"Simple" foreigners are more likely to experience miracles than "sophisticated" Americans, according to Pat Robertson.
On Monday's episode of "The 700 Club" on the Christian Broadcasting Network, a caller asked where all the miracles are.
"Why do amazing miracles, (people raised from the dead, blind eyes open, lame people walking) happen with great frequency in places like Africa, and not here in the USA? What can we do to encourage those things to happen here? Is America too far gone for miracles like this?"
“People overseas didn’t go to Ivy League schools,” the TV preacher chuckled. “We’re so sophisticated, we think we’ve got everything figured out. We know about evolution, we know about Darwin, we know about all these things that says God isn’t real.”
“And overseas, they’re simple, humble. You tell ‘em God loves ‘em and they say, ‘Okay, he loves me.’ You say God will do miracles and they say, ‘Okay, we believe him.’ And that’s what God’s looking for. That’s why they have miracles.”
You can watch the video here if you have the stomach for it.
So, basically his argument is that God is... pretty much exactly how Stuart wrote Him, only this guy is supposed to be on His marketing team. I don't know if that's hilarious or creepy as all hell.
There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Small Gods)
Replace "ginger" with "n*gger," and suddenly it become a lot less funny, doesn't it?
-- fgalkin
So he is sort of saying people who believe in miracles are stupid simple and easily tricked, but at the same time implying that being stupid, er I mean simple is a good thing? Did I interpret the passage correctly?
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
mr friendly guy wrote:So he is sort of saying people who believe in miracles are stupid simple and easily tricked, but at the same time implying that being stupid, er I mean simple is a good thing? Did I interpret the passage correctly?
Yes, that's what he's saying. God likes 'em dumb, and only gives out candy to people too stupid to correctly interpret the evidence He gave us.
I'm sure Pat Robertson just loves his "simple, humble" Africans, even if God doesn't:
In the mid-1990s, Pat struck up a friendship with Mobutu Sese Seko, the brutal tyrant of Zaire. He took a trip to the African nation with a large entourage on one of Mobutu's personal planes. Then the group was whisked off to his presidential yacht, which took them to his estate. One member of the party characterized their host as quite congenial: "Pat Robertson and Mobutu get along extremely well. Mobutu was interested in bringing in people to get the mining and agriculture operations going again."
Robertson purchased rights from Mobutu to dredge for diamonds in a remote portion of the Zaire river near Tshikapa. Diamond mining is an expensive proposition. It requires a constant influx of miners and equipment parts. In order to keep his operation supplied with manpower and gear, personnel and materiel had to be flown in from other places. That can get expensive.
In a cost-cutting move, Pat ferried his cargo aboard planes owned by Operation Blessing, a tax-exempt charity of Robertson's working to deliver medical supplies. In fact, according to two pilots who worked for Robertson, nearly all of the flights they made on the Operation Blessing planes were delivery trips to and from the mining site. Later, one of them told a reporter:
"My first impression when I took the job was that we'd be called Operation Blessing and we'd be doing humanitarian work. We got over there and 'Operation Blessing' was painted on the tails of the airplanes, but we were doing no humanitarian relief at all. We were just supplying the miners and flying the dredges from Kinshasa out to Tshikapa."
Even after the mining operation went bust a few years later, Robertson kept in touch with Mobutu. Reports claim that he sent a personal messenger "offering his assistance and cooperation" in 1996, when rebels were about to overtake the government's military strongholds. Pat unsuccessfully lobbied the State Department to reinstate Mobutu's visa so he could come to the United States.
"Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again."
- Stephen King, The Stand
"Ozone Man, Ozone. He's crazy, way out, far out, man." — George H.W. Bush, speaking about Al Gore during the 1992 presidential campaign
That's because you are Latin heretics, people. Here in Greece, miracles abound. We also have an official state-sponsored church, our Constitution begins with a pledge to the Trinity instead of the people, and schools have religious studies classes that teach you about Jesus from ages 8-18, so it's obvious where you are wrong. You need a touch of 18th century, that's all.
SystemError wrote:I'm sure Pat Robertson just loves his "simple, humble" Africans, even if God doesn't:
In the mid-1990s, Pat struck up a friendship with Mobutu Sese Seko, the brutal tyrant of Zaire. He took a trip to the African nation with a large entourage on one of Mobutu's personal planes. Then the group was whisked off to his presidential yacht, which took them to his estate. One member of the party characterized their host as quite congenial: "Pat Robertson and Mobutu get along extremely well. Mobutu was interested in bringing in people to get the mining and agriculture operations going again."
