Who needs health care when you can tithe? That is essentially the argument that televangelist and obvious MENSA candidate Pat Robertson made on his show last week. When asked by an older viewer whether she and her husband could be forgiven in their tithing because the live on a very fixed income between a small pension and their Social Security benefits and their health is failing. She asked if it would be acceptable to Robertson — and since he has a hotline wired to Heaven, God — if she and her husband instead used the money they normally tithed with to help defray her medical expenses.
Robertson, predictably, had a problem with that solution. “Your husband has all these medical problems because the ‘devour’ has not been rebuked.” You see? It’s actually a matter of this nice elderly couple not giving enough to Robertson — er we mean God. Robertson went on to explain to the woman who, “You give your tithes faithfully and God said, ‘I will rebuke the devour,’ the person that is eating up your money and eating up your health.” So there you have it, no medicine necessary, thanks Doc. I just put money in the offering plate. No need to operate to remove that tumor. I’ll tithe it away.
Robertson drove his point home — that true health and happiness is assured with regular contributions to him –er we mean God — when he asked the woman, “So you want to be healthy? That’s a promise in The Word.”
Watch the quackery here: