Thank you Shane.

Cool picture, who took it?

Cool picture, who took it?

- Peace
Dave

It’s unfortunate to see this same blog post posted on another site with the same mistake as before. I’ll include the comment I left on Sojourners:

Can you please provide more context for Glenn Beck’s quote the next time you use it to illustrate a point? I think your point is a great one and the Falwell quotes are certainly used effectively.

I wasn’t familiar with what Beck said so I decided to look it up:

“This hurricane that is coming thorough the East Coast, for anyone who’s in the East Coast and has been listening to me say ‘Food storage!’ ‘Be prepared!’ ‘Be somebody that can help others,’ you’ve heard me say this for years. People have made fun of me. That’s fine, I don’t care. I’ve been telling you, ‘Don’t be in a panic situation.’ If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing. It is a blessing. It is God reminding you — as was the earthquake last week — it’s God reminding you you’re not in control. Things can happen. Be prepared and be someone who can help others so when disaster strikes, God forbid, you’re not panicking.”

Whereas Falwell and Robertson attempted to ascertain the will and attitude of God from a natural disaster, Beck seems to be taking the more commonplace “dark cloud with a silver lining” approach. So I think that using the Beck quote, while relevant, does a disservice to him because it misuses his words and ultimately weakens the point of the blog post. Sure, there are a few nit-picky things in there, but is the overall message one we should be fighting against? Beck talks a lot, so just give him some time, I’m sure he’ll say something controversial soon enough.

Brilliant as always. The people will know us by our love! 
Even when we critisize someone, as hard as it have to be, we have to do it with humble and love, lika you just did!

God is not a monster: it feels sad that this sentence actually has to be written.

I’m glad you took the time to look up the full quote.  It looks like Shane misquoted Beck.  Shane should make a correction here.

The problem is in seeing any sort of devastating force, be it from nature, or man made, as a blessing for anyone. Shane did NOT quote the full conversation, but I don’t find it all that relevant to do so. To say that, “If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing”, as Beck did, is not taking seriously the experience of people who live in those realities. If we are fine with saying this, we ought to be equally fine with saying “if you have prepared yourself well enough, then the death of your 2 year old daughter is a blessing”, because it teaches us some stupid “moral” lesson about our non-godness status. That just sounds absurd! I don’t think this is in ANY way being “knit-picky”. I do appreciate what Beck said about being someone who helps others…that is spot on. But his take on the hurricane being a blessing reeks of bad theology. Perhaps he unwittingly misused the word, or struggled to find the appropriate one that fits…I don’t know. Either way, it is perhaps in the preparation for the hurricane where one can find the blessing, but definitely NOT in the hurricane. Just some thoughts on this.

The problem is in seeing any sort of devastating force, be it from nature, or man made, as a blessing for anyone. Shane did NOT quote the full conversation, but I don’t find it all that relevant to do so. To say that, “If you’ve waited, this hurricane is a blessing”, as Beck did, is not taking seriously the experience of people who live in those realities. If we are fine with saying this, we ought to be equally fine with saying “if you have prepared yourself well enough, then the death of your 2 year old daughter is a blessing”, because it teaches us some stupid “moral” lesson about our non-godness status. That just sounds absurd! I don’t think this is in ANY way being “knit-picky”. I do appreciate what Beck said about being someone who helps others…that is spot on. But his take on the hurricane being a blessing reeks of bad theology. Perhaps he unwittingly misused the word, or struggled to find the appropriate one that fits…I don’t know. Either way, it is perhaps in the preparation for the hurricane where one can find the blessing, but definitely NOT in the hurricane. Just some thoughts on this.

In order to receive mercy one needs to extend some on occasion, ya know what I mean? I am grieved at how many “good Christian folk” are meaner than junk yard dogs! How on earth will “they know we are Christians by our love” when the love is so obviously absent in our lives? I am ready to cry when I see how badly waitresses and store clerks are treated by “so called” Believers! “They were being jerky to me!” is what their excuse is. Wha? What exactly do they do with the love chapter instructions in ICorinthians 13?? Does any one remember about “returning good for evil?” Suffice it to say, I loved this article!

Shane, do you believe that God has no control over the weather?  

I suggest you read this excellent article :

http://www.ccwtoday.org/article_view.asp?article_id=94

     It does Beck no disservice. I’ll explain.

In April of this year, my state was devastated by several deadly tornadoes. Many people donated boxes of MREs (Like the military Meals Ready to Eat), and a couple weeks ago, out of curiosity, I checked online to see how much each box of 12 meals cost. (around $87-ish), and I saw Glenn Beck’s face on a couple of the sites selling these pricey meals.

