Religious Fundamentalism in Orwell and Pynchon

[pynchonoid]

--- Malignd <malignd at yahoo.com> wrote:
> It would be revealing  ...

...that countless newspapers, magazines, broadcast 
and other organizations make their news available on
the Web.  

Speaking of echoes, in the news, of Bush
Administration statements and positions: 

<http://www.cbn.com/700club/askpat/BIO_032803.asp>
Monday, May 19, 2003
BRING IT ON

Does the U.S. Have the Moral Authority to Remove Cruel
Regimes? 

The 700 Club

Pat Robertson answers this question, weighs the notion
of a "sovereignty of nations," disputes the philosophy
that upholds the inherent goodness of man, and tells
viewers why now is the best time to accept Jesus
Christ as Savior.

CBN.com -- QUESTION: Does the Bible teach the
"sovereignty of nations"? Do you believe the United
States has the moral authority to remove cruel and
abhorrent regimes that are in power throughout the
world? Do you believe that God used Israel as the
"policeman of the world" during Old Testament times? 

PAT ROBERTSON: I don't know anything in the Bible that
talks about the "sovereignty of nations." God did say
He set a boundary for the nations of the earth, and
there is no doubt that that is the case. 

But in terms of saying "sovereignty," what is Iraq,
for example. What is the collection of tribes that was
put together in the circle by Winston Churchill in
1922 when he was sitting in a hotel in Cairo, Egypt?
What sovereignty do they have? The same thing with
Jordan; it was a creation of the British. So many
nations are the result of wars of aggression and so
forth. If you look at Africa, you can see Zambia that
was cut off of what used to be called Rhodesia. How
did it get to be there? This is artificial. 

Now the question is delivering people from oppression.
We are told in the Bible to loose the yoke of
oppression and to set the captives free. We are told
to deliver those who are under bondage. 

What about Adolf Hitler? If we had let him go on, he
would have subjugated Europe and made it a charnel
house. He would have been killing ruthlessly. Sooner
or later someone had to stop him. Who stopped him?
Well, the United States joined by Britain stopped him.
The French were pretty much impotent. The Low
Countries had been overrun. There was nobody else. The
Allied powers, which was the U.S. and Britain,
essentially, and Australia and Canada came into it,
the Commonwealth nations, but we took on Japan, who
went after us. 

The question is not one of what the Bible says. It is
just practical politics. We don't have an effective
United Nations. We tried it with the League of Nations
and it didn't work. 

Who is left? The United States is the major power. We
have to take on that responsibility. We did it in
Kosovo. Noboby much complained. I am amazed that they
are complaining about Iraq. They are complaining about
Iraq because the Germans get money out of it, France
gets money out of it, and Russia gets money out of it.
The Arabs don't want one of their Arab heroes put down
even though he is a butcher. In Kosovo, we went in at
the defense of the Muslims against the Christians.
Everybody applauded and said it was a wonderful thing.
We have to stop tyranny. It is a difficult role, and
it is a very expensive role, and we have to pick our
targets wisely. The next one will probably be North
Korea, and we'll have to be cautious about that. 

QUESTION: Pat, I understand that humanism teaches the
inherent goodness of man, and that man is his own
deity, so to speak. How does humanism explain the
extreme evil of a person like Saddam. How does the
Bible explain such resident evil in a human being?

PAT ROBERTSON: This is the great flaw of communism,
that all you had to do is create a benign environment
and the goodness of man. That is what Rousseau said.
He said, 'Man was born free. Everywhere he is in
chains. Let the noble savage come forth.' The noble
savage is bad news, and unless we recognize that
people are sinners, we can't accomplish what needs to
be accomplished. People are sinners. The heart of man
is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it?
That is what the Bible says. Humanism is wrong and
communism is wrong. Whenever you get that utopian
thinking that people are just going to work it all out
without God, you wind up with the most incredible
dictatorships. These things were all done under
humanism and under atheism. Some of the most
repressive, evil regimes have come about through that
particular kind of thinking. 

QUESTION: I think many people these days believe it's
time to get right with God. For years I have been
troubled by the verses in Hebrews 6, where it talks
about it being impossible to restore repentance to
those who were once enlightened. I'm done for if this
means what I think it means. Is there hope for people
like me who want to come back to God?

PAT ROBERTSON: Of course there is. This is the deal.
If you have in your heart a sense that you need to get
right with God, then you have not sinned away your
chance. The question is you had better do it. I think
what it says, it is impossible to spoil your
repentance and somebody who calls the blood of Jesus
an evil thing and tramples underfoot the saving work
of God and commits complete apostasy. If you have
something in your heart going on, get right with God.
You don't have to worry about the niceties of
theology. Get right with God. 

QUESTION: Pat, my brother jokes that he's going to
wait until "the end" to accept Jesus. Do you believe
Scripture teaches that people can be saved during the
time of the Tribulation? Any advice to my brother on
why he might not want to wait?

PAT ROBERTSON: Somebody might put a bullet in his head
and he won't have a chance. Something might fall on
his head and he might be taken away. He might be in an
airplane crash. There are a lot of things that could
happen to your brother. I, for one, think that nobody
-- and I mean this literally -- nobody should presume
on the fact that he's got another day. The Bible says
'now is the day of salvation and now is the accepted
time.' Do not put off the decision you have to make.
It is like saying, 'I will wait until I get a fire
before I get insurance.' Just as the flames start
burning, by then you might find the insurance agent
has gone on vacation. 


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