Can We Barter with God?

Most of us a familiar with the “five stages of grief,” as outlined by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross. One step is ‘bargaining’–an understandable though illogical attempt to control the situation by cutting a last-minute deal, usually with God.

Peter Jones, over at Kuyperian Commentary, explores the way our prayer and other devotional acts at all times, not just at a time of grief, are intertwined with God’s blessings. Is there actually a cause and effect? If so, can we manipulate God by our actions?

My Prayer for America

This Easter helped me put some things I’ve been thinking about into perspective.

I realize that we’re up against some seriously evil powers intent on destroying everything decent in our nation, with good people and institutions all that stands in their way. However, we can’t defeat those who wish us harm all by ourselves, and must turn to God if we expect to win this fight for the soul of America.

So here is my heartfelt prayer for this country of ours:

Prayer for a Nation

***Today’s guest post is from our old buddy, ‘Pgh‘. And if you’d like to see any of his previous writings, they’re all collected right here.

–JTR

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One topic commonly discussed here at “Two Heads…” is our nation’s culture or, perhaps more specifically, the deterioration of our culture.

Recently, I came across an article by Reverend Billy Graham, titled “My Heart Aches for America“.  In it, he recalls a conversation he had with his wife, Ruth:

“…Some years ago, my wife, Ruth, was reading the draft of a book I was writing. When she finished a section describing the terrible downward spiral of our nation’s moral standards and the idolatry of worshiping false gods such as technology and sex, she startled me by exclaiming, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Does God Judge Our Prayers?

Not exactly. But over at Kuyperian Commentary, a blog site devoted to conservative politics and Christian theology, Luke Welch has an excellent article on whether we are right to pray repeatedly for something. In Does Praying More Times Make God More Likely to Answer?, Mr. Welch compares two texts:

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4.8)

and

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully. (Psalm 24:3-4)

His analysis is simple and elegant and I strongly recommend that you check out the whole post (about 800 words)…and then browse the rest of the site, which is impressive and deserves more traffic than it seems to have at the moment.

At Democrat rally, activist publicly thanks God ….for Abortions

If you’re a God-fearing person, I’d suggest you put down anything breakable before reading further.

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:

With high-ranking Democratic officials listening reverently in the Iowa state capitol, a liberal activist and union official on Wednesday led a prayer for increased funding for abortions, for greater access to abortions, for doctors who perform abortions, and for what she called “the blessing of choice.”

Thy Will Be Done

Oh, those wacky atheists are at it again.

First up is a report from Canada, where a local town council has been ruining, ruining, a guy’s life ……by reciting the Lord’s Prayer prior to the start of their meetings.

From Canada’s National Post:

Claiming the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer causes him anguish and feelings of exclusion, a man in rural Ontario is suing his local government to get politicians to cease praying at the start of their meetings.

It’s the latest in a series of legal actions, supported by the advocacy group Secular Ontario, seeking to eradicate the practice in at least 18 cities, towns and counties across the province.

On Monday, the lawyer for the 20-member group filed a lawsuit against Grey County council on behalf of Peter Ferguson, saying the Christian tradition caused him “anguish, discrimination, exclusion, rejection and loss of enjoyment of life.”

Mr. Ferguson, who lives in Grey County, near Owen Sound, is looking for $5,000 in damages along with a court order for county council to stop opening its meetings in prayer.

“Anguish” and “Loss of Enjoyment of Life”, all being caused by listening to a 30 second prayer? Give me a break. I know that I have to put up with all sorts of Leftist pap in my life, much of it coming from the government: “Don’t smoke (anywhere)”; “Help Fight Global Warming”; or even “Buy a Chevy Volt! (Hey, you basically own the company, so you might as well..)”.

Am I supposed to cry about it and stomp my feet, like poor Mr. Ferguson?

Heck, there’s at least one such ad (especially the smoking ones) on most of the DVDs I rent. Uh-oh….. I feel an acute attack of “Anguish” coming on. May I sue someone now?

Now, the folks on the other side of the aisle are probably screaming, “This is really about the Separation of Church and State!!” at their computer screens right now, which is fine, except: this incident was in Canada, and has nothing to do with Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists back in 1802. However, if anyone would like to visit a wonderful post on that particular argument, go over to TheWarOnIgnorance.org. It truly is worth sharing and/or bookmarking.

Good? Good…

Now that THAT’S settled, let’s take a peek at another news article a little closer to home, over in Steubenville, OH. From Catholic News Agency:

In response to a threatened lawsuit from an atheist group, the Steubenville, Ohio city council says it will remove from its new city logo an image of the Franciscan University of Steubenville’s chapel.

“For more than 65 years, Franciscan University of Steubenville has proudly served as an integral part of this community and we were honored to have our chapel included in the new city of Steubenville logo.”

The city’s present logo, unveiled in December 2011, displays in silhouette the downtown cityscape and various landmarks of the city including Historic Fort Steuben, the Veterans Memorial Bridge and Franciscan University’s Christ the King Chapel.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation had threatened legal action over the logo’s inclusion of the chapel and the cross.

Annie Laurie Gaylor told the Steubenville Herald-Star that the logo is a symbol “that Steubenville is a theocracy and is a Christian city where non-Christians or non-believers are not favored citizens.”

She said a Steubenville citizen had contacted her organization to complain about the logo, which Gaylor said violates the U.S. Constitution because it includes the chapel.

“While we understand that Franciscan University is a part of the city, the city may not depict the university chapel and cross because to do so places the city’s imprimatur behind Christianity,” she said.

Ah, yes, more intolerance from the purveyors of tolerance.

So, how exactly does having the town logo include one of the largest (heck, one of the only) employers in Steubenville place the “city’s imprimatur behind Christianity”? Am I missing something here? I don’t recall anything from my years of school (or from 20+ years in business) that says any depiction, any reference, and any mention of government must be scrubbed of any and all religious connotations, inferences or actual representations, even when used as a business and/or educational institution.

Would someone get me a copy of that memo, so I can update my files?

Wait a sec. I see it now. The group’s name. Yes, yes…it’s our old friend, the ‘Freedom From Religion Foundation’. Come on now, how am I supposed to take ’em seriously with  a name like that? We’ve covered them before, and there’s no need to rewrite that whole post again here. Suffice it to say that anyone who thinks including a chapel’s cross in the city logo somehow makes that city a “theocracy” is either lying their pants off, or has more issues than I am qualified to address.  Do these folks also assume that everybody sporting a cross tattoo or cross jewelry MUST BE a born-again Christian?

Here’s another question: what about cities that have religious names? Hey now, isn’t it a whole-lotta-bunches worse for a city to be named after a Christian saint than just to have a teensy-weensy cross in a logo (which most folks will never see)? So, cities like San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis or even Los Angeles must all be “theocracies”…right?

(insert cricket noises here: _________)

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I do start to get tired of this battle, day after day. You probably do, too. But we can’t walk away, or skip over the next headline we see. I’m convinced that’s part of the Left’s animating strategy: just keep up a continuous attack, year in and year out, and eventually we’ll just shrug our shoulders and say, “Ehhh, it’s not worth it.”

Well, it IS worth it.

Properly motivated, as we just saw in report after report about Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, the American Christian is a mighty force. However, we can’t forget that battles like that are just skirmishes, and not the war. The war is being waged, every day, whether or not we choose to fight it.

Sorta makes the whole “Thy will be done” part of The Lord’s Prayer even more meaningful when you think about it.

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UPDATE: The town of Steubenville has put the logo change on hold. Seems some folks got a tad riled over this, and decided they’d like to discuss it further.

Amen, guys. Amen.