Originally Posted by n david (Post 865342)

• Pat Robertson doesn't speak for me, nor most Christians.

I guarantee you a large majority of Christians would disagree with his statements. Unfortunately he has a show and the press loves to get this guy on the news and show how wacky he is ... then they try to paint all Christians the same way.

I do believe in the judgement of God and that God can and does judge the nations. However, I don't believe this "pact with the devil" nonesense is responsible for the earthquake.

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple (Post 865149)

Let them hate us. If the story be true it makes sense.

Originally Posted by John Atkinson (Post 865344)

THis reminds me of when people said Katrina was God's Judgement on New Orleans. Please. You live on the gulf coast.... you get hurricanes, fact of life. You live in an active seismic zonw, you get earthquakes and volcanoes... fact of life.

Now when God lays a hurricane or earthquake on the adult disneyworld known as Amsterdam, I might begin to believe it. Until then, it is all about your local geography. If we get a crippling blizzard here, it will be because it is north, and it snows, not because God is punishing us.

Originally Posted by Timmy (Post 865404)

If it's true that God has been punishing these people for centuries -- for any reason -- then it is not a reason to hate Christians. It is a perfectly good reason to hate God.

Originally Posted by notofworks (Post 865406)

I forgot about Katrina and Hagee. John Hagee said:

Pastor John Hagee -- whose endorsement Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said this past Sunday he was "glad to have" -- told NPR's Terry Gross that "Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans." "New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God," Hagee said, because "there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came."


No, Hagee, Dobson, Robertson, etc., they don't speak for us, but "They" take it that way. I'm not calling all Christians into question, but simply trying to raise awareness of why we occasionally face very significant obstacles.

Originally Posted by notofworks (Post 865407)

Wow. I gotta admit, I felt a twinge of pain when I read that last sentence, but when put in the context you did, if would be hard to argue with.

Originally Posted by Timmy (Post 865409)

I'm going out on a limb here and assume you think Hagee was wrong? :heeheehee

And yet some people who say (or have written) what God thinks and does are correct? How can we tell who is right and who is wrong? Which ancient books are right and which are wrong?

Originally Posted by notofworks (Post 865416)

We know that God doesn't always think what he did was correct....he did correct Himself a couple times. Although I support all that God does, I struggle with the standard, cliched, scripted explanations that generally make the rounds.

Originally Posted by Coffee99 (Post 865420)

I think God gets the blame for a lot of things for which He had asolutely nothing to do. Perhaps it is a way for some to feel more spiritual. Perhaps it is a way for some people to dodge responsibility for poor personal choices. Sometimes, it's simply a matter of people looking for a way to reconcile a terrible event with a purpose.