Comments Advocating Divorce
On the September 14, 2011, broadcast of The 700 Club, a viewer talked about a friend who was bitter at God because his wife had Alzheimer's disease, and the friend had started seeing another woman. The viewer asked Robertson for his advice. Robertson responded, "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her." He continued saying, "If you respect that vow, you say 'til death do us part. This is a kind of death." This contradicted his previous views on the sanctity of human life in all forms (including, e.g., embryos).
In response, Russell D. Moore, Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote that Robertson's comments were "a repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ" and that "Pat Robertson's cruel marriage statement is no anomaly. He and his cohorts have given us for years a prosperity gospel with more in common with an Asherah pole than a cross."
Following a backlash over Robertson's advice, Robertson said, "Basically I’m saying, adultery is not a good thing and you might as well straighten your life out and the only way to do it is to kind of get your affair with your wife in order. ... I was not giving advice to the whole world and nor was I counseling anybody to be unscriptural and leave their spouse. ... Please know that I believe the Bible. Please know that I never would tell anybody to leave their sick spouse. I never never would say such a thing because I need my spouse when I get sick and she needs me when she gets sick. In sickness and in health, I believe it!"
Read more about this topic: Pat Robertson Controversies
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