would it be so wrong to pray for rain?

watch this clip and ask yourself the same question: is it wrong to pray for rain?




is it wrong to pray for a candidate?

is it wrong to pray against a candidate?

after all, don't we believe that god works in and through prayer?

if we think someone is truly opposed to god's will should we not pray against their success...not their destruction but just their success?

should we not champion christian issues and demand that our leaders do the same?

paul, in romans 13, tells us to pray for the leaders and to be good citizens and pay our taxes (even jesus does that...'render unto ceasar' and all that).

so, we gathered and we voted. we voted and talked about whether or not it is right for a christian, a follower of jesus, to vote their faith.

then we discovered something kind of funny. in the book of revelation (note not revelations there is no 's' although most think there is) john calls rome the 'whore of babylon' who is 'drunk on the blood of the martyrs'

yikes!!

turns out that not even the bible has a consistent view of the christian church's responsibility to the state.

it was then, as we talked, that one of our people raised her hand and asked the question:

'i mean, we have seen time and again that all the people in this group have different ideas so how can we possibly define what a christian issue even is?'

bingo.

what IS a christian issue? abortion? same sex marriage? education? health care? national security? international aid? welfare? the environment? you can make an argument for each one of these.

and we did.

the group voted on a series of 14 issues compiled from various polls that showed what the 'hot button' issues for christians are (or, more accurately, the ones most christians are told to think are the important ones) and we voted.

here is our top 4 (not ranked): environment, health, education, international aid.

interesting. the top two issues for christians in the u.s. & canada combined were: abortion, same sex marriage and immigration.

are we less christian? or more canadian?

interesting.

someone pointed out that welfare did not even crack our top ten.

interesting.

someone else pointed out that while neither got a lot of votes pro-life beat out pro-choice in our group.

interesting.

even though the market had crashed the economy was only number 6 on our scale.

interesting.

the point is this: the notion of a christian issue is largley problematic to solve in the political ring because, and let's be honest here, christianity is not about making other people believe what we do.

sure, we can try to convince others about what we believe (hopefully more with actions than with words!) but we must realize that we have a pluralistic nation and we must allow all people, no matter how they worship (or whom) the freedom to do just that. it is not long after that that you begin to see that we have all been sold a line about christian issues and that we are being taken for a ride by people who want to win elections.

life should be protected. that is clear in the faith. but not just at the moment of birth but through the entire time a person live on this earth. how can someone be pro-life and pro-capital punishment? it is possible but that stance deserves to be scrutinized heavily.

that was what, hopefully, we came away with. voting is a privilege but there is no such thing as a christian party (and even if there was and even if they came to power that would just mean that people would start saying they were christian so that they could be in power too...so don't get all misty-eyed about the idea of christian's in control. we tend to hoop it as bad as anyone!) but there is such a thing as a christian voter.

so, as we head to the polls in a little less than a week let us remember that we are people of faith. however that influences your voting, vote who you think is best but before you do that, pray. ask god for help.

and may god bless our nation and the people in it...and the people in america...and in mexico.....and afghanistan...and england...and iraq....and australia....and sudan.....and peru.....and...........