Robertson purchased rights from Mobutu to dredge for diamonds in a remote portion of the Zaire river near Tshikapa. Diamond mining is an expensive proposition. It requires a constant influx of miners and equipment parts. In order to keep his operation supplied with manpower and gear, personnel and materiel had to be flown in from other places. That can get expensive.
In a cost-cutting move, Pat ferried his cargo aboard planes owned by Operation Blessing, a tax-exempt charity of Robertson's working to deliver medical supplies. In fact, according to two pilots who worked for Robertson, nearly all of the flights they made on the Operation Blessing planes were delivery trips to and from the mining site. Later, one of them told a reporter:
"My first impression when I took the job was that we'd be called Operation Blessing and we'd be doing humanitarian work. We got over there and 'Operation Blessing' was painted on the tails of the airplanes, but we were doing no humanitarian relief at all. We were just supplying the miners and flying the dredges from Kinshasa out to Tshikapa."
Even after the mining operation went bust a few years later, Robertson kept in touch with Mobutu. Reports claim that he sent a personal messenger "offering his assistance and cooperation" in 1996, when rebels were about to overtake the government's military strongholds. Pat unsuccessfully lobbied the State Department to reinstate Mobutu's visa so he could come to the United States.
Hm, that might explain why Op Blessing aircraft flights were suddenly cancelled back in the late 90's/early 00's if someone caught wind of that little smuggling operation. My uncle was a mechanic on the L-1011 when suddenly he and a lot of others who worked on that plane were suddenly laid off.
"Incoming Fire has the right of way."
-Murphy's 18th Law of Combat.
DieselJester wrote:Hm, that might explain why Op Blessing aircraft flights were suddenly cancelled back in the late 90's/early 00's if someone caught wind of that little smuggling operation. My uncle was a mechanic on the L-1011 when suddenly he and a lot of others who worked on that plane were suddenly laid off.
Sese Seko wasn't the only African tinpot tyrant Robertson had cordial relations with.
In 1999, Pat struck up a relationship with another African dictator, Liberian strongman Charles Taylor. Robertson stuck an $8 million deal to pursue more mining in his country. This time, he wasn't hunting for diamonds -- he was hunting for gold. According to a Liberian government press release, Pat told Taylor: "I pray that this investment may become a wonderful blessing to the people of Liberia and will be one of the many significant investments that will be made under your administration in the nation of Liberia."
Pat chartered Freedom Gold Ltd. in the Cayman Islands and dispatched geologists to southeastern Liberia for prospecting. They didn't find much. But that hasn't diminished Robertson's zeal. When President George W Bush started making noises about Charles Taylor having to step down in order to halt the Liberian civil war, the preacher publicly excoriated Bush for failing to support the leader of a sovereign Christian nation, even if he had perpetrated crimes against humanity on a massive scale.
"Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again."
- Stephen King, The Stand
"Ozone Man, Ozone. He's crazy, way out, far out, man." — George H.W. Bush, speaking about Al Gore during the 1992 presidential campaign
DieselJester wrote:Hm, that might explain why Op Blessing aircraft flights were suddenly cancelled back in the late 90's/early 00's if someone caught wind of that little smuggling operation. My uncle was a mechanic on the L-1011 when suddenly he and a lot of others who worked on that plane were suddenly laid off.
Sese Seko wasn't the only African tinpot tyrant Robertson had cordial relations with.
In 1999, Pat struck up a relationship with another African dictator, Liberian strongman Charles Taylor. Robertson stuck an $8 million deal to pursue more mining in his country. This time, he wasn't hunting for diamonds -- he was hunting for gold. According to a Liberian government press release, Pat told Taylor: "I pray that this investment may become a wonderful blessing to the people of Liberia and will be one of the many significant investments that will be made under your administration in the nation of Liberia."
Pat chartered Freedom Gold Ltd. in the Cayman Islands and dispatched geologists to southeastern Liberia for prospecting. They didn't find much. But that hasn't diminished Robertson's zeal. When President George W Bush started making noises about Charles Taylor having to step down in order to halt the Liberian civil war, the preacher publicly excoriated Bush for failing to support the leader of a sovereign Christian nation, even if he had perpetrated crimes against humanity on a massive scale.
Never said he was. Just said that it made more sense as to why my Uncle was laid off and why the L-1011 for Operation Blessing is now collecting dust in Southern California.
LOL. I told my wife about this story and her response was "Isn't he dead yet?" Love ya dear!
"Incoming Fire has the right of way."
-Murphy's 18th Law of Combat.
Love ya dear! 