An Evangelical Prayer for Wisconsin

Dear Father God, I just want to praise You for Your glory today!

I just feel so blessed to have such an awesome life, and for giving me a heart to praise you!  I know that it is just because you are such an awesome God!  I have a special prayer I'd like to offer up today, because it's just on my heart so much, and I'm just a little sad.

I'd just like to pray for those Sikh people who all got shot in Wisconsin.  It's just so terrible, and their family and friends all seem so sad and kind.   It is so hard to have your dad die like that, Father God.  I know it would make me sad, and it would be just so horrible to have your life end so early.  I know it was like so horrible when Taylor's dad died, and she was so sad.  He loved her so much, even if he wasn't a believer.

So today I just have a heart to pray about them having to go to hell because they are unbelievers, Father God.

I mean, Father God, it isn't like they hated or hurt or killed anybody, like that horrible man who shot them.  They weren't mean, any more than anyone else.  They weren't evil, I don't think.  They don't seem any different from the Christian people I know.

Is it a sin for me to feel that, Father God?

I know what Pastor says every Sunday, about how we're all evil, and that every sin is the same, and about how we're all sinners deserving of your wrath, and how we have to reach out to the lost unbelievers or they'll never be worthy know You.  I know how we all need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, especially because we sing that Nothing but the Blood song, and it's just so anointed and awesome, because You are an awesome God!

I guess that I should listen to Pastor, Father God, shouldn't I?  He tries so hard.  But it still makes me sad.  I mean, how could I ever talk to their families about You and the Gospel and the love of Jesus if all I could say was "Too bad, sorry, they're in hell now?"  That wouldn't be loving, even if it was true.

Pastor says some truths are hard.  But this sits in my heart of prayer and just feels hard.

But maybe it doesn't have to be true, Father God?

Because You're so awesome, Father God, can You just maybe not send them to hell forever...or maybe not at all?

It seems like You could, Father God, especially because You're Sovereign and Mighty to Save!  So maybe you could save them?   And you're so loving and you gave us Jesus not because You were mad but because You loved us so much!  And the anointing of the Holy Spirit is just so comforting, and I remember that the Spirit is called the Comforter somewhere, and there's that thing about love being the most important thing that I heard at cousin Emma's wedding, and it was just so great!

So I know I'm totally a sinner too, Father God, but could You just maybe anoint them with Your love and power, and be with them in Your glory?  

I talked to Taylor about this, which You know because You know my heart, but I want to tell You anyway.   She said she would pray it too, and like Jesus said, if two of us ask together You'll really hear us, Father God!

I love You and Jesus so much for all You've done for us!  So maybe could You just please show all those Sikh people that You love them, and hold them in Your arms and comfort them, and help me do the same?  

That would just be so awesome!  And You are an awesome God!

Thank You so much for Your amazing love and sovereign power, Father God, in the Blessed Name of Jesus, Amen!

Sikhs and Evil Stupid People with Guns

As I walked my dog yesterday morning, I passed a neighbor.

This neighbor lives up the street, part of a family whose daughter was the Safety Patrol when my 14 year old was getting on the bus for the very first time as a kindergartener.  She's in her last year of college this year.  Man, how time flies.   Back then, I hung out a bunch with the dad from the family, a genial, hardworking guy with a warm smile and an easy laugh.

This neighboring family is Sikh.

We smiled, I said hello, and we walked on.  I found myself...yesterday morning...reflecting on how interesting that faith is.

Guru Nanak, who founded the religion, has always struck me as kind of a brother from another mother, Jesus-wise.  The faith is monotheistic, and though it springs from an utterly different culture, it has powerful spiritual resonances with the core message and ethos of Jesus of Nazareth.  Guru Nanak taught a radically egalitarian approach to social standing, which put it into strong tension with the caste system in the Hindu culture from which it sprang.   I'd been doing readings in both Christian and world mysticism for the class I taught this last week, and Sikh teachings are both potently, esoterically mystic and eminently practical and earthy.

As I read the news this morning, I thought again about my neighbor, and my heart and my prayers went out to the Sikh community.  We don't know much about this particular "shooter" yet, but from what has been gleaned, it appears the reprehensible mass murders in a Wisconsin gurudwara may have been the work of someone who mistook Sikhs for Muslims.

If they'd been Muslim, it would have been no less horrific.  There is, however, the probability that this wasn't just a massacre, but a massacre undertaken by someone too hatefully ignorant to realize he wasn't even murdering the people he thought he was murdering.  Not that he wouldn't have hated them anyway.

From what is trickling out this morning, he was apparently thrown out of the military for misconduct, which isn't surprising.

What also isn't surprising is that he had easy access to firearms.   If the criminally insane can get guns, why shouldn't evil stupid people who are an embarrassment to the uniform?

Lord, have mercy.

The Flavor of the Tea Party

In a revealing little editorial today, conservative columnist George Will explored the character, motivations, and philosophical underpinnings of Ron Johnson, a tea party candidate running for Senate in Wisconsin.

I'll admit that "I'm Ron Johnson from Wisconsin" does have a rather nice rhythm to it.

Johnson seems a straight shootin', matter of fact, no-nonsense sort of guy. He's a businessman, with a practical, matter of fact, no-nonsense...wait...I already said that. Well, that's the general idea. He thinks government is the problem, and that taxation at any level represents an impingement on his liberty.

What is most interesting about Johnson is what he says is the most important philosophical influence on his life. He's a Christian, of course, and pro-life. That goes without saying. That's pretty much a default. But the specific teachings of that strange guy from the middle east don't provide the foundation of his political philosophy. His "foundational book" is Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

This is a sign of the character of the Tea Party. For just as you can't claim to be an atheist and simultaneously a Christian and maintain even the tiniest semblance of intellectual cohesion, you can't simultaneously be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ and think Ayn Rand is the bee's knees.

The reason for this is rather simple. The core of Ayn Rand's philosophy, which is made clear in John Galt's monologue near the end of Atlas Shrugged, is intentionally and diametrically opposed to the Great Commandment. The beating philosophical heart of Atlas Shrugged is the rejection of Christ's message to love God and neighbor. For Ayn, the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself was a command to be weak. To be a parasite. This is not me being mean to Ayn. If you could straight up ask her, I'm sure Ms. Rand would agree.

For the Tea Party, which does draw inspiration from Ms. Rand's ferocious worship of the individual and yet is purportedly very Christian at the same time, this is a bit of a problem. Or it would be, if anyone bothered to make them think about it.

Just who in the Sam Hill pastors these people, anyway?