Thoughts on Imprecatory Prayer

Normally I don’t blog about sermon topics but this week I’m making an exception.  (You can hear the sermon at the Zoar Church website after 10-28-12.)   

As I interact with people who do not believe in God I’m discovering some of the reasons why.  One primary reason is the perception that “religious” people are violent and hateful.  It is true that throughout the centuries “worshipers” of all types have prayed for God to kill their enemies and some have taken matters into their own hands.  These prayers are called “imprecatory prayers,” meaning “to invoke a curse.”

Believe it or not, some are still praying these kinds of prayers.

In an interview with Alan Colmes, host of a nationally syndicated radio talk show, Wiley Drake, a mega church pastor and former vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, stated that he prayed for God to kill the president of the United States.  When asked how he could justify such a prayer he said he was “asking God to enforce imprecatory prayer.” (For more than you care to read or hear just google Wiley Drake.)

So what does the Bible actually have to say about imprecatory prayer and why even talk about it?

Well, the “why talk about it” question goes back to what I said about those who have great difficulty embracing belief in God.  The truth is some “Christians” (as well as other religious adherents) have poorly represented their faith.  So I write in the hopes of exposing the other side of the coin.

For the “what the Bible says” question, please be patient and keep reading.

In the Old Testament most imprecatory prayers are petitions for God to exercise lex talionis (the law of retaliation) on behalf of the writer… most often speaking for the Israelite nation.  The law of retaliation is found in Exodus 21:23-25.

²³ …if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” (NIV)

As primitive as that seems, this law was actually put into place to restrict violence.  The law stipulated that an offended person could only do to their enemy what the enemy had done to him.  Before this law was given to the Israelites there was no real restraint on violence in the world.  If you killed my mule I might burn down your barn with all your livestock in it. 

So, for example, in Psalm 137:8-9 the psalmist, as a part of his prayer, cries out…

⁸ O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
    happy is he who repays you
    for what you have done to us—
⁹ he who seizes your infants
    and dashes them against the rocks.

No doubt the writer is imploring God to exercise retaliation on behalf of the people.  What the Babylonian invaders had done to the Israelite children, the Israelites look forward to doing to theirs.

But is this where the biblical revelation stops?  Is this all we’re left with?  You slap me and I slap you?  You kill my child and I kill yours?

The answer is no!  At least not for followers of Jesus.  Followers of Jesus Christ look at everything through the lens of his teaching and example, what Jesus said and did. 

In the Sermon on the Mount, the most influential teaching every shared with human kind, Jesus addresses the law of retaliation.  In a sense he gives us and upgrade!

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  ⁴⁰ And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹ If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  ⁴⁴ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

(Matthew 5:38-45 NIV)

The teaching of Jesus moves us to a higher ethical and moral plane.  The biblical revelation finds its completion in Jesus. 

In the 1963 edition of The Baptist Faith and Message there is a line that says, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.” (Herschel H. Hobbs, ed. The Baptist Faith and Message, Nashville: Covention Press, 1971 p.18.)  That line was removed from the 2000 edition but some Baptists still believe that it contains tremendous wisdom.

For followers of Jesus everything; every teaching, every Bible passage, every philosophy, every theology, is processed through the filter of the teachings and example of Jesus Christ.  What Jesus said and did is ultimately authoritative.  This is central to Christianity!  

That means that we are not free to model our prayers after Old Testament imprecatory prayers.  Like Jesus’ original disciples we ask him to teach us to pray.  And he teaches us to say, “forgive us our sins and we forgive those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6:12)

Is Beauty good evidence for God?

Give me a minute to describe a scene for you.  Near a little mountain community called Valle Crucis, the Watauga River descends rapidly for about a quarter of a mile.  Within that stretch the river spills over natural dams and squeezes between large boulders to form deep pools of cold clear water.

In those pools (most of the time at the very bottom) trout hold still, waiting on their next meal to come rushing into their feeding lanes.

Several days ago I stood near one of those deep pools in hopes of tricking one of those trout into believing that the imitation fly floating into their watery home was not an imitation.  And on that particular day I was successful on several occasions.  The biggest success was an 18 inch rainbow.  (Don’t worry, I released it along with the rest I caught that day.)

Admittedly, most of what I just wrote was me bragging about catching a nice fish; a shameless effort to make my friends jealous.

But there is another point… I hope.  Standing there in the river, having just released the rainbow, I watched it blend seamlessly into to the water like a chameleon.  Then I looked up at the colors of fall all around me.  The river, the rocks, the multicolored trees created a scene no artist could fully capture.  I can only describe it as beautiful.

Which leads to the other point.  For centuries philosophers, theologians and artists have argued that the reality of beauty is a legitimate and convincing argument for the existence of God.  The theory is that the existence of beauty, the intricate, compelling symmetry we find in everything from biology to mathematics to music is strong evidence that there must be a creator.

However, many would say that the argument doesn’t hold water.  Richard Dawkins, a prominent atheist, has made the counter argument.

