Pat Robertson continues to embarass Evangelicals with his silly pronouncements. The latest installment came last week when he said: “If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms.” For one thing, this is rather like writing a horoscope – it is something that is fairly likely to occur in some form or fashion, but is vague enough to allow one to wiggle out of the prediction if it doesn’t happen. Would five hurricanes constitute a lashing of the coast? Six?
But, because discretion is not, dare I say, his spiritual gift, Robertson continued: “There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest.” Again, he uses terms like “may well” in order to provide wiggle room should such a catastrophe not happen. But if the coasts are not lashed with storms and a tsunami does not hit the northwest, Robertson has made God a liar or an impotent being. Of course, those who make such pronouncements in the Lord’s name that proved to be false were not people you’d want to trade places with. It would be interesting to read a full transcript to see if Robertson pontificated on reasons such a thing might happen.
Do you really think, though, that God is giving audible weather forecasts to Pat Robertson? For some reason Robertson himself seems to think so. Please make him shut up.