...please be quiet.
It seems each day that you (Pat Robertson, I mean, though I'm pretty sure he doesn't read my blog) have a terrible habit of speaking before you think. We all suffer from that disease sometimes, and I get a really bad case of it once in a while. But usually it doesn't make the papers. In fact, when I know that there is a chance that something I say will appear in print, I try to be careful.
I try to be careful because a lot of people are wondering about Christianity out there. A lot of people are wondering what is going on with those Christians, who seem to spend more time fighting with one another and condemning people we don't even know than practicing the gospel we preach.
Pat, when you say that it might be good if someone assassinated the president of Venezuela, people notice. And they get to wondering. When you talk about Ariel Sharon's stroke, and then offer a line from scripture condemning those (Sharon) who would give away God's land, people notice. And they wonder again. What is with Those Christians.
What's supposed to be with us is a word of love--love for all people, especially those in need. Ariel Sharon was in need of our prayers, and all you needed to say was "Hey, I may not agree with everything Sharon does, but I'm sure praying for him."
It really wouldn't have been so hard. Those people wondering about us would probably have thought it kind, and generous, and decent. It might have lessened the damage done by the dozens of other dumb things you've said in the past few years.
I'm sorry to be harsh, but a Christian minister whose language is the idiom of hate is a dangerous thing. I know you believe that the things you say are right, but, sorry, wrong again. Wrong, and a hazard to those of us trying our best to invite more and more of those wondering folks into our fellowship.
So please, do us all a favor and just be quiet. The contemplative life is good. Thousands of monks can't be wrong.
2 comments:
from blue like jazz, by donald miller:
"I couldn't share something I wasn't experiencing. And I wasn't experiencing Christianity. It didn't do anything for me at all. It felt like math, like a system of rights and wrongs and political beliefs, but it wasn't mysterious, it wasn't God reaching out of heaven to do wonderful things in my life. And if I would have shared Christianity with somebody, it would have felt mostly like I was trying to get somebody to agree with me rather than meet God. I could no longer share anything about Christianity, but I loved talking about Jesus and the spirituality that goes along with a relationship with him."
...
"'I found Jesus very disturbing, very straighforward,' [she said]. 'He wasn't diplomatic, and yet I felt like if I met Him, He would really like me. I never felt like that about some of the Christians on the radio. I always thought if I met those people they would yell at me.'"
Kim,
These are great quotes. I think a lot of people are very confused by what they see in the public idiom about Jesus, and about Christianity. So much exclusion and hypocritical judgment. I pray for a time when the Jesus who ate with outcasts and preached justice for the poor will be lifted up and proclaimed all over the airwaves and the newspapers. Until then, we'll do our part, and work for a better day.
Peace,
Donna
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