Haiti and a Loving God: Pat Robertson answered the wrong question

Bipolarman Blog via Articlesbase ^ | January 18th, 2010 | Richard Jarzynka

[j_marie]

Skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, have every reason to ask me, as a Christian, how my loving God could allow the earthquake in Haiti. And, as a Christian, I must face the fact that God, indeed, could have prevented the quake and spared the Haitian people such agony. And yet He chose to allow it.

[streetpreacher]

Good article.

[Quix]

Reasonably good article.

I believe it is impossible to separate suffering from creating a universe with sufficiently robust choice for there to the the real capacity to Love God and others . . . or not.

And those thousands of personal choice toward love or non-love brings consequences collectively and individually.

[spyone]

So, in summary, this fellow agrees Pat Robertson is an idiot.

[Loud Mime]

Robertson is giving Christians a bad name. He should go to the islands with Robert Tilton

[gwilhelm56]

YO, Newbie troll ... go reread your bible.. there’s a Lot more disasters than one lousy earthquake ...

Considering that Haiti’s 2nd Religion is VOODOO, Robertson was right on the mark.

As for the Author of the article.. I suggest you UP your MEDS.

[wardaddy]

nothing positive comes from Voodoo in my opinion...or any other primitive religious mixes with Catholicism that conjures

simple as that

but that does not mean God is punishing them..he doesn’t need to....they do it enough to themselves

voodoo is a golden calf ...my perception

[1955Ford]

Francico Ayala,a well-known molecular biologist, began his career in a seminary as a devout Catholic. He was very troubled why young children were killed in natural disasters. They were too young to have done anything that deserved death. What possible message could God be sending? Unable to explain, he abandoned his religion.

[blueplum]

I believe earthquakes are reminders we live in an imperfect world. God gave his only son Jesus up to the cross to die for our sins so God wouldn’t go around smoting things - this would break the promise He gave us through Jesus.

In a large way, the disaster in Haiti was a blessing for us - those of us being outside of Haiti that is. Haiti has finally been broken open and exposed for all the world to see in a way that cannot be turned away from, in an undeniable way, bringing into the daylight all the ugliness, all the poverty, the disease, the corruption, the exploitation of superstitions to keep people subjegated and child-like, people who have been ignored or hidden by self-interested ‘aid’ agencies for decades. This disaster has provided those of us unaffected by the disaster, the opportunity to do God’s work and to show the awesome power of God’s love, as we reach out with generosity of wallet and spirit, and our prayers, to the people of Haiti and for each other.

[Phantom4]

Robertson’s error is in his view of God, Whom he sees as some strong fellow up in the sky that knee-jerks every time something interesting happens “down here.” It’s the same error that was implicit in the movie “Bruce Almighty,” in which God (Morgan Freeman) tells Bruce (Jim Carrey) something like,
“Well, son, now you see that this god business is more complicated than you think. That pesky human ‘free will’ keeps getting in the way.” [or words to that effect]
The real issue in theology is whether we are willing to accept a view of God that is true, even if it doesn’t sound nice and neat. When Job asked God to explain why all the bad stuff happened to him, God, in so many words, told Job he has no right to demand an explanation from his very Creator.
A God who is omnipotent, and also “allows” something to happen, for all practical purposes has ordained that that very event happen. Otherwise, we must conclude that he merely “allowed” Jesus to be tortured and mercilessly crucified. Isaiah prophetically explained that it “pleased God to bruise Him.”

[C19fan]

If it was not for plate tectonics, resulting in earthquakes and volcanoes but some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, the planet would die. Plate tectonis is a key factor in the carbon cycle supporting life. Mars does not have, or did have and it was shut down, plate tectonics and some believe by eliminating the carbon cycle eliminated the possibility of life or complicated life.

[bjorn14]

Excellent posts but I have to wonder if this is a case of “sins of the father being visited on the son.” Every August 14th since 1791 the Voodoo priests kept making sure that “the pact with the devil” was still intact.