I have given up counting the number of times I receive the more or less truculent challenge: 'How do you account for Shakespeare, then?'  (Substitute Schubert, Michelangelo, etc. to taste.)  The argument will be so familiar, I needn’t document it further.  But the logic behind it is never spelled out, and the more you think about it the more vacuous you realize it to be.  Obviously Beethoven’s late quartets are sublime. So are Shakespeare's sonnets.  They are sublime if God is there and they are sublime if he isn't.  They do not prove the existence of God; they prove the existence of Beethoven and of Shakespeare.  A great conductor is credited with saying: 'If you have Mozart to listen to, why would you need God?' (The God Delusion, Mariner Books: 2008, p. 110)

I tend to agree with Dawkins.  The fact that there is beauty in our world is not convincing proof that God exists.  Beauty (symmetry, balance, harmony) could be the natural result of evolutionary development apart from God.  The simple fact that beauty is there does not mean that God is there.

Besides, when you argue for the existence of God based on the reality of beauty, then what do you do with all that is not beautiful?  Much of what we see all around us is not beautiful.  It is ugly! 

The ugliness of hunger and abuse and oppression and injustice is real and it does not inspire a sense of transcendence and reverence.  It inspires a whole different set of sensations that encompass everything from helplessness to guilt.

But here’s my question (and I guess an argument to which I invite your response).  How does Dawkins know that Shakespeare’s sonnets are sublime?  How do human beings intuitively know what is beautiful and what is not?  How is it that we have the innate ability to recognize beauty?  If we are simply part of the natural development of the universe then we should have no real point of reference.  Right?

Why should a blooming rose inspire a totally different sensation than hair growing out of somebody’s nose?  Why should we know that a child smiling is beautiful but a child starving is not?  In fact, if Darwinian evolution (with no greater purpose) is all there is, then some of the most atrocious injustices in this world… starvation, brutal oppression and disease are simply natural (and healthy) examples of the survival of the fittest.

But we all know that we do have a point of reference, don’t we?  We are all appalled by the injustices of this world.  We all grieve over starvation, homelessness, abuse in all forms; the list goes on and on.  And I would argue that the innate understanding that some things are beautiful and some things are ugly, that some things are inherently good and some things are inherently bad, that some things are just and some unjust has been infused into our DNA.  The question is, who did the infusing?

I have great respect for my friends who do not believe in God; who have, to this point, been unable to embrace the possibility of a dimension outside of the one in which we now live.  Many of them have given “spirituality” more thought than a lot of religious people I know and have simply arrived at a different conclusion.   

But I respectfully disagree with those friends.  I believe deeply that there is a creator, we call that creator God.  I believe that God has given us the intuitive capacity to know what is and is not beautiful, good and just.  I do not know of any other viable explanation. 

The next time I’m fishing or walking through the woods or watching the sun set, I will see beauty and recognize it.  I can only conclude that I will see beauty because there is a beautiful God.

Thanks for reading with an open mind.

Is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat?

“Is Jesus A Republican Or A Democrat?”  It’s not only a compelling question, it’s the title of a book by Tony Campolo.  Campolo does a good job of stating the positive and negative distinctives of each political party.  

The Republicans emphasize individual responsibility, a trait lacking in many of our citizens.  The Democrats emphasize collective responsibility, a trait lacking in much of our society.  The Republicans tend to be soft on the abuses of big business and the Democrats tend to be soft on traditional moral values.

 

A lot of people say that Jesus would support the platform of the Republican Party.  Others argue that Jesus would be a strong Democrat.  Both groups are passionate about their convictions.  Both groups are confident in their conclusions.  And both groups are, in my opinion, wrong!

I find it fascinating that during a time when political upheaval was pervasive, when his disciples expected him to be the next big political figure, when the entire Jewish community was looking for a Messiah (a political leader) that would overthrow the Roman government, Jesus refused!

Why?  Why didn’t Jesus lead a revolt against the Roman government and set up a “righteous” kingdom?  Why didn’t he kick out the corrupt religious leaders and establish a new regime?  Maybe it’s because Jesus actually knew how real change, real transformation happens.  (By the way, since Jesus was the most influential movement leader who ever lived, perhaps we should pay close attention to what he said and did.)

Perhaps one thing we learn from Jesus is that global transformation never happens from the top down.  It always happens from the bottom up.  Incidentally, as a matter of well documented historical record, Jesus Christ launched a movement that did indeed change the world. 

How did it happen?  According to the eye witnesses of Jesus’ ministry, he did it by transforming human hearts.  Jesus changed (and, in my opinion is still changing) the world by changing people.  I believe that Jesus is transforming humanity by transforming humans.  He is making all things new by making people new… “born again.” 

Unapologetically, Jesus invites human beings to follow him.  He is the one who offers and gives forgiveness, new life and a new kingdom.  Over the last 2000 years, millions have responded to that invitation.  Every credible student of ancient history agrees that those who believed in Jesus Christ literally changed the course of human history.  Do you want to change your world?  Then take Jesus seriously!  Trust him!  Trust him enough to follow his teachings and example!

Today, around the globe, millions are still responding to his invitation.  Millions are still trusting him with their very lives, with the way they live.  And the world is still being changed, rescued, redeemed.  According to the Bible, someday our redemption will be complete.

I suppose (actually I believe) that republican and democrat politicians make a difference.  Voting is important.  The political process is not pointless.  But of all the good that the political process does, it does not transform the politicians or the people who elect them.  In my opinion, only Jesus can do that.