HURRICANE ISAAC: WHAT WOULD JESUS SAY?
News Bulletin: Tropical storm Isaac may become a hurricane and hit Tampa as the Republicans gather for their nominating convention.
Well now, given the biblical antecedents of the name Isaac, it will be difficult for Fundamentalist Christians and Orthodox Jews to avoid drawing some pretty heavy-duty conclusions about Isaac smiting or sparing the Republicans.
If hurricane Isaac threatens, but misses the assembled Republicans in Tampa, surely some will draw parallels to God’s staying Abraham’s hand after commanding him to sacrifice Isaac as test of faith, and come away reaffirmed that God is, indeed, a Republican.
Pat Robertson implied hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment of New Orleans for the sin of abortion. I wonder what conclusion he will draw if tropical storm Isaac floods the Republican Convention on the Tampa Bay waterfront as the Party gathers to proclaim its no-exceptions anti-abortion platform?
What will other religious leaders say who linked Katrina to New Orleans’ sinful ways and its celebration of gay pride? God approves of Ellen DeGeneres as host for the Oscars after all?
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader declared Katrina to be “God’s punishment for president Bush’s support of the August 2005 withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip,” and other Zionists saw a connection between the hurricane and American policy toward Israel. Could this be God’s way of telling Israel to refrain from attacking Iran? Or maybe build another Ark?
Me? I’d say if God smites the Republicans with hurricane Isaac, I’d suggest He was giving them advice on fiscal policy from Matthew 19, in which Jesus, says “ It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” and urges instead “Sell your possessions and give to the poor . . . Then come, follow me.”