Sadly, this is what passes for ‘evangelical theology’ in some quarters of the United States.
Pat Robertson asserts that “Haitians were originally ”under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil,” … ”They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, OK, it’s a deal,” … ”Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”
Read the article online in the Melbourne Age.
The theology behind such claims seems more representative of animism or dualism that Christianity.
It also seems to overlook the legacy of the atheistically inspired revolutionary spirit which the French brought to Haiti and which has remained dominant there ever since.
You could draw parallels between this and the Tiger Woods/Brit Hume situation of last week.
What makes Robertson’s comments that much more unpalatable that Hume’s?
Well, Wood’s situation can be directly linked to his personal failings. Hume’s advice was personally aimed at helping Woods.
Luke 13 records Jesus’ response to a ‘natural disaster’, which was to point out that everyone needs to repent and turn to God. The disaster was no indicator that some were under a special judgment, nor even that if they were believers that they would have escaped that tragedy.
The duration of life is something about which we have no certainty, so we should always be prepared to stand before God, trusting in the Saviour he has provided to us.
Updates:
Mark Vander Pol offers a more extended meditation along these lines at the White Horse Inn. ‘Judgment, Fate, or Providence in Haiti?’
Michael Horton takes rather more direct issue with Robertson himself. ‘Pat Robertson Speaks’.
Albert Mohler deals with the substance, not with the man. ‘Does God Hate Haiti?’
Scotty Smith pours out his heart to God in ‘A Prayer About Earthquake Faultfinding’
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