be "Keep driving, Dad!"
Here's my take on Pat Robertson. He comes out with these outrageous statements (at least by our contemporary standards) in order to keep the public dialogue as broad based as possible. It provides work for the MSM and libs, and keeps more moderate thought from becoming labeled the new right wing extreme.
That's not backing down exactly. He owed that to the Sharon family. And he is right, it was insensitive and inappropriate, but that doesn't make it untrue, and he didn't say it was untrue. He could have just taken a golden opportunity to keep his mouth closed.
Wonder if Jesus would kiss a Koran to raise his "send off' numbers? (/sar)
"But daa-aad, we wanna go spelunking!"
Money talks, eh Pat?
I don't think anyone here is complaining about his quotation of scripture.
I disagree with his opinion that this is the case with Sharon.
That's where the problem is. He's entitled to believe that, and we're all entitled to disagree if we wish. Some of us (speaking for myself) think it's damned presumptuous for Robertson to tell us or even imply he knew Sharon's stroke was in fact God's will.
But what's worse is how he seemed to sell out his belief when Israel started to walk away from his real estate deal. His beliefs (as originally stated) seem to have a price.
Pat Robertson doesn't have nearly as many worldwide followers as Jesus Christ does.
So why does Robertson help them out by being a right-wing extremist nutcase?
He's obviously going about it the wrong way.
That's exactly what got him in trouble. Had nothing to do with quoting scripture word-for-word from the Bible.
Blaming God for everyone's woes won't gain any sympathy from anyone. Robertson is clearly a damn fool.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.