Prayer Requests on Facebook

[Dave Roberts]

I found myself today getting prayer requests on Facebook to which I responded with my usual "Praying." What I discovered as I read what followed was that the requests were to be praying not for God's will but for specific political outcomes, even including praying for Nancy Pelosi's death before she can "ruin America by impeaching Trump. There were also prayers for Democratic success. I find such uses of prayers to be wrongheaded and frightening trivializing of prayer. They seem to be involved in telling God what our political viewpoints believe he should do. I always thought prayer had the higher purpose of submission to God's will, not demanding that God align his will with ours. How would you answer this type of requests not to offend but to correct such misuses of prayer?

[Haruo]

Good question.

[Sandy]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... ma/486587/

This sounds like the "imprecatory prayer" that was promoted by former SBC VP Wiley Drake.

https://jonathanturley.org/2009/06/05/b ... ent-obama/

When you're praying something like that, what you're praying for is for God to change his will to yours. And he's not going to answer that prayer, at least according to what the scripture says. And for those who argue that the government authorities are put in place by God according to his will, please note that Nancy Pelosi is one of those governing authorities and if you tend to take that literally, then this impeachment is the will of God, as is whatever its outcome will be.

Maybe I'm just getting more and more cynical, and I'm saying things I use to hear my parents say that I said I'd never say, but it just seems that churches are missing more and more of the unity and fellowship and caring about each other that I believe I do indeed remember from the past. This kind of thing wouldn't ever have been around in my home church, even among the most partisan of the partisans in the congregation.

[Dave Roberts]

I had to confront a church member yesterday using the analogy for building Trump's wall that Heaven has walls and gates. He didn't like me much for reminding him that Jesus came to open the gates and make God's house open to all who would follow Him.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

If you read some of the stuff that's floating around out there along these lines, there are also those who are claiming they're going to put feet to their prayers.
https://occupydemocrats.com/2019/12/08/ ... president/

If Christians are embracing this mentality, even by praying for certain politicians they don't agree with to die, then there is a depth of ignorance, evil and hatred that's a sign of some really deep problems. The church has failed and has been subverted. How can you scream and cry about "baby killers" when you're a murderer in your own heart? By Jesus' definition.

[Dave Roberts]

I think the church has often been subverted willingly to what sounds the way we want it rather than allowing ourselves to be defined by Jesus. It's easier to redefine what faith means than to accept being redefined by the life and words of Jesus.

[Haruo]

[Sandy]