Now this is something I've never heard of -- imprecatory prayer. Do any of you out there do this? Let us know.
"The former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention said he’s practicing the age-old art of "imprecatory prayer" — a theological term for praying that bad things happen to bad people.
Imprecatory prayer can turn a verse into curse through reciting Scripture aimed at one’s foes. Rather than asking for, say, healing or a win in the big game, these prayers request that God smite one’s enemies with—among other things—plagues, death and eternal damnation.
"That doesn’t mean I spend every waking hour praying for the death of the president," said Drake, who leads Buena Park Southern Baptist Church, near Anaheim, Calif. "Of our prayers, 98 percent should be good prayers and 2 percent should be imprecatory."
Though Scripture says Jesus told his followers to love their enemies and pray for them, the Bible also depicts King David pleading with God to vanquish his adversaries. While famed Christian apologist C.S. Lewis found such imprecatory psalms distasteful and “devilish,” even he could not deny their existence.
Derided by some as a bad Judeo-Christian imitation of voodoo, the literal practice of imprecatory prayer has some newfound fans.
Gordon Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain, posted an online prayer on April 25 that targeted his old foes, the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State; and Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
Klingenschmitt asked God "in Jesus’ name" to "cut off their descendents" and "replace them with Godly people.""
Friday, 3 July 2009
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6 comments:
Hehe, I get a bit of pleasure from silly little comments like these:
"Of our prayers, 98 percent should be good prayers and 2 percent should be imprecatory."
I love the quantification of it; it seems so official. He wouldn't want anyone to think it was just some ad hoc thing, this type of prayer, definitely not. You can quantify the proper percentages so that your prayer is perfectly balanced. I wonder if this is from the bible.
That's an interesting observation, Lisa. That went right past me when I read it. I really need to work on this logic thing so I can see when I'm being bamboozled more easily.
Imprecatory prayer is prayer asking God to kill, maim, curse, send into eternal damnation, or otherwise harm an enemy. In the United States imprecatory prayer is most often invoked by both sides before an important football game.
"Love your enemies"? Not a chance. The teachings of Jesus go out the window here. Those who say imprecatory prayer is scriptural point to Psalms, which contains several such prayers.
Proponents of name it and claim it theology teach that the words that come out of your mouth are a "creative force" which actually speaks something into being. Therefore, they warn, watch what you say because anything you say can work against you as an imprecatory prayer. According to this teaching, if you say, "I don't feel so good today", you have just literally prayed an imprecatory prayer over yourself making yourself sick.
In Judaism we don't believe in hell (instead, there's a place for all righteous people in the afterworld), so there's no praying that your enemies will end up there. And there's no singling out an individual for a creepy wish like that ("God, John has been so mean to me. Make him die!" - that is indeed voodoo).
But this is not the same as appealing to God that your enemy does not succeed. I would have no problem saying to God, "Please do not let North Korea succeed in its goal to destroy the United States." In war, for example, you do not say, "I hope that they do well, and I do well." You say, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition."
But the idea that a deity would actually listen to a plea to 'cut off their descendents' and say, hmmm, I'd better do that -- amazing.
Michigan Mom hit the nail on the head when she said, "that is indeed voodoo". This type of prayer is nothing more than man's feeble attempt to manipulate the hand of God to serve his own purposes. Although I don't agree with Mikey Weinstein's platform in the least, the man is in my prayers along with his family. Klingenschmitt's prayer approach is contraindicative of a Spirit-led prayer as Yeshua taught us to pray for our enemies and for those who persecute us. Look through history and see the example of Christian martyrs; you'll note they don't curse their accusers or persecuters, they pray the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will forgive them.
I pray God will forgive Mikey Weinstein and open his eyes to understand Truth. And, along with that, I pray that God will minister His love and grace to Mikey's family who has suffered unbelievably at the hand of naive "Christians" who have taken it upon themselves to perpetrate unthinkable abuse upon him and his family for the sake of the precious freedom purchased on the cross of Calvary. And, I pray that those who think they are on a mission that includes disgracing the message of Yeshua in order to fulfill their own agenda will open their hearts to the conviction of the Ruach haKodesh and repent, not only to God but to the Weinstein's.
This type of imprecatory prayer, in my opinion, is as "Rational Jesus" was speaking about -- man's attempt to manipulate the hand of God for his/her own agenda. It's evil as it exercises some form of spiritual control over another individual in an attempt to achieve one's own purpose in another's life.
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-48 KJV)
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