A friend wrote an email today mentioning Pat Robertson and his comments on Haiti, which seems to be hitting the media - YouTube and such. I wrote him back with words like this:
We discussed Pat Robertson briefly at a Pastor’s meeting at a neighboring church this morning. It seems to me that the issue there is not that he pointed out sin, but that – as far as the video clips show – he didn’t make an intentional and special effort at making the gospel clear in the same breath. That’s the huge issue for me, and I believe it is with the Holy Spirit.
The law of God is absolutely necessary. It shows us that we fall short, we rebel etc. But when you’re down for the count, you’re desperate for good news, for rescue. There are likely many deeply hurting people in Haiti right now. The Christian (whether Robertson, or you or me) is beholden to be truthful about law, but also very eager to bring a word of hope, that Jesus Christ loves people and wants to bring them grace.
(In Haiti some of the obvious sins include Voodo. In America, we've got a pile of them, too. Paul said the sins of some are obvious, and the sins of others may not be as visible, but will "follow after them." [I Tim. 5:24] I think America's sins are starting to catch up with us. God doesn't miss anything.)
As we speak there are probably thousands of Christians responding with gifts of money, medicine, clothing, food, - and even going there themselves to assist. Let’s pray that God will be honored. This is what Paul meant when he referred to behavior which adorns the gospel. (Living Bible paraphrases it like this: “…[to] make people want to believe in our Savior and God.” (Titus 2:10)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment