Pat Robertson & the Haiti Curse – Reprise
Lolo vs. Pat….a big misunderstanding???
Well kind of figures… but less than 12 hours after making the last post I was driving to work, listening to NPR ....
(Now I know some of you are freaking out and / or surprised about this….let me speak to those of you freaked out Conservatives first – (Liberals don’t read this) – I was just listening so that I know what the enemy camp is thinking. Don’t worry I’m still conservative to the core! ........ For those of you who were surprised by the comment – (Conservatives don’t read this) – hey just cause I fall a little right of center doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally enjoy a different, more enlightened perspective, right???
Well anyway, as I listened to the story on Haiti I quickly realized that by and large I’d pretty much missed the most crucial point of the whole controversy in my last post.
Oh well….let me try again.
The story can be found here
The story is about 5 minutes long and is done by a reporter named John Bennett and it covers his visit and interview with one of Haiti’s most famous music stars. 52 year old Lolo Beaubrun who leads a group called Boukman Eksperyens. (pronounced - experience)
In the interview Lolo describes the group’s music as a mix between rock, reggae, and voodoo ceremonial trance music. The name of the group is a take off of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and a tribute to Duti Boukman, the voodoo high priest and slave leader who led a voodoo ceremony in 1791 that is considered by many to be the beginning of the Haitian slave rebellion against the French. (OK – regardless of what you think about Pat Robertson, to hear those words come from an NPR reporter as …matter of fact… establishes in my mind that Pat Robertson wasn’t totally off the deep end, at least in the background of his comments.)
Toward the end of the interview (if you listen to it) you will hear Bennett ask Lolo Beaubrun about Pat Robertson’s comment – (ie that the earthquake was a result of the Haitian’s alleged "pact with the devil" made in order to overthrow the French.)
Lolo responds with this comment:
“I don’t believe in that God he’s talking about. God is love, truth and justice….”
Upon hearing that, I realized that Lolo, John Bennett, and perhaps many millions of others had totally misunderstood Robertson’s comment.
Based on Lolo’s remark I took his understanding of Pat Robertson’s comment to be the following.
Since the Haitian’s had made a pact with the devil, God has been mad at them, and has been causing all this bad stuff to happen to them ever since. Hence, Lolo says, no, no, no, God is love, truth, and justice, and therefore would not carry out such destruction and punishment on the innocent Haitian people of today. In other words, the God Robertson believes in is mean, vengeful, and nasty, and not a god of love.
I think this is also why so many Christians jumped up and said Pat Robertson is terrible for saying such a thing….our God would never do such an evil thing.
Well my understanding of Robertson’s comment is totally different.
Here’s what I think he meant.
Point 1 – the Haitians made a pact with the devil in order to get out from under the harsh control of the French. (The fact that the rebellion was immediately preceded by a voodoo ceremony, as chronicled by many different sources, including NPR’s John Bennett seems to at least lend some credence to this statement.) If indeed a voodoo ceremony was carried out, then most Christian theologians would not think a stretch to characterize such a ceremony as a pact with the devil.
Point 2 – If (again I say if) a pact was made with the devil to help the Haitians overthrow the French then, again, it’s not much of a stretch to understand that the Haitian’s in essence put themselves into the hands of the devil. (A parallel might be a Christian who says, “Lord I give my life to you, I’ll serve you, please do with me what you will.”) The only problem is – there’s a big difference in putting yourself in God’s hands, and putting yourself into the devil’s hands.
Point 3 – So here – in essence – is what I think Pat Robertson was saying. By entering into a pact with the devil, the Haitian people turned themselves, and their future, and their fate over to the devil. Therefore it is the devil, not God who has caused their endless run of “bad luck” for the past 220 years.
The Title of the article from which I quoted in the last post sums up this misunderstanding well: Is God Punishing Haiti? Again, this same sentiment is expressed in Lolo Beaubrun’s comment, “I don’t believe in that god. God is love, truth and justice.”
My understanding of Pat Robertson’s comment is not that God is mad at the Haitians for serving the devil and is therefore punishing them. Rather, if you decide to serve, make a pact with, (do anything with) the devil, then you’re undoubtedly in for a rough time.
As Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief came to steal, kill, and destroy, but I come that you may have life and have it in abundance.”
Our prayer should be that the nation of Haiti would turn to the one who has promised life in abundance.
God Bless,
LM
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