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Rev. Fisher's point is one thing that a lot of people who call themselves Christians should have rubbed in their noses...
THOMAS SPENCER
News staff writer
AlHurricane Katrina and other storms that battered the Gulf Coast were God's judgment of sin, according to state Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo.
"New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness," Erwin wrote this week in a column he distributes to news outlets. "It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."
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"Warnings year after year by godly evangelists and preachers went unheeded. So why were we surprised when finally the hand of judgment fell?" Erwin wrote. "Sadly, innocents suffered along with the guilty. Sin always brings suffering to good people as well as the bad."
William Willimon, bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, suggested another response from Christians to the disaster: "I have no idea what sort of senator or politician Mr. Erwin is, but he's sure no theologian," Willimon said. "I'm certainly against gambling and its hold on state government in Mississippi, but I expect there is as much sin, of possibly a different order, in Montevallo as on the Gulf Coast. If God punished all of us for our sin, who could stand?
I'll Let the good Father answer this one:
THE REV. JEFF W. FISHER Houston (Humm, I wonder if this is the old Houston Oilers coach? Not!)As a Christian and a clergyman, I was deeply distressed by the words reported by the Chronicle that were said by preachers at Second Baptist Church and Windsor Village United Methodist Church in the wake of Hurricane Rita .
Preachers at those churches spoke of how "the hurricane was supposed to hit Houston, but it turned toward casinos" and how the gambling industries were condemned because, "I don't know, but I think it may be cleansing time."
God does not send hurricanes to "cleanse" Houston or New Orleans or Biloxi or any place. Jesus cleanses our sins in the waters of baptism, thus there is no need for cleansing by storm surge, torrential rain, tsunami or tornado.
To tell people that God punishes one area of the country with natural disasters while sparing another based on a comparison of sins is contrary to the good news of the forgiveness of sins, once and for all, proclaimed by the Christian faith.
Rev. Fisher's point is one thing that a lot of people who call themselves Christians should have rubbed in their noses...
The news story quoted in this thread is the Idiot Cracker Monkey Moment of the Day.
Yeehaw.
Yippie Ki yay, my friend.
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