God suffers with the suffering in Haiti

This is an excellent piece written by Jim Wallis over at Huffington Post, and it made me want to jump up and cry out "AMEN, BROTHER!"

So many times we see people who misappropriate Christianity. People who for whatever reason have developed a following, and become synonymous with a faith that they come to represent the very antithesis of.

I've been so angry over Pat Robertson's comments, not because they're shocking or outrageous, which they are, but because of what he represents, and how he affects the mass view of my faith.

I struggle not to hate any man. I struggle to overcome my feelings of anger and rage against people who either wrong me, or cause harm to what I hold dear, such as my faith. I'm not a perfect man, nor am I a perfect Christian, but I AM a Christian, and to see people like Pat Robertson pervert and distort the true essence of Christ, eats away at my very being. And I eventually fail at my struggle.

Because at this moment, I very much have a burning hatred for the likes of Pat Robertson, and find myself wishing things that I am not particularly proud of.

And for that, I definitely am sorry, although my feelings of remorse somehow doesn't change how I feel.

Here is the piece copied in full from the Huffington Post, and I encourage everyone to go over there and read it and find more writings from Jim Wallis.

Pat Robertson said yesterday that Haiti's earthquake was a result of the country's "pact with the devil." I don't even know what he means, nor does it matter much to me. As I reflected on Robertson's comments, I was reminded of how many times he has embarrassed so many fellow Christians with his intemperate comments. As a Christian leader, I have had to spend too much of my time trying to overcome an image of Christianity that was created by the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. When people thought of Christians, these far-right leaders and their ideas are all they knew. But truthfully, Pat Robertson is increasingly irrelevant, except for weird soundbites in the media.

Even though Robertson has become marginal, his extreme comments can still shape people's views of Christianity and God. So, I thought I'd take Robertson's comment as an opportunity to set the record straight. The God I serve, the God of the Bible, does not cause evil. God is not a vengeful and retributive being, waiting to strike us down. Evil happens, whether at the hands of corrupt people or because the earth shifts along a fault line and the world rumbles.

When evil strikes, it's easy to ask, where is God. The answer: God is suffering in the midst of the evil with those who are suffering. Throughout the Scripture, we find a picture of a God who is with the people, even in their darkest hours. Today, in Haiti, God is suffering with those who are suffering. My prayers go out to the families who are suffering.

Jim Wallis is the author of Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street--A Moral Compass for the New Economy, Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners and blogs at www.godspolitics.com.

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