ok, it's been a while since i got into anything controversial; but here goes. Evangelical Christians are up in arms because President Obama did not have an official white house ceremony for the National Day of Prayer.
The white house issued a statement that the President would spend time in prayer as he does each day, and the president issued a proclamation about the National Day of Prayer. But Republican Congressman Randy Forbes, co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, said, "Hopefully we'll have millions of people around the country that will make up for the void we see at the White House on the National Day of Prayer."
Void? It appears to me that many people are more concerned with this being a public event than they are with people actually praying. Personally, I'd rather have a president who prays than one who tells others to pray.
Also ironic that many of those upset are baptists, or at least evangelicals, who advocate separation of church and state. It seems that when some people talk about this separation; they want government to leave their religion alone, but they should be allowed to insert their religion into government.
we should pray and love and act to influence people with the love of Jesus, not force it upon them through government sponsored events. Instead of complaining, blogging, facebooking, and calling news conferences to complain about how terrible it was to not observe this event publicly--how about spending that time PRAYING!
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. 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.
--Matthew 6:5-6
1 comment:
Todd, why would you take Jesus seriously on this issue? Are you kidding me?
I have felt some pressure in the past to have students participate in "See You At The Pole" an event where students are encouraged to gather around the flagpole one morning before school and pray for their school, teachers, fellow students, etc. And I always asked why they weren't praying for those folks all the time, and why they had to have a big to do where they huddle around a flagpole (point 1), turn their backs to everyone walking by their huddle (point 2), pray to attract attention (point 3), and ignore this passage of scripture (point 4).
at least we know Obama is committed to daily prayer...that's not so bad is it?
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