I usually try not to acknowledge ignorant things said by Christians in the public eye, as I don't think much good usually comes from starting a social media fight about the person. But my heart was so grieved as I listened to Pat Robertson's most recent comment that I was brought to tears, and because I really believe his comments have the potential to severaly hurt the Gospel of Christ, I feel they need to be addressed.
As Russell Moore says in the article below, I believe Robertson's recent comments on adoption are truly from the devil. He says the literal opposite of what Christ actually said. Friends who have heard or read Robertson's recent comments on adopted and "weird" kids, please know that this man's comments do NOT represent Christ.
Christ came to love the most hurting and broken, not from far away but by taking them into His arms and into His life. He wanted to hang out with the "weird" ones, the most messed up ones, above anyone else - which is ALL of us, because we all have issues, we are all sinners. And He desires those of us who call ourselves Christians to follow His example, to love the most broken, the "weird" ones, as Christ has loved us.
I truly pray that Robertson has fellowship and accountability around him, or would get some soon, who would advise him to step back from speaking publicly and saying things in his old age that harm the image and mission of Christ. And I pray most of all that unbiblical comments of his would not obscure the beautiful, powerful love of Christ that is seen in the way He loved people in His life - and in the way He loved us through His death on the Cross. It is through this holy, heartbreaking, glorious death that God adopted all of us orphans into His family. I pray the world would see this love - this love that drove Christ to interact with the lowest and most forgotten of society, and that then drove Him to the Cross - through people like my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Andy, and my pastors Amy and Aaron, who have taken these kids who are not their "own" into their lives, loving them for all their possible "weirdness" - just as Christ does with all of us.
"I say to my non-Christian friends and neighbors, if you want to see the gospel of Christ, the gospel that has energized this church for two thousand years, turn off the television. The grinning cartoon characters who claim to speak for Christ don’t speak for him. Find the followers who do what Jesus did. Find the people who risk their lives to carry a beaten stranger to safety. Find the houses opened to unwed mothers and their babies in crisis. Find the men who are man enough to be a father to troubled children of multiple ethnicity and backgrounds..."
Watch Robertson's comments here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhyJpLIpRVA
And then read this incredibly well-written and powerful statement from Russell Moore:
http://www.russellmoore.com/2012/08/17/pat-robertson-vs-the-spirit-of-adoption/
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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