Praying for Those Liberals

I wonder if these folks forget that prayer also will change them. Perhaps God will use this campaign to show them that trying to "convert" politicians to their ideological viewpoint is not only a waste but also a misuse of prayer. After all, in the final analysis only God is sovereign.

Well, you seem to presume prayer to be a process of otherizing and demonizing. Is it?

My idea of prayer is that I view it as God's wax nose. Every now and then I just have to reach up and give it a crank to the left to offset Bob who just gave it a crank to the right or to balance Mary who insists that it always point straight forward.

Prayer is also a great mechanism for spiritual warfare whereby I can anonymously pray that Paige Patterson's evangelistic "jihad" self-destructs before it ever gets off the ground. Sweeeet.

By the way, does anybody know if Southwestern Baptist Seminary has a "fight song" along the lines of USC's classic?

I think we should continue to pray for all those in positions of authority - liberal, conservative or anyone else. We should pray that God's will is done through them, not for them to adopt our ways of thinking or perspective.

my sentiments exactly!

In fairness, however, Beck's daughter does have a medical condition, but he opposes the same access to health care for the poor that he himself has. In other words, he's coming across as hypocritical.

My understanding of prayer is that we are to be praying in conformity to or in search of God's will. In my most prideful days I cannot imagine assuming I know God's thoughts about another person's opinions. I pray that God will lead us in His was, in conformity with His will. I will let God be the judge of others for I know I have enough logs in my eyes, I should never complain about the speck in anothers. God is the one who is sovereign.

The more we use a particular label in a negative context the more divisive and dehumanizing it can become. I've always wanted to do a study on how the media has used the word "terrorist" to describe a person... it eventually strips their humanity. It's the same with the way conservatives use "communist" and the way conservative Christians use "liberal." It can hurt a lot when it is hurled at you.

My idea of prayer is that I view it as God's wax nose. Every now and then I just have to reach up and give it a crank to the left to offset Bob who just gave it a crank to the right or to balance Mary who insists that it always point straight forward.

Prayer is also a great mechanism for spiritual warfare whereby I can anonymously pray that Paige Patterson's evangelistic "jihad" self-destructs before it ever gets off the ground. Sweeeet.

By the way, does anybody know if Southwestern Baptist Seminary has a "fight song" along the lines of USC's classic?

I think it's more like the idea that only liberals are wrong enough to need prayer is the issue that otherizes and demonizes. The concept that by virtue of having a liberal viewpoint, these leaders must be so far from the will of God that they require prayer. Prayer doesn't naturally separate people, of course, but if you pray for people as a group that needs to be changed, that, in essence, isn't good enough as it is, then you are warping God's ideal of prayer to lift yourself up and put others down. In other words, this type of prayer is prideful, in my opinion. It's my belief that we all need to realize that as Christians involved in politics, we often see the same destination, but disagree with the route.

If any question that there is a "holier than though" attitude in this call to prayer, check out the website: http://www.lc.org/media/9980/adopt_a_liberal.htm

They list numerous "misguided leaders" and why they are so bad as to require a righteous person's prayer. It appears they all are "pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-same-sex-marriage." They also support legislation against hate crimes and are socialists. The website asks it's followers to "Pray that the Lord would move upon them and cause them to be the kind of leaders who will encourage others to lead 'a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.'"

I don't know how "quiet and peaceable" it's going to be when they all are changed and become pro-gun-out-of-control. Maybe the guns will help us to "love the sinner and hate the sin." Perhaps liberals could be taught to use them in place of laws against hate crimes. We made need to take those arms, because some of the leaders want to "impos[e] same-sex "marriage" on citizens who have consistently voted against it." I don't want anyone forcing me into a same-sex-marriage.

The site uses the same inflammatory rhetoric that has been used for years. They demonize the liberals they want to their followers to adopt and ask them to submit names of other liberals to add to the list. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the attitude of the Liberty Counsel is in the reading. Check it out.

Peace.

The hypocricy on this site is just astounding. Here is a blog ripping conservative Christians for "praying for liberals." And on the front page of the site is a promotion to "pray for Glenn Beck"

As I have read this site, I have seen these people defended, applauded, or in the case of Obama, worshipped: Hugo Chavez, Roman Polanski, Professor Gates, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Jackson, William Ayers, The Jenna 6, The Lockerbie Bomber, and Acorn

Attacked have been James Dobson, Sgt. Crowley, The Left Behind Series, The movie fireproof, Sarah Palin, and pastors who spread the Gospel, American citizens who showed up at health care rallies, tea party citizens.

For those Christians who read this site....is that REALLY the America you want? The America of Hugo Chavez, William Ayers, and Acorn? Is it really? In the name of "justice" and "compassion", the left is attempting to take away every freedom that you have. What country is better than America? They're way of doing things leads to the oppression you see in other nations. Unless you want to be like China or the old Soviet union!

