NEW YORK — Controversy is stirring over a humanistic comment CNN anchor Chris Cuomo recently made at the end of his “Cuomo Prime Time” broadcast, as he told viewers that “you don’t need help from above” in making the U.S. a better place as the ability to “do the right thing” lies “within us.”
Cuomo had concluded his June 26 broadcast by telling two stories of young Americans who are involved in positive charitable efforts.
“Some pint-sized Americans are doing giant things,” he said, telling of children near Minneapolis who have raised $90K so far in selling friendship bracelets to benefit black-owned businesses and food banks.
“Beautiful,” Cuomo remarked. “God bless them.”
He also told of a seven-year-old boy who created an online book corner with his grandmother, where children like himself can watch stories being read since they can’t currently attend story time events due to the COVID pandemic.
“You see, don’t forget. We can be this too. Ameri-can is in all of us,” Cuomo said.
He then closed with the following exhortation, “If you believe in one another, and if you do the right thing for yourself and your community, things will get better in this country.”
“You don’t need help from above,” Cuomo asserted, pointing to the sky. “It’s within us.”
Listen to his words in context here, beginning at 41:50.
Cuomo’s remarks drew controversy online as some noted that, while humans have responsibility, it is wrong to leave God’s help out of the equation and place emphasis on a purported inherent goodness in mankind.
“One of Satan’s favorite lies. You don’t need God. You’re just fine and completely self-sufficient without Him. And the devil used Cuomo … to do his bidding,” one commenter lamented.
“We can expect nothing else from a prideful, wicked, self-righteous generation. Praying for the Lord’s mercy to open the eyes of the blind,” another said.
“Humanism says the solution is within us. Christianity says the solution is above us,” a third outlined.
“How do we know what ‘the right thing’ is, Chris?” another asked.
“Hence, the need for more gospel-believing, gospel-preaching, expositors to fill the pulpits,” one opined.
As previously reported, Cuomo’s brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, similarly drew controversy in April when he told reporters — although emphasizing men’s role in slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus — that human effort flattened the curve and not God.
“Our behavior has stopped the spread of the virus. God did not stop the spread of the virus. And what we do, how we act, will dictate how that virus spreads,” he told CNN reporter Alysin Camerota.
He also gave the analogy of going on a diet during one daily press briefing, stating of seeing results on the scale, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Fate did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that.”
While not disagreeing that Americans need to play their part in combating the disease, some found Cuomo’s remarks to be dismissive of God and His sovereignty.
“Perhaps Cuomo is simply warning people not to abandon the measures that have assisted in ‘flattening the curve,’ or emphasizing the responsibility citizens have to public health. But it also means that no matter how loudly God speaks, some of our leaders are refusing to acknowledge the total lack of control they have and the puniness of their power,” remarked Jonathan Van Maren of the Roman Catholic Life Site News.
Both Cuomo brothers identify as Roman Catholic.
In John 15:4-6, Jesus taught, “Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing.”
“If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
The apostle Paul said in Romans 7: 18-19, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” he cried out. “I thank God [it is] through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
The spirit of this age: pic.twitter.com/UgfzBHaESo
— Nate Pickowicz (@NatePickowicz) June 29, 2020
Become a Christian News Network Supporter...
Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God's word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!
