Haiti: Karma or Christ

"They were under the heel of the French, you know[,] Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.' True story. And so the devil said, 'Ok it’s a deal.' And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another." - Pat Robertson, Host of the 700 Club

"What happened in Haiti could happen to anywhere in the Caribbean because all these island nations are in peril because of global warming. When we see what we did at the climate summit in Copenhagen, this is the response, this is what happens, you know what I'm sayin'?" - Danny Glover, Actor

Televangelist Pat Robertson has gotten, and is still getting, a hefty amount of press and ire with his comments suggesting that Haiti's tragedy was a result of God's curse. On the other hand, Actor Danny Glover has gotten significantly less press - and a lot less ire - over comments that Haiti's tragedy was a result of, shall we say, Mother Earth's curse.

The whitewashing of Glover's comments is notable in two ways. First, it exposes a hypocrisy of the press, which chooses to highlight doomsday blaming of a Christian evangelist while overlooking the exact same approach of the secular evangelist. Both men made statements of "faith" - one that God was smiting the nations, the other that Mother Nature was striking back at humanity for environmental injustice.The duplicity is worth noting here, especially, because it brings me to the second, more central, problem.

The problem is the inability to sniff out the principle of karma. Be it spiritual or secular, both men advocate the same religion by using this ideology. Karma is an eastern religious tenet, which teaches that our fate or destiny is simply a sum of our actions-- you get what you deserve. It is a spiritual quid pro quo. It is a religious cause and effect.

What is striking about this, particularly in regard to Robertson, is that karma is entirely unChristian. In fact, Jesus gives us an explicit response to tragedy of the Haitian magnitude. Luke recounts one example in the thirteenth chapter of his Gospel:

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (English Standard Version, verses 1-5)

Evidently, Jesus heard in his audience a reaction common in our own day. He heard them say, "Did those Galileans massacred by Pilate get what they deserved? What sin did they commit that ricocheted back to them?"

His response is striking. He renounces the thought, and then seems to change the subject to repentance. He says, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." I tend to think that Jesus was not changing the subject. Instead, He was dealing with the more pressing problem.

When we face tragedies, we are to internalize bona fide sin, rather than pounce on the opportunity to distribute conceptual blame. Jesus was saying,

"Internalize, don't conceptualize!"

The appropriate internalization of sin should always lead us to repentance,which, consequently, will never remain internal but bear "fruit in keeping with repentance," (Matthew 3:8). And one of the primary fruits of repentance, according to the Apostle Paul, is "faith working through love," (Galatians 5:6).

Notice that where we begin, determines where we end. Karma conceptualizes, assigns blame, and ends up with death alone. We may end up with an answer to our question of “why?” (or so we think), but we remain powerless to affect change in ourselves and others.

Repentance internalizes a deeper systemic problem of sin in me (not someone else) and responds with the fruit of love. I may not know the "why?" but the grace that Christ offers leaves us alive, free to love. (By the way, I'm certainly comfortable with a Sovereign God who can choose to do whatever He wants with the nations. I simply think our response to others in the face of tragedy is marked by a compassion rooted in repentance, not a judgement rooted in knowledge. In other words, "weep with those who weep." This, I believe, is Jesus' point in Luke 13.)

This is the true tragedy of Robertson's response: we've offered nothing more than Christian Karma. We may expect this from an actor, but not an evangelist. I pray the Church will look at Haiti as Jesus would want us to;— not as the scolding scolded but the loving loved. Let us internalize our own sin, not conceptualize others. And then let us bear the fruit of love for hurting Haitians, in keeping with that repentance.

To give to Haiti:

www.churcheshelpingchurches.com

www.redcross.org