MySpace "WTF" - Friday, January 06, 2006, 12:37

I am pissed! Why, you ask? As usual, I wake up to CNN Headline News to help me catch up to current affairs here and around the world. And what did I hear? A self-proclaimed evangelist claiming, “Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the [European Union], the United Nations or the United States of America;” suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was some sort of a divine punishment for “dividing God’s land,” in light of the Israeli withdrawal from parts of Gaza. And then this individual fellow goes further to draw similarities between the Ariel Sharon’s health problems to the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, an Israeli leader who signed the Oslo peace accords.

What the friggin’ hell?!?

You know who this disturbed person I’m talking about? It’s none other than Pat Robertson. Yup! The same Pat Robertson who called for the assassination of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, last August! Friggin’ amazing…

Now, how would you feel if I were to say that I’m a devout Muslim, not extreme, but not mainstream either; and proclaim that so and so kidnapped Christian missionaries in some Islamic country are better off killed, or wishing some ill will upon said kidnapped folks? Even a majority of Muslims will be up in arms, retaliating my proclamation, calling me a blasphemous Muslim. Well, that’s how I feel about this Pat Robertson fellow—a blasphemous Christian.

Throughout the history of our human civilization, peace has not been easy to come by. Conflicts occur, and continue on today. Quite simply put, all these conflicts have a simple, stupid root cause, mainly because two groups of people don’t speak the same language, don’t share the same skin color, or don’t share the same religious beliefs. Why is it that peace cannot be obtained for such simple conflicts? I think I know why. It is because of crazy extremists like Osama bin Laden and Pat Robertson. They continue to squeeze more fuel into fire, causing eruptions to occur frequently and ceaselessly.

As far as I am concerned, the only race is the human race, regardless of color or religious background. We should all strive to work towards peace. It’s not that hard to achieve, honestly, if we don’t have extremists distracting the mass population and taking advantage of those who are not well educated or informed. To me, Pat Robertson uses his show to further his personal agenda and mislead Christians, especially the ones who still do not have a solid foundation in their core of God and Christianity. And Robertson simply takes advantage of these people, just like the Al Qaeda recruits the young and impressionable people. It’s sick.

Robertson’s response to the criticism of his insensitive and reckless comments? Well, the coward that he is issued the following statement while hiding behind his spokesperson: “What they're basically saying is, 'How dare Pat Robertson quote the Bible?’ This is what the word of God says.” Now, I should be straight forward in that he was referring to the book of Joel, which has the passage whereby God has “enmity against those who divide My land.”

Great… But that just launches me into yet another bone I have to pick with. Why is it that people with personal agendas love to quote the Bible in verbatim to drive their point of view? These are the same people who would jump from one version of the Bible to the next to build a case. If one version of the Bible, say, NIV, does not have the exact wording desired by the extremist, he will just switch to another version of the Bible until he gets what he wants. This is sad, because in my opinion, they are just manipulating the Bible, disregarding the possibility that the Bible has numerous elements lost in translation. Even experts and scholars in ancient languages have disputed and debated time after time for centuries about the true meaning and intentions of the author, hence the various versions of the Bible out there today. Are they all the same Bible? I believe so. But readers should bear in mind that they cannot hold onto literal infallacy when reading the Bible. And for Robertson to quote the Bible verbatim and drive his point is just reckless and irresponsible for an ordained minister and bible teacher.

In my opinion, this is just a classic case of the blind leading the blind. I am sure at one time or another, Pat Robertson was a great and true minister of God. But I believe that over time, money and fame have clouded his judgment and ability to be a true minister, leading him further away from God. And it doesn’t help that his agendas have gotten graver and graver. I have lost respect for this fellow, and it saddens me to know that there are many impressionable young Christians (young in Christian maturity, not age) who may fall into Robertson’s trap.

I hope that my opinions have stirred something in you, my reader, to sit and ponder for yourself, regardless if you agree or not with me. Cheers!