The Acacia Community

A few interesting responses to the Haiti Earthquake….  If you didn’t hear about the unfortunate words of Pat Robertson (700 Club Host), he decided to speak out about how the earthquake in Haiti was likely a move by God due to the Haitian peoples pact with the devil.  Yes, you read right.  Citing an apocryphal story about the Haitian break from France, (in which the Haitian rebels made a pact with the spirit of the land and drank blood in exchange for freedom), the statement was poorly timed at best and a tragically gross representation of Christ-followers at worst. (more on the Robertson story here)  Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz & A Million Miles A Thousand Years) gave a thoughtful response to the Robertson comments on his blog.

It becomes apparent that offering opinion or insight into something like Haiti is an incredibly hard task.  This is no different for people of faith.  Shauna Gauthier described trying to engage the topic with her young girls on her blog.  The bottom line: no easy task.  At times, people of faith settle for oversimplification, prejudice, or just easy answers in order to remain “people with all the answers”.  But in some ways, this kills the act of faith.  And it also overcomes humility.  Trusting God in Haiti is certainly a mystery.  And anyone who hasn’t said, “Why God, why?” this week is simply fooling themselves.