Earlier this month Stuart Shepard, correspondent for the Focus on the Family network (you know, that OTHER religious gathering in Colorado), had a segment in which he less than half-jokingly asked prayers for torrential rains to inundate Invesco Field during last night's acceptance speech by Obama. God would want that, Shepard said (as you can see here), given that millions of unborn lives and the institution of marriage are at stake. It would send a message, he said.
You'd think that after all those Falwell-Robertson et al gaffes over the years about hurricanes as God's wrath on Florida, or New Orleans, or wherever, they'd have learned. And the criticism was such that Focus on the Family did pull the video a few days later. Perhaps that was a mistake, as the weather was beautiful last night.
Or could it be that karma is more powerful than James Dobson? According to the Washington Post this morning, GOP officials are so concerned with the prospect of Tropical Storm Gustav swamping New Orleans while the party parties in Minneapolis--echoes of Bush's Katrina debacle--that they may delay the start of the convention, and President Bush could even cancel his appearance Monday night. That could only be a good thing for McCain.
Meanwhile, the Exodus replays itself (my in-laws among the refugees), as we have learned some lessons three years after Katrina, even if we have yet to fix anything.
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That stunt by Stuart Shepherd was tasteless. But, frankly, so is this entire post. David Gibson, I'm sorry to say this but while you do a lot of great work this whole business is beneath you. You're better than this.
"You're better than this."
Actually, Reaganite, this is worth exploring. If, as many conservative Christians believe, God answers prayers, then there is also the possibility that he answers prayers in the negative. Certainly we have read of such instances in the bible.
For evangelical Christians, who believe that theirs is the ONLY path pleasing to God, the issue of God answering prayer has to be quite important. So also does the issue of God chastising his children, much as he did the nation of Israel according to the OT accounts.
When one of their members prays very publicly for a hurricane to move away from his town, and then it "miraculously" does, this is proclaimed as a miracle of God.
Here we have a group who prayed for rain "of biblical proportions" on their political opponents. We see instead a storm of potentially biblical proportions heading towards New Orleans, a town that several evangelical Christian leaders said was deserving of Katrina for their sin.
The question of whether or not God is using Gustav to teach his children a lesson is every bit as interesting and appropriate to look at as any other alleged act of God. Why is it that when God fails to do the bidding of the evangelicals, they insist that the results have nothing to do with their actions, but when God "answers" their prayers it is trumpeted from the highest hills?
If God exists, he could well be giving his people a lesson in using his name in vain, couldn't he? Or does God only bless evangelicals and never punish them?
ds, I agree with you. I am a Christian and I do believe that God says "no" and sometimes God is telling us that we are wrong.
Greetings,
Without either applauding or decrying some of the above posts, I would just weigh in with this: I believe, if Christians want to pray about the upcoming election, from the president on down, then they should pray that everyone - that includes evangelicals - gets his or her backside off the couch and away from the boob-tude long enough to get to the voting booth on election day, and vote his or her conscience.
Just my two cents worth...
God loves all people no matter of party affiliation...But to have a so called voice for Focus of the Family to ask all republicans to pray for rain to destroy the sinners of the democratic conventions is EVIL!! Yes I believe God has had enough of republicans telling the world that unless you are a Republican Christian God will strike you down. If I were a Republican Christian right now I would be worried. A Christian is a Christian we are not divided by party.
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