Here's what Pat writes about war:
"Jesus said if somebody strikes you on the cheek, you turn the other cheek. If somebody forces you to go one mile, you go two. If he takes away your coat, give him your shirt. Resist not evil is what He taught His people and His disciples, but He was not necessarily talking about governments.
The apostle Paul said, "He who wields the sword wields it not in vain, for he is a minister of God to bring justice or judgment against the ungodly, against the kidnapper, against the murderer." The thought of a police force and military use of force was certainly in the apostle Paul. You recognize that the first gentile convert was a Roman centurion. He was essentially a captain; he had a hundred men under him. He was the first one that the Holy Spirit fell on. Also, there was a Roman officer that Jesus talked about. He said, 'I haven't found such faith, no not in all of Israel.' He never told that man to quit the army. He never told him to be a pacifist.
I don't think pacifism, as such, is biblical. For the individual Christian, yes. We don't kick back against offenses against us. But in the collective sense of a government or of a world order, there has to be something to restrain evil."
So, it's wrong for an individual to do violence, but if he's a government worker it's OK. Pat's God apparently has special dispensation for bureaucrats who sin in the line of duty.
Now Pat is threatening Dover PA with the wrath of God because its residents voted out a slate of wingnut school board candidates. Pat's God is easily thwarted, it seems, in that He cannot even fix a local election. Moreover, He wants the children of Dover PA to be taught very bad science. Also, He directs natural disasters at sinners, and I assume that a community could turn back a storm by sacrificing some hard core sinners. Pat's God didn't get the word on the forgiveness of sins.
Back in '01, Pat said his God was behind the WTC attack to punish America for tolerating gays. Pat's God likes to smite people for things other people are doing and to make it difficult to make a connection between the smiting and the sin in question. If Pat didn't tell us, how would we know that the destruction of the WTC was about gay people?
Some time ago, Pat declared a fatwa on the Supreme Court and asked God to kill some Justices. Look who died first. It turns out that Rehnquist was the one that angered Pat's God the most, assuming that Pat's God actually kills people on request.
The salient characteristics of Pat's God are vengefulness, caprice, and approval of forceful government action. Pat Roberston worships Ares?
Monday, November 14, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment