Thursday, July 31, 2008

A Thing That Made Me Go "Hmm?"

“Lord - Protect my family and me. Forgive me my sins, and help me guard against pride and despair. Give me the wisdom to do what is right and just. And make me an instrument of your will.”

A simple prayer. Protection... Forgiveness... Humility and Hope... Wisdom... Willingness... It's a prayer not too different from many I have prayed myself.

But a lot of people are upset about this particular prayer. Not so much the words it contains, but the source of these words. The prayer was actually taken out of a crevice in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It had been placed there last week by Barak Obama while he toured the region.

Whatever your politics are, this raises a lot of questions:
Does the prayer tell us anything about what's really going on in the heart and mind of the Presidential nominee?
Why would a Jewish seminary student think it was ok in this situation to take someone else's prayer out of the wall?
Should the world really be privvy to private conversations with God?
Will this change any conservative Christian minds about who Barak Obama really is?
What is it that causes so many to be so skeptical of his motives/intentions/abilities?
Was this simply a strategic way to appear more spiritually minded?

What do you think?

3 comments:

  1. I got this from a friend today this is a real account from a real person.
    This is a firsthand account from the nephew of one of our friends.

    I don't know each of your personal political convictions, and apologize if
    anyone finds this offensive. I thought it was important enough to share.
    This is Jeff's firsthand view of Senator Obama.

    Tiffany

    ---------- Forwarded Message ----------
    Hello everyone,
    As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along
    that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit
    to 'The War Zone'. I wanted to share with you what happened.
    He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to
    meet with the Major General who is the commander here at Bagram.

    As the Soldiers were lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't
    say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he
    finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent
    that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so
    he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned
    the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.

    So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home
    that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to
    make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are
    providing the freedom that they are providing for you.

    I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas
    Cowboy Cheer leaders than from Senator, who wants to be the President of the
    United States . I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our
    Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those
    that provide the freedom for him and our great country.

    If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I
    wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you
    see in the news is all fake.

    In service,
    CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
    Battle Captain
    TF Wasatch
    American Soldier

    ReplyDelete
  2. I got that same e-mail yesterday as a forward from a guy that forwards me about every fwd that's been around, so I wasn't sure how much voracity it had.

    The trip did seem like quite the photo op without too much substance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. yeah i was dubious at first, but the guy i got it from doesn't usually send forwards, but your original post made me think too, because i think i definitely look for reasons to dislike Obabama even more. If i got the same e-mail about McCain part of me thinks i probably wouldn't get bent out of shape, but try to justify it.

    ReplyDelete

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