  So after reading this blog tonight, I Googled again, and found this site: http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/08/glenn-beck-hurricane-irene-is-a-blessing/ . Quote : ” You may have heard about Beck’s relationship with Goldline
International, which urges people to buy gold and stay safe from the
supposed inevitable devaluing of the dollar,” the website noted. “Now
meet Food Insurance, which sells survival kits of freeze-dried food and
other items to help people live from two weeks to 12 months, depending
on the plan purchased (and post-apocalyptic conditions). Beck has
promoted the company’s products, is featured prominently on the
company’s website, and a banner ad for the company, bearing Beck’s
image, was spotted on his website Monday.”

  I’m pretty sure Beck isn’t promoting these food stocking sites out of the goodness of his heart. He is stoking the fear of a food crisis , while raking in the bucks from the extremely over priced meals his followers are stock piling.

   I mean, stock pile if you must, but there are much tastier and definitely more cost effective food sources than those Beck touts.(although the MRE oatmeal cookies are tasty, I must admit)

Wow, Your post has nothing to do with the reply Mimosette gives. The point is that Glen didnt say God sent the disasters because of evil behaviour, although God has done that before, but he actually was telling people to be prepared. Therefore your attempt to demonize Glen is again more left wing garbage.
I realize that Glen scares people when he shares ‘real’ tears about this country and brings in ‘inspirational’ people with uplifting stories. I mean its not a celebrity telling about their drug addiction or countless jail time for drunk driving but hey, I think its meaningful. Glen scares people because he has been ‘CORRECT’ about many of his predictions. He organized a day where people could reflect on what is good and positive, about where we were as a nation and where we are now. Im sure you are one of the ones who tried to discredit it as your GOLD recital is a talking point for the left. Scare tactics???  If he endorses that then it shouldnt be a problem for you. Maybe you havent noticed but GOLD has been an alternative investment strategy for years. Maybe you havent noticed the decline in the dollar?? Maybe you have faith in what is going on in this country at this point in time and you think, just like many liberals, America will be  Ok…”all we have to do is print more money” I watched a man sit on national t.v and admit he is a sinner and admit where he came from to where he is. He promotes values that ‘should’ be coinciding with yours and yet he is demonized by many Christians?? Sepparate your politcally correct compass from your discerning wisdom that God supplies to you. Pick on someone who is truly contrary to what you believe. There is a need to make people aware of the seriousness of where we are as a country. I dont believe in panic mode but I do believe in common sense and reality. Maybe you need a dose of both. None of us know whether God sent the disasters or not. My guess is that he allowed it to happen but I will say that we have many, many more today than in the past for whatever reason. God is a God of wrath just as he is a God of love though and I think we tend to want to only focus on the love of God and not his rebuking persona. If youre scared to say that the disasters could have been a wake up call then I guess you cant tell someone that the consequence for rejecting Jesus is HELL…You cant have it both ways.
By the way God does rebuke his children…..unless you want to dispute that too

I meant the reply to ThaddeusMay

This article has nothing to do with the “love” chapter in the Bible. While I completely agree with you about Christians acting like jerks and self-centered little spoiled brats I dont see the correlation between the article and the verse.
If God allowed this to happen then it is an opportunity to share the gospel with people. It is an injustice to only share the love of God with them. The problem with most Christians is that they think that they can live exactly how they want and God just ‘loves’ them to death for their errant behaviour. The fact is he does love us and for “that’ reason he disciplines us and sends things our way to get our attention. Dont mislead someone into thinking that if they trust in God then they will live in that proverbial ‘rose garden’ and have no worries. Just as the ‘blood’ of Christ has been diluted in sermons….the God of discipline has been ignored also.
I will again say that I am with you 100% on the behavour of Christians. It really eats at my core to see it and I will call their hand if I see it. I expect the same from my bothers and sisters.

I am glad for the article.  I had first hand experience of Hurricane Katrina.  I was Pastoring a church in Louisiana at the time.  I heartedly disagreed with the analysis that it was judgement from God.
In the first place God has better aim.  If He is angry at somebody he knows how to get them and miss others.  Read the OT, especially the first Passover for proof of this.
Bourbon Street, the symbol of sin in New Orleans was mostly untouched.  Churches were totally destroyed.
However, the first ones to help were the Churches.  I know of many wonderful testimonies concerning that.  I could make many points to show that it was not God’s judgement but I will just make one at this time.
Jesus spoke about the tower of Siloam which fell and killed 18 people(Luke 13).  His point was that this tragedy did not mean the people who were killed were worse than others.  The “friends” of Job thought his problem was do to some sin he had done.  They were wrong.  So we should be careful not to say that something bad happened because of someone’s sin.  We do not know all the details.

It appears to me that Glen Beck was quoted out of context.  That’s too bad because it detracks from the main point which is good. 

Think of it all as a sneak preview of the wrath that is to come.  God might be saying, “Don’t like it? Then repent.”