What Caused Ariel Sharon's Stroke?

Pat Robertson and I Hold Different Views

by Raymond Fontaine, Ph.D. - January 2006

E-mail no. 22 Explains the Differences

Good morning, Mr. Robertson.  I missed your TV broadcast on Thursday, January 5 concerning Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke. Later I got the news from an article written by Sonja Barisic and dispatched by Associated Press on January 6. The title read: "Robertson Links Sharon Stroke to God's Wrath."

Barisic wrote: "Sharon, who ordered Israel's withdrawal from Gaza last year, suffered a severe stroke on Wednesday January 5.

"The Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for 'dividing God's land'.

"Robertson said on his TV program, 'God considers this land to be his...In the Bible, the prophet Joel makes it very clear that God has enmity against those who divide his land.'

"In discussing what he said was God's insistence that Israel not be divided, Robertson also referred to the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who had sought to achieve peace by giving land to the Palestinians." So much for what Sonja Barisic reports in her article.

Aware of Ariel Sharon's decision to hand over Gaza to the Palestinians and his severe stroke, you apparently rummaged through the Bible looking for a text that would shed light on the question raised in the title of this e-mail: "What caused Ariel Sharon's Stroke?" 

You found only one quotation of five words: "they have divided my land." But that sufficed for you to suggest that Ariel Sharon angered God who meted out a severe stroke.

I assume that you sincerely believe what you tell your followers. We have that in common: we tell the truth as we see it. Moreover, if we tell a tale to entertain, we let that be known. At this moment, for example, my readers know that I'm not sending you this e-mail. But my message is the truth as I know it.

Apparently you believe that God may have arranged the stroke of Ariel Sharon and the assassination of Yitzhat Rabin in 1995. Contrariwise, I don't believe that at all of the Supreme Intelligence responsible for the designs in Nature. Nature is so made that it functions according to innate laws of its being. Moreover, every thing in nature operates according to its potential while depending on its fellow creatures. Apparently the designer of nature's designs does not intervene in the course of nature. Whatever happens on earth should not be attributed to current manipulations of a God who wants to reward or punish the deeds of humans. You say that the God of the Bible does that; I say that nature's Designer does not. Hurricanes and earthquakes happen and so do assassinations and strokes without divine interventions to punish and threaten anyone. 

Mr. Robertson, If you and I were engaged in a debate or contest, I would quickly concede defeat. My humble website is no match for your Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach. But our concern today is to answer the question asked in this article's title: What caused Ariel Sharon's Stroke? You suggest that Sharon's stroke was caused by God who is revealed in the Bible. I believe that Sharon's stroke resulted from natural causes as originally designed by Supreme Intelligence. The wondrous designs in nature that reveal to humans an Intelligent Designer are more credible than the publications of humans who portray God as capable of killing leaders who divide his land.  

Before closing this e-mail, I checked the Associated Press bulletins for further developments on this issue. Lo and behold there was an article written on January 12 entitled: Robertson apologizes for Sharon Remarks. The author, Brian Murphy, writes: "Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has sent a letter apologizing for suggesting that Ariel Sharon's massive stroke was divine punishment for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.

"Robertson's comment," the author continues, "drew widespread condemnation from other Christian leaders and Israeli officers who canceled plans to include Robertson in the construction of a tourist center in northern Israel.

"In a letter dated January 11 and delivered to Sharon's son, Robertson now considers his remarks 'inappropriate and insensitive'."

 Mr. Robertson, you did not say that you recanted them. Evidently you still believe that God could well have caused Sharon's stroke. So what I wrote above still stands, because your interpretation of the event remains the same. If you should ever change your mind, please let me and the world know immediately because you are a voice listened to by many people who deserve to hear the truth. Adios, Ray Fontaine.

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