My friend Richard Bachmeier sends me via email these "40 Days of Prayer" leading up to the election. You can find them here. www.jhm.org/Resources/FortyDaysOfPrayer Yesterday's prayer for our nation:
Father
God, we have removed Your hallowed Name from the door posts of the very
universities established to honor You. We have kicked You out of our
elementary, middle and high schools and allowed idolatry to infiltrate the
hallways that train our children. Your Word says to train up a child in the way
he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. But we have left
our first love and allowed wickedness to reign supreme in our school system. We
have taken your Commandments off the walls. We have banned public prayer to
you, but allowed other religions to pray to their own gods. We have completely
disobeyed the command telling us to have no other gods before You. We ask for
Your forgiveness, and that You have mercy upon our children. May they not
inherit the blame for our foolish choices. Forgive us for locking You out of
the school house, for taking Your Word out of our text books and instead
allowing alternate learning to replace our Christian values. Forgive us for not
standing up for what we know is the good and the right thing to do. Lord, turn
our hearts back to the Bible, back to the Source of all knowledge and wisdom.
May our children take on the minds of Christ. May they choose the path that is
narrow, even in a world full of ridicule and hatred for Your followers. It is
only through Your help that we have even the remote possibility of regaining our
schools. We ask that You allow us the opportunity to once again place You first
in our schools, that we may bring honor to Your name. Amen.
22 comments:
Practice your Faith by example,remember God gave everyone the power of reason an choice as an individual
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html
As ever, I would always feel a lot stronger about any religion's voice within our society if they paid taxes like any other business, organization, or individual.
I don't think you get to say what goes into the school if you aren't willing to put your money where your mouth is.
I'm really beginning to enjoy these Sunday posts. Please keep up the good work and give Ben a hug for me. Love that boy.
Religion has been removed from schools (not fully removed yet) because not everyone is religious or Christian.
America is a modern and free country. We learn from the past and make changes that to accommodate all free people, not just white Christians.
"The path that is narrow..."
Indeed.
I wonder why nobody complained? If there were a Jewish or atheist or muslim kid in your class do you think they would have felt intimidated at all? Christian bullying at its finest.
Matt 6:5-6
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
@chimeric: The difference between the churches and other non-profits is that other non-profits have to open their books and show that they are actually working in the public interest. I think they deserve the exemption if they meet those same standards. I'd love to get a look at the Catholic Church's finances! There is a also a housing tax exemption for pastors so that if they receive part of their compensation as free housing they are exempted from paying any tax on that.
I know you to be a thoughtful intelligent caring independent person, I am happy that you are happy and sharing your happiness with others.
I wish the same happiness for all people, and myself.
see you around.
Rather doubt God is too concerned that his name is no longer connected to the fiat currency and the very ungodly doings within the government buildings. Just my opinion of course I can not really speak for the creator.
Love, love love this post. Keep up the good work.
djc
@Noble,
The Catholic Church is not monolithic regarding finances. Each parish stands alone financially and sends a portion (%) to the local Diocese (called a cathadraticum). Why the anger at Catholics? We are the largest providers of healthcare and education in the world and we provide services to all people regardless of religion. I don't get the snarkiness.
Peace.
djc
@djc,
Each parish as well as the diocese and any other part of the US Catholic Church should be required to follow the same financial transparency requirements as other non-profits. I can't see why anyone would object to that. I only singled out the Catholic Church because it is the largest single denomination and therefore has the most money. I will not argue that the Catholic Church has not done some good things. They have also done some horrible things as I'm sure you're aware. There is nothing good that the Church does that could not be done by secular institutions.
SPOT ON
@chimeric,
I just gave the Catholic church as an example, as I explained in a later post. I don't see why churches should have a different standard than other non-profits. Should we then let all non profits have their donors decide how transparent to be?
give this a listen
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/290/godless-america?act=2
I've enjoyed following your adventures over the past few years, but with this post it is time for us to part ways.
You (or your proxy) label me as "wicked" because I don't believe in your sky god. You long for the good ol' days when those who dared to be different were shamed into silence.
I'll miss reading about the day-to-day living of one I considered, in many ways, a kindred spirit. But this new spirit you have found is highly distasteful to me. Your promotion of a divisive, arbitrary ideology is shameful.
Best of luck. I won't be back.
@chimeric
It's finances, however, can be judged by anyone.
@chimeric
"Last I checked, 99% of all Christians pay taxes."
I don't know if you intended to be funny. I'm sure you didn't. I think. I hope.
It would be really great if churches were taxed, if only to end this odd belief that somehow churches, and their religious leaders, and their adherents, are somehow "special" as organizations.
I would be happy to continue this exchange with you offsite. Either way, I'm inclined to give John's blog a rest.
The level of hatred towards Christianity, because believers aren't perfect, astounds and saddens me.
djc
@djc
I don't hate Christianity. I hate dogma. I hate churches that make it a policy to protect priests who rape children.
I read about lots of different ideas, but when I read about someone who is happy at what they found it isnt distasteful to me.
Those who are offended at someone els's love of God or newly found religion, reveal some kind of character flaw in themselves. IMHO If you cannot be happy for someone else who isnt hurting anyone I think its time to keep quiet.
A very odd post indeed in this blog.
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