Does God hate Pat Robertson?

We always knew Pat Robertson was crazy, but this week we found out how low he could stoop.

Run a Google search on Pat Robertson or scan any of the hundreds of articles that have been written about him in the last couple days, and you can scroll through pages and pages of foolishness he has spouted.

Of his most quotable quotes: the Constitution is a document only for Christians; he would keep non Christians out of government; and that the white people of South Africa’s apartheid needed protection for their vote.

Here is one of my favorite Pat Robertson quotes, “You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them.”--Pat Robertson, The 700 Club, January 14, 1991.

But this week he went a step beyond foolish. He pranced around ridiculous and teetered on dangerous. What makes this so disgusting was that he did this while claiming the mantle of a man of God.

NO RIGHT TO LIFE?
Like most people, I was aghast and shocked to hear — and see — Pat Robertson, from the set of a religious TV show, smirk into the camera, look us right in the eye, and proclaim that a human being should be assassinated. Killed. He even suggested the military could do it covertly. And then he offered the rationales that it would be cheaper than starting a war and that the oil would still flow. Convenience and economics.

Even the most hardened criminals with mountains of evidence have to undergo a formality called a trial before they can be put to death in this and most coun-tries. But not in Pat’s world. Pat Robertson has decided that Hugo Chavez is dangerous and that is enough to sentence him to death. Innocent until proven guilty? Not anymore. Any preacher can pronounce you guilty and call for your head.

Is Chavez a bad guy? I would say the jury is still out, but there hasn’t even been a trial. Under our legal system, the accused gets to live until someone presents evidence, the accused has an opportunity to refute it, and a jury of 12 returns a verdict. If Scott Peterson could get that much, shouldn’t a head of state?

And whatever happened to their precious right to life? Is life in its begining stages any more sacred than after a lifetime of choices?

PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION
What would make Pat Robertson think he had the right to call for another per-son’s life? Imagine the arrogance it would take to not only think it, but also to say it into a camera that you know is beaming into millions of homes. He has said so many outrageous things over the last 20 years, without consequence, that he felt himself invincible.

And lest we be fooled into thinking it was the slip of the tongue, he went an entire day while this story brewed without a comment. He didn’t rush back out to apologize or straighten the record if he was misunderstood. For almost 24 hours while people gasped in horror, Pat Robertson was silent. He meant it.

LYING LIPS ARE AN ABOMINATION UNTO THE LORD
To make things worse, he came out the next day and claimed that he didn’t even say it. With the benefit of reflection and I’m sure a few calls from his colleagues begging him to recant, Pat Robertson looked into the same camera and said it didn’t happen. As if we didn’t witness it the first time?!

Now that couldn’t have been a slip of the tongue either. He had an entire day to plan what he was going to say. He thought about it. Meditated on it. Maybe even prayed about it. And then lied about it.

He knew what he said. To say otherwise is just a deliberate lie. That’s what he would tell any of us.

A COWARDLY RESPONSE
As if advocating violence and compounding it with lying wasn’t enough, he al-lowed other preachers to go out and fend for him. An even more disgusting dis-play was watching pastors like Rev. Ted Haggard, from the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, tap dance around issues of law and morality while trying to defend Pat Roberts.

Some pastors denounced Pat Robertson. Others tried to cover him in the cloth – the First Amendment cloth. Pastors were defending his right to call for a man’s death while saying they didn’t believe in killing. It was a sad day for Christian-ity.

And Pat did nothing but watch.

THE APOLOGY WILL NOT BE TELEVISED
Finally, Pat Robertson issued an apology of sorts on his web site. The accusa-tion and the cover up happened live on TV. The apology needed to be down-loaded. He’s a killer (encouraging someone's death is no different in my book), a liar and a coward.

The actions we have seen this past week are clearly counter to any Biblical teaching. The same Bible also teaches that God's love is unconditional, but some things piss Him off — just as they do to us.

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.” Proverbs 6:16-19

Count them up, and draw your own conclusions. I won't sentence Pat Robertson to death, but he does have to live with this.

What honor?

I am tired of hearing Bush’s latest talking point about troops killed in Iraq. The president keeps repeating that we honor their service by completing the mission.

Honor?

Where is the honor in continuing an engagement that everyone now agrees was based on erroneous information? Where’s the honor in sticking to a strategy that clearly doesn’t seem to be working? Where is the honor in continuing down a road that seems to be costing Americans far more in lives and money than anyone foresaw, without any effort to re-evaluate the approach?

According to this thinking, we honor the dead by ensuring more fall to the same fate.

Here’s a thought. If you want to show respect, address the issues that led to the soldiers being killed in the first place. Make sure they have enough troops to defend themselves, enough armor to protect themselves, a clear strategy for engagement and withdrawal. I'm sure that is a form of honor all the troops would appreciate.

Honor: a : good name or public esteem : REPUTATION b : a showing of usually merited respect : RECOGNITION example: pay honor to our founder.