And speaking of China. If this administration was REALLY about Justice....why would Emperor Obama be the first President to shun your beloved D'Lai Lama because China asked him to shun him? China....the King of injustice and abuses told Obama to shun him and he did BECAUSE we are financially beholden to China. He did it because of the money. Where is the outrage on this site. If it had been G.W. Bush, it's all this site would have had articles about for days. But just like Van Jones and the safe schools czar..complete silence on Sojo.

Maybe this is the prayer that they intend to lift up:

'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this liberal. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'

(With apologies to Luke 18.)

I agree, but I find this post somewhat hilarious given the "Pray for Glenn Beck" link that has been featured so prominently on Sojourners the last couple of weeks.

I recall something about logs in eyes that might be relevant here.

i don't there is much to debate regarding "praying for this side or that side" using pray as some kind of ploy is self-serving and not unlike the high & mighty Pharisees that raised Jesus' ire so frequently. we need to learn to love, not to hate. when we focus on that need, can you imagine how "not of this world" and how "different" we will appear to those around us? instead, we just blend in with all the others, with some kind of self-righteous spiritual veneer applied here & there...

Prayer is also a great mechanism for spiritual warfare whereby I can anonymously pray that Paige Patterson's evangelistic "jihad" self-destructs before it ever gets off the ground. Sweeeet.

I've actually prayed similar prayers, but for no other reason than God showing them who's the Boss. (And David did the very same thing -- read the Psalms.)

If any question that there is a "holier than though" attitude in this call to prayer, check out the website: http://www.lc.org/media/9980/adopt_a_liberal.htm

They list numerous "misguided leaders" and why they are so bad as to require a righteous person's prayer. It appears they all are "pro-abortion, pro-gun control, and pro-same-sex-marriage." They also support legislation against hate crimes and are socialists. The website asks it's followers to "Pray that the Lord would move upon them and cause them to be the kind of leaders who will encourage others to lead 'a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.'"

I don't know how "quiet and peaceable" it's going to be when they all are changed and become pro-gun-out-of-control. Maybe the guns will help us to "love the sinner and hate the sin." Perhaps liberals could be taught to use them in place of laws against hate crimes. We made need to take those arms, because some of the leaders want to "impos[e] same-sex "marriage" on citizens who have consistently voted against it." I don't want anyone forcing me into a same-sex-marriage.

The site uses the same inflammatory rhetoric that has been used for years. They demonize the liberals they want to their followers to adopt and ask them to submit names of other liberals to add to the list. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the attitude of the Liberty Counsel is in the reading. Check it out.

Peace.

Not only is it hypocritical, but it fails to examine the reasons conservatives want to pray for liberals. Liberals are the ones who are predominately pro-choice, for exaple. They vote in certain ways, and they vote for and support things that are mostly not supportive of "family values." Obama himself has a 100% pro-choice voting record.

I find it interesting, also, that liberal Christians are so willing to align themselves with the Democrat party when I would venture to say that just about every athiest, celebrity, and God-hater and morality-hater is Democrat. You aren't going to find athiests and God-haters who are conservatives. Yet, liberal Christians think nothing of joining with them. Yet the Bible clearly states that we should not be "unequally yoked with unbelievers."

For those Christians who read this site....is that REALLY the America you want? The America of Hugo Chavez, William Ayers, and Acorn? Is it really? In the name of "justice" and "compassion", the left is attempting to take away every freedom that you have.

If the alternative is a "right-wing" country I most definitely would prefer that, if for no other reason than that at least we Christians will certainly be distinct from the rest of the world's corruption. Evangelism can be effective only when the church can provide an alternative to the world's way of thinking; however, the Liberty Council is hook, line and sinker in the "world," not with God.

Well, James Dobson's political arm prayed for rain during the democrat convention (search for a video on utube). I have personally made some statements about Sarah Palin, James Dobson, the left behind series (on how it shapes conservative thinking on the environment) but have not praised (or worshipped) the previous paragraph's people. What does that make me?

Uh -- most conservatives reject the LORDship of Jesus Christ. In fact, the modern conservative movement originally had no religious basis whatsoever; Moral Majority was founded at the behest of a conservative fund-raiser, and the number of non-believers on Christian radio and TV are shocking. So, if you really want to talk about "mixture," ....

I'm sure that no one "wants" homosexuals to be beat up. What they don't want though is one group (homosexuals) receiving special protections that other groups, such as the elderly, do not receive. Not only that, but the special protections they are wanting can easily be abused so that if someone just looks at them wrong, they can be accused of a "hate crime." Isn't pretty much all murder, all theivery, all crime based on HATE? If the homosexuals get special protections, it should be extended to other groups as well.

"..In my most prideful days I cannot imagine assuming I know God's thoughts about another person's opinions. I pray that God will lead us in His was, in conformity with His will."

If I can keep this one thought with me today, I will consider today a success. Thank you, wyosearcher.