Prayers, Petitions, and Thanksgivings?

So Marcus and I have been in New York since I last blogged and I plan to post pictures and talk about that (including my Hugh Jackman sighting!), but since we got back I’ve been sick so I just haven’t gotten around to it.

Anyway yesterday I felt a little better and I came across an article/news clip on the Huffington Post (a liberal blog/internet newspaper) about a new line of merchandise with a Christian anti-Obama message. Except that at first it looks pro-Obama, and it isn’t just anti-Obama, it’s a thinly veiled reference to praying for his assassination. Basically the bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc say Pray for Obama Psalm 109:8

Most Christians know that we are instructed in 1Timothy to pray for our leaders, so at first glance this looks like a nice suggestion, except that it’s not. Psalm 109:8 says “May his days be few; may another take his place.” Since this isn’t written out on the merchandise one assumes they want you to actually look up the verse in the Bible. Upon doing so it’d be hard to miss the next verse (not to mention the entire content of that chapter). Psalm 109:9 reads “May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.”

Anyway, being a pretty liberal website, many of the Huffington Post commentators are atheists. Lots of those atheists have a very negative view of Christians and organized religion in general, but still have a positive view of Jesus. There was a whole lot of Gandhi quoting going on in the discussion. (Ya know,"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.")

While I hate that so many have such negative opinions of Christians (although I understand why they do), I always feel a little better when these same people state that they know the difference between what Jesus was all about and what U.S. Christians seem to be all about.

But then I started to wonder, probably because this was all going on while I was getting into UnChristian, how much longer can we expect that to continue? One generation, maybe two? How long before we Christians become so terrible as a group that the rest of America simply forgets or doesn’t even wish to know what Jesus was actually all about?

You can see the Huffington Post artcile/video clip here

And here's a link to a story in Christian Science Monitor, which seems to be the first time anyone in the media discussed it.

In the Year, 2525...

While Amanda has been at the seminar, I've been spending some time wandering around the town of Rhinebeck, NY; taking in the sites and shops, visiting the Farmer's Market, and snapping some pictures.

Here are just a couple of snaps I took from the town cemetery (in honor of All Hallows' Eve, of course).

The town itself is pretty old (settlement started in 1686 and the village incorporated in 1834); and while I know this area is no Mesopotamia, these two images got me thinking.

I wonder what the world will be like 130 years after I'm spending most of my time beneath a headstone?

Marcus, SGB waxing philosophical