Interesting Comments from Kirk Cameron

For those who do not remember, Cameron played the wise-cracking Mike Seaver on the TV show "Growing Pains" back in the 1980's and 1990's. I watched the show a lot because Adam, our older son, loved it. During the final years of the show, Cameron became a Christian. He began a Christian ministry, The Way of the Master, and became associated with films and other projects with an explicit Christian message.

BeliefNet.com has featured an interview with him for the last several days. He is obviously a very sincere believer and expresses his beliefs in a very humble and compelling way. One of the Q&A's, though, struck my interest. Not necessarily because of any original thoughts in his answer, but, probably because of the timing of the interview in the midst of the rapidly heating up political campaigns. Let me share the complete question and answer with you:

It seems like so many bad things are going on in the world right now. Do you think God is angry at the way things are going and is He punishing us?

That's the exact same question that I ask people on the streets on our TV show, "The Way of the Master." 'Do you think God is angry with Americans? Does He have anything to do with hurricanes and floods and tornadoes?" You'd be shocked at the answers that people give.

You look at all of the countless hurricanes and tornadoes that line up off the coasts and just destroy crops and houses and everything, and you start to wonder who is in charge of the weather department anyway? I mean, does God have anything to do with cancer and floods and droughts and these kinds of things?

I think we can get a clue about the way God deals with nations by looking at the nation of Israel. If you go back into the Old Testament you'll see that God promised this special nation of Israel [and] that if they would obey His commands that He would bless their crops and bless their nation and their children and their marriages and things would go well for them. But, that if they didn't, if they turned and rebelled against Him and followed after other gods, that he'd remove that hand of blessing and they instead would inherit a curse and He would allow their enemies to overtake them.

The Bible says that God will bless those nations who honor Him. America was founded on biblical principles, but no longer do we honor those principles as a nation. We kicked God out of schools and we can't pray there, and we're giving more honor to the right of free speech and let people burn our flag and curse the God that's blessed us that I think we're watching, perhaps, God remove His hand of blessing from a country that once had it in generous amounts.

I think the hope is not going to be in who our next president is. I think our hope is not going to be in the laws that govern us, but in the power of God working in the hearts of people who turn their back to the Lord and humble themselves and read His word and honor Him in the things that they do and that they say. That's why I'm so concerned about getting the gospel out to people because that really is what it's all about, is people coming to know God through faith in Christ.

There are several things about his answer which I question.
1) This puts Cameron in the camp of those who have said for years that various natural disasters and various diseases came from the hand of God as a judgment on people. That would suggest that anyone afflicted by any of these things was judged sinful by God, and God did smite them. Knowing many people on the Gulf Coast who were affected by Katrina and knowing many people who have dealt with cancer, including my wife and her brother, I take umbrage at this broad generalization. Historically, there have always been storms and diseases; these have not just come about as a result of no longer having school-led prayers in public schools. If you equate the occurrences disasters and diseases with a nation no longer honoring God, then can anyone say that any nation, including America, has ever honored God? If you argue that innocent people may have been caught in the middle, so to speak, as God sent judgment on the sinners, what does that say about the nature of God that God is willing to smite the innocent just to get the guilty?

2) Cameron is confident that America once enjoyed the bountiful blessings of God. What do we do with the Great Depression, with the Spanish flu epidemic, with the Civil War, with the sufferings during the Revolutionary War? When was this golden age of which he is so confident?

3) He asserts the fact that America was founded on Biblical principles without defining precisely what those principles are. Does he suggest that slavery and the lack of rights for women are Biblical principles? Both existed in this country at its beginnings and continued on for quite some time.

4) He conflates Biblical principles with particular views of patriotism when he mentions the lack of prayer in public schools and rights of free speech and flag burning. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing in the Biblical text that speaks against free speech or prohibits flag burning.

5) He is just incorrect when he trots out the standard "we have kicked God out of school" argument. It is true that the Supreme Court prohibited officially mandated prayer, but that ruling in no way prohibits anyone, student or teacher, from praying.

I applaud Kirk Cameron for having the strength of his convictions and being willing to put his beliefs on display. I certainly would defend his right to hold his beliefs and express them freely. I also defend my right to disagree, respectfully.