In an uncharacteristic show of rational thinking, televangelist Pat Robertson told a viewer who had emailed his show not to kick out their son’s pregnant girlfriend.
The viewer wrote:
“My son and his girlfriend are having a baby. They are not married and my wife and I are beside ourselves. Is there any scripture (or your advice) about them living together in our house and sleeping together? Additionally, they say they are waiting until the baby is born before deciding about marriage. It seems like fornication to us. What is the line for us to help but not enable continued sin. Are WE sinning by allowing them both to live in our house?”
Robertson responded with:
“Look, that kid is going to be your grandchild. And it’s not a question of the fact that you’re now trying to keep them from having sex. They’ve already had sex and now they’re going to have a baby. It seems like to me what you’ve gotta do is welcome them and show them the love of God and encourage them to get married.”
The 700 Club host seemed genuinely confused, though, at the notion of a couple waiting until after the birth of a child to make a decision about marriage.
“Who ever heard of ‘wait till the baby’s born?’” he asked. “Wait till the baby’s born? What’s that got to do with it? What are they going to do, have an abortion?”
Robertson was back to his old self, though, after his co-host told him the practice was fairly common.
“The term for somebody’s who’s born out of wedlock is ‘bastard,’” he said. “You’re giving the child illegitimacy. Why wouldn’t you want to give the child legitimacy? Don’t you want the child to inherit? Don’t you want the child to be part of your family?”
Robertson did reiterate that the family should not throw them out, and should still still love them, but if the couple weren’t pregnant, the parents should not condone their living together.
“The big thing now is you’re going to have a grandchild, and you want to love that grandchild. And it’s not his or her fault that the mother or father have taken bad choices,” he concluded.
Watch the video below.
