Pat Robertson is at it again...again.

Zep said:
Oh is he throwing money away now? Great!

Cause I have a fabulous computer museum here that is in DESPERATE need of a fund injection - a US$mill or two will do - and Pat could be just the guy we need. So we will be (what's the phrases I need? Help me here...) slaying Satan and repelling the anti-American Muslim heathens by building this new museum building! Amen, brother! Send that money on in...pledge your life-savings now!

(I think we could just swing this! By the time he realises he has no recourse to suing us, we could have the place built!)
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Oh, no. Pat doesn't throw money away unless he thinks he'll be getting a great deal more back. He thinks that Jesus threw the temple away to make more room for the moneylenders.

eta: And Pat probably thinks that the miracle of loaves and fishes was a for-profit scheme, two shekels a loaf and five per fish.
 
Roadtoad said:
People listen to Robertson because they want to. He's been proven wrong so often, you have to wonder if those who follow him are even Christian.
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The Old Testament test for a prophet was 100% accuracy and reliability. Someone claiming to be a prophet that failed that test was typically stoned to death. I don't think any further comment really needs to be made.
 
I wonder if these rich televangelist evangelical preachers even believe in god. I think their only god is the almightily dollar. I'd do the same thing myself if I had no morals and was a bit more charismatic.
 
Lisa Simpson said:
Yes, he said the Atlantic coast would be hit with hurricanes and perhaps a tsunami. Then declared heavy rains in New England to be a hit.
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Hmmm. The psychic of low expectations: I predict ... bad weather! car accidents! stale beer!
 
Not that it really matters, but did he specifically predict "hurricanes" or just "storms". I know that either way he didn't get it, but if it was "hurricanes" he is now changing his story by claiming that he predicted the severe rain storms in New England.
 
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

--- Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
 
Dr Adequate said:
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

--- Deuteronomy 18:20-22.
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Aha. I was wondering if luchog was being facetious. In any case, regardless of what Deuteronomy says, I don't think that prognosticators have ever generally been held accountable for missed predictions. It just wouldn't work. Bring down the whole business like a house of cards. It's been said here and elsewhere many, many times: Believers believe because they want to -- in spite of evidence, not because of it.
 
luchog said:
The Old Testament test for a prophet was 100% accuracy and reliability. Someone claiming to be a prophet that failed that test was typically stoned to death. I don't think any further comment really needs to be made.
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I'll bring the rocks. You are responsible for the tailgate party.
 
Jimmy Kimmel had a segment where they had Robertson making all these statements about what God told him, then concluded with something along the lines of "There's only one conclusion to draw from all these misses. God's a liar!"

RabbiSatan said:
That's what! It'll be pointless! Of course, like any other good teacher, god has to give a bit of a for-warning as to when the test is coming.
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Forewarning.
 
hgc said:
Aha. I was wondering if luchog was being facetious. In any case, regardless of what Deuteronomy says, I don't think that prognosticators have ever generally been held accountable for missed predictions. It just wouldn't work.
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In general, what you say is true.

But couldn't we make an exception for Pat Robertson?
 
It's overdue for Robertson. His greatest blunder was declaring in '88 that he'd be the next president of the United States. More to the point, that one he declared confidently was most definitely a Prophecy.

By definition, if you're listening to Robertson, you're clearly not a Christian.
 
Jonah prophesied the destruction of a city called Nineveh in forty days.
They were sorry and smeared ashes all over themselves.
God decided that their repentance was good enough for him so he withheld the destruction: nothing happened.
Jonah was pretty mad about that since the lack of destruction made him look foolish. He couldn't even count on God for a decent destruction.

So rule number one is that only things that come true are really true prophecies. If they did not come true, it was not from God.

However, sometimes the prophecy was actually true, but God has mercy and decides against the punishment. Nothing happens because God wills it.

That seems to about cover any reasoning that might interfere with believing whatever you want.
 
Kopji said:
Jonah prophesied the destruction of a city called Nineveh in forty days.
They were sorry and smeared ashes all over themselves.
God decided that their repentance was good enough for him so he withheld the destruction: nothing happened.
Jonah was pretty mad about that since the lack of destruction made him look foolish. He couldn't even count on God for a decent destruction.

So rule number one is that only things that come true are really true prophecies. If they did not come true, it was not from God.

However, sometimes the prophecy was actually true, but God has mercy and decides against the punishment. Nothing happens because God wills it.

That seems to about cover any reasoning that might interfere with believing whatever you want.
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1st rule of Christianity: What I believe is right.
2nd rule of Christianity: When it seems that I'm not right see 1st rule.
 
hgc said:
Aha. I was wondering if luchog was being facetious. In any case, regardless of what Deuteronomy says, I don't think that prognosticators have ever generally been held accountable for missed predictions. It just wouldn't work.
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Well, if you can trust sources from scripture and tradition, they certainly were at the time of the writing of the laws; but increasingly less so as time went on.
 
luchog said:
Well, if you can trust sources from scripture and tradition, they certainly were at the time of the writing of the laws; but increasingly less so as time went on.
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I most certainly do not trust such sources as to the question at hand. We observe on a daily basis not only that prognosticators are wrong again and again, but that their own press says the exact opposite about their efficacy. And as for the believers, they think that of course they'd not give credence to demonstrably false prophets, which is why their prophets are the real thing. Afterall, they wouldn't believe them if they weren't for real!!! Why would I think that things have ever been different in human history?
 
Kopji said:
Jonah prophesied the destruction of a city called Nineveh in forty days.
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This is a somewhat misleading and inaccurate translation. More accurately, Jonah delivered a warning of G-D's judgement upon the city for their wickness. It was not a prophesy per se, but rather a proclaimation. The idiom was not that of a prophetic message but rather that of a sentence which had been passed, as if by a judge in a court of law. Just as a sentence can be commuted, the judgment on Ninevah would be commuted.

Jonah's anger at the commuted sentence was not that of the prophet made to look foolish becauase his message was not fulfilled; but rather that of the "righteous angy man" who didn't get to see the wicked smited. The people of Ninevah were evil and definitely deserved a smackdown, and he was annoyed that they were let off the hook just 'cause they whined a lot. Much like many people with "throw the book at 'em", law-and-order attitudes get upset when criminals are given lighter or suspended sentences because it's a first-offense or because they're enrolled in some sort of rehabilitation/anger-management/drug-and-alcohol-treatment program.

Much of the problem with both Fundamentalist and anti-Christian nonsense is misunderstanding of this sort of idiomatic language and symbolism. They simply don't understand the culture or the literary devices that were commonly used.
 
This man is hearing voices in his head? Poor chap. Old Europe suggests commitment to an institution, but not appearance on TV. Except for the Alfred E. Neumann look-alike contest, that is.
 
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