With his permission, here's what a friend of mine in Santa Monica wrote in response to my "Friend or Foe" post in response to Obama:
"Hey Ted, nice post! I'm impressed at your nuanced understanding of current foreign affairs. Props to ya!
Though at the end I'd have preferred you asking folks to pray more for a spirit of co-operation among each other regardless of party, deep scrutiny of all our news sources in the hopes to find unslanted facts (as you've clearly put effort into), and the patience to endure dissent without vilifying our neighbors.
I realize your prayers for deeper Christianity assume that to be the natural result and I do respect your inclusive, generous version of faith. But I think praying for a President to become more deeply religious is less useful to the current national rift than petitioning the faithful to put their faith in the "best intentions" of their brothers on the other side of the issues so this rabid casting of stones declines.
Granted, I'm an atheist, but I believe that when prayer has struck me as most effective, It's been when people pray to understand their brothers point of view. Something the "stereo-typical right-wingers" haven't been doing, which is why...judging from your writing...I'd never put you in that category.
You're an articulate voice in a wild time. I'll look forward to reading more of your postings."
Wow, David. I'm honored at your feedback and for the kind words. Thank you! I want to think about two things my friend mentioned above:
"I do respect your inclusive, generous version of faith."
I think I might be getting too much credit here. Ha ha. As I was meditating this week on the book of Romans, I read that "if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) So in that respect, yes, I follow an inclusive religion. An analogy would be if I held a big fall harvest festival and invited everyone, However, I simply required that admission to my party would only be granted by bringing a canned good for the local food bank. No canned good, no entrance. Simple rule. Clear, up front instruction. Those who showed up with money, perishable vegetables, used clothing, etcetera, would be turned away, or, in other words, excluded. The God of the Bible is exclusive in the same way. In John 14:6 Jesus answers, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." His manner of salvation is exclusively through Christ. It's not politically correct to believe this, just biblically correct. While God desires all men (generically used to mean "people") to be saved, inevitably since we have been granted free will, some will not respond to God's invitation. (God desires to be loved. Therefore if we were forced to obey him, would our love then be sincere? Of course not.) So my faith then, is inclusive, in that all are invited, but the Christian faith then becomes exclusive when some try to come via some other way than God's son's payment for our wrongdoing.
"praying for a President to become more deeply religious is less useful to the current national rift than petitioning the faithful to put their faith in the "best intentions" of their brothers"
Ok, so should I quote the Bible or another authority, like Randy Travis? "Mama, the road to hell is paved with good intentions." (That's meant to be funny, sort of). David, giving another the benefit of the doubt is important. I'll save the political side of any further comments for another blog site. PrayTel is dedicated to encouraging prayer. As we seek others to help others pray I am again reminded of Romans 8:26-27 which says "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will." In other words if we pray sincerely in the Spirit, but are wrong in our direction or wording of prayer, the Holy Spirit will grant us a "course correction" or rather will interpret and act upon what really should have been prayed. He, however, does want to see us involved in the humble act of prayer, which in so doing gives glory and proper respect to the God who deserves it.
