Orthodoxy exposed

Originally posted on September 27, 2006 – by Andre Piet

Today I was made aware of the Dutch TV program Pauw & Witteman, in which Andries Knevel was a guest yesterday. Thanks to ‘Uitzending Gemist’, I was able to watch the segment afterwards. The EO (Dutch Evangelical Broadcasting Network) figurehead was invited to explain why so many pastors in the Netherlands no longer believe in the existence of God, as revealed by recent research. In passing, the question came up whether an event such as the tsunami was intentional or not. “No,” said Andries firmly. To which Jeroen Pauw asked: “So God had no control over it?” Andries did respond, but gave no answer.

A second misstep occurred when Pauw asked whether hell had perhaps been abolished. “No, hell still exists,” Knevel asserted, but – he added – it’s no longer a place to be so afraid of. In hell, man is simply told: “As you wish. You wanted to live without Me – OK, now you may do so for all eternity.”
The moral? God proposes, but man disposes.

While watching the broadcast, I became ACUTELY aware once again of how incredibly rare it is to hear the actual Evangel. A former director of the Evangelical (!) Broadcasting Company, no less, is given the opportunity – on a VARA program, of all places – to speak about God, and the only thing he does is place man on a pedestal and reduce GOD to a little deity who apparently has no control over world events and… ultimately gives the final word to mankind – in hell.

Instead of the Evangel being brought into the picture last night, it was the “evangel” of orthodoxy that was put on display.

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