Silence is Golden, Pat Robertson

Silence is Golden, Pat Robertson

The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
Matthew 25:40 New International Version

I hardly ever watch the news. I don't need to; I get the reports from my co-workers. The list of deaths and tragedies seems to be endless. However, every once in a while the bad news breaks from the norm in favor of the bizarre. And this time the bizarre news has Pat Robertson (of The 700 Club) at its nucleus.

Pat was quoted around the office as saying that the Haitian nation has endured recent natural disasters and hardships because they made a pact with the devil . . . .

If I could speak to Pat personally, the first thing I would do is ask to pray with him for open minds and clear communication between us. Secondly, I would tell him that just because you know a thing, does not mean you need to say a thing. His statements about a “Haitian deal with the devil” make the rest of us Christians look like insensitive backwoods, superstitious idiots. Sometimes silence is golden, and it would have been golden if you would have remained silent, Pat. If you can't say something nice, maybe it is better to say nothing at all.

I won't address how Pat could possibly know such a thing as why disasters befall some and pass by others. Nor will I address the idea of his being wrong or right. I am not discussing whether the devil is real or not (and the scriptures say he is indeed real). What I would like to do is offer an alternative statement that I wish Pat would have delivered:

"The people of Haiti are experiencing tremendous loss of life and property. The things we take for granted such as food and water are now beyond the reach of the Haitian people. We believers have an opportunity to live out our faith and win these people back to God.

Jesus says that he will one day tell us that we visited him in prison, clothed and fed him. And our response to this statement will be, “When did we do this?” Jesus will respond that we did it when we did it for the least, the downtrodden.

Jesus is behind those broken and hurting people. And we can serve them today. We can serve them by sending funds to Haiti. We can serve them by sending representatives from our church congregations or missionaries. The world sends a few dollars, but we send hope. The world sends something good; we can send something better. We are serving them in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord."

Pat, please think before you speak. You owe it to the rest of us.

Sighted Faith

Sighted Faith


Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you
Luke 1:3 New International Version


People don’t say it much anymore, but I used to hear that believers in God and Jesus had blind faith. The erroneous assumptions of the cynics however still continue even in the information age. They assume someone told us what to believe and we fell for it hook, line and sinker. As if we are mentally deficient or easily hoodwinked in some way. I think the faith-challenged presuppose us believers to be a certain type of person, someone genetically predisposed to gullibility and certain physiological phenomenon, which requires “religious people” to need something better than ourselves to justify our existence.

One of my co-workers caught me reading my Bible. She referred to me as religious. I told her, “I am one of the least religious people you’ll ever meet.”
She said, “Well, you are reading a Bible.”
“Yes.” I said.
“Well that makes you religious.”
“Why?”
“Well, people that read the Bible are religious and they go to church, right?”
“Lady, I don’t even like to go to church and I curse too. But, in spite of those things I simply try to love God because he has done good things for me.”
“I was never raised to be a religious person.” She said.
I told her, “Neither was I.”

I have a nonbelieving friend that reasons diametrically different from me. He thinks that mankind will solve all of its own problems and that the world will be at peace soon. I asked him to watch the news for five minutes and get back to me. I asked him where he got his ideas. He said he just feels that way… That sounds like blind denial to me. When I push him for more concrete answers for his hypothesis, he says, “I just believe.” That is not an answer that will convince anyone of anything. A good investigation looks at the facts, with no preconceived or conspired outcome. Let the facts speak for themselves. The one fact that should be looked at is also the same fact that the media and frankly a lot of faithless chumps have been attacking and trying to debase for years, and that is the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The life and resurrection of Jesus have been proven true by historians and investigators that studied canonical and non-canonical sources over the centuries. In addition, men and women have given up their lives because their faith was sighted and grounded in reality.

Is your belief sighted and firmly grounded or is it blind to reason and consequence?
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Thoughts on faith from a sinful man
Author: Eric MontgomeryCopyright ©2009

Our Origins

Our Origins

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1 NEW LIVING TRANSLATION


When one speaks of creation, one cannot ignore the theory of evolution. I have been wondering if scientists are not attempting to prove evolution, but are actually trying to prove that God does not exist. Likewise, I wonder if what has become the young earth theory is one attempt at defaming the secular scientists. My opinion now is that “young earth” and the theory of evolution are exactly that, theory and conjecture. No one really knows when the world was created, how old the universe is and for Christians, how long it took God to create the universe. When we look at Genesis, we see the word “day” used for several creation periods. The Hebrew word for day is yôma. It means “a long period.” Yôma does not tell us an exact time, nor does it mention the actual process. Faith answers the who and science answers some of the how’s. But maybe, the flaw is that we keep asking where, how and when instead of why?

Maybe I am full of conjecture and theory myself, but I think God really did create everything including you and me. I think some plant and animal life did evolve, but the Bible also states that man was created from dust AND God’s breath (Gen 2:7). For me, that completely rules out any form of human evolution from another earthly or alien life form. I think the “question of why” is answered in the cross. God wants us to know him for who he really is. He expects us to recognize his handy work when we see and experience his creation. His creation is like a sign post that tells us that HE created it all. Even when mankind fell into sin, he loved us enough to die for us. He expects our gratitude. He expects us to know where we came from.

I Am A Gift?

I Am A Gift?


"This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father."
John 6:65 The Message


I do not like the idea of being someone else’s endowment. Being a gift sort of makes me feel purchased, wrapped and delivered. The problem I have with that idea is that I am not my own. I am someone else’s; even if it is for a moment. And I intend to be my own man.

I was walking to my car when two older women pulled up in a car to ask directions. These ladies were dressed to the nines, one of them sporting the traditional black Baptist woman’s large ornate hat. They were looking for a certain church in the area. I tried to explain where it was, but I have a man’s sense of direction. That is a nice way to say that I had no clue how to offer accurate directions. Instead, I asked the ladies to follow my lead. As we caravanned to the church my mind was blank, not really thinking that I was doing my good deed for the day or anything like that. Frankly, I relish the moments when my mind is not thinking about anything. Normally, it’s racing with plans for the day, studies to write, or nonsensical anomalies of random thought. When we got near the church, I pointed the ladies in the right direction, and they waved me over. One of the ladies grabbed my hand and thanked me for the help. I sort of brushed off her gratitude and started walking away as it really was not a big deal. But the woman persisted, “God sent you to me, young man.” I think my mouth fell open, but I said nothing.
She said, “Today, you are my blessing. Do you believe that?”
“Not really,” I replied. “Anyone would have done it.”
“I don’t believe that. I think God sent you to me as a gift. Today you are my angel, my gift,” she said. Her words made me uneasy.

I really had a hard time with what she was saying. She implied that everything I was doing was really being directed by God. As if I am Pinocchio turned into a real person, but still attached to the strings that only God can control. I’d like to think I can make up my own mind, make my own choices and be my own man. Meanwhile, this verse screams out to me that my coming to believe in Jesus is hardly my own choice. It is a weird dichotomy that while I get to choose to follow Jesus, God also chose me, gift wrapped me, and handed me over to Jesus. And, I cannot process that in a way that makes sense. Maybe the thing I need to do is be okay with these dual truths as they are. Maybe when I grow up, I’ll even like being gift wrapped for a pair of directionally challenged elderly ladies, a wife and a Savior.
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From: Thoughts on faith from a sinful man
Author: Eric MontgomeryCopyright ©2009