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Monday, March 19, 2012
The Power of Prayer
Do you believe in the power of prayer? I tend to have my own relationship with God and his many followers, and of course Jesus Christ. I don't wear it on my sleeve. We have our own personal thing gong on. But when friends and loved ones get into some kind of trouble I always find myself having a personal conversation with some folks in the form of a prayer.
I pray to my mom who died in 1992, my dad who died in 2003, and my grandparents on both sides that passed decades ago. I fully believe that there is a heaven, I fully believe that that is where I too some day will go, and I fully believe that family always watches over you. Ergo, they hear my little prayers for people I love on the radar. I like to think of it as my angels network. Sometimes I have them on speed dial and keep calling them when someone is really in trouble. It's what I do privately to myself.
Many a night years ago, when one of my little girls was sick, I would stay up holding them or watching them closely. As I paced in nervousness that a worried dad will do I prayed for my babies to get well to anyone and all that would listen. Did it work? I have no clue. But I still have five daughters to be thankful for on this earth.
Faith is a funny thing. You can wear it like a shield to insult the masses or you can use it for what it was intended for. Love of another person on this earth. Give faith a chance and you might just be surprised.
Some people may never understand this concept of the power of prayer. I'm not one to argue with them. It's my personal faith. And that is never going to change. I wear that part of my life like a blanket that keeps me warm and I like it.
I was in the tank for Barack Obama for a reason for President. I believe in him. I will never apologize for it! I don’t agree with his abortion and pro choice issue but I voted for him still because the rest of his message was for the common good of his fellow man and woman. He was not talking to the elite of America when he asked for our vote but to you and I, the simple folk. That is not a message that John McCain could sell but he was weighed down by the recent history of his own political party. John McCain was honorable, his party and the members of it were not. My own faith and leaders of it were accused of abuse against children. Catholic Priests abusing children and the dare to have a voice on this election? And when they hid the crimes, moved priests around, and they still think themselves innocent. Now they want to claim the higher moral road?
Republican political party officials disgraced the political offices they held over and over again. You can literally Google Search Tom Delay that was the Senate President disgraced and resigned from office, Denny Hastert, the Speaker of the House disgraced and forced to resign. One Republican representative after another in our nations government betrayed the trust of the people. Sex accusations and just out right abuse of power led many Republican members of congress to resign in disgrace. The fish rots from the head and George Bush and his administration contributed to this deception. The political base did not do that to them, the people they thought that they elected to serve are to blame for their actions. They are the ones to blame.
It goes beyond that. Faith came into play and the Catholic faith came into play when John McCain accepted the endorsement of Reverend John Hagee. A man that declared all Catholics Bastards and Whores of the Christian faith. To which John McCain had to withdraw his acceptance of the endorsement. Still, all of us Catholics are bastards of the true faith of Jesus Christ. We are damned to hell unless we sign over a check to Reverend John Hagee. Um, I do not have a pen ready any time soon.
Politics is a double edged sword if you bring your faith fully into it. Faith and politics will never agree unless you want to live in a religious run state? In South Carolina there is one parish Priest that thinks that anyone that voted for Barack Obama needs to go to confession before taking communion. As a Catholic I can not see how the logic of this parish priest is relevant to our nation and out greater political structure. Over at Yahoo News they have this opinion piece…
SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters
By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press Writer Meg Kinnard, Associated Press Writer – Thu Nov 13, 6:33 pm ET
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."
The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.
"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.
"Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ's Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."- Yahoo News
If the Catholic Church ran the world then we would have forgiven the terrorists that killed 3000 people on 9/11 in New York City and that would be the end of it. But this priest wants the election to be all about abortion. Not that you as a person could have a choice if you don’t even believe in it till the circumstances happen to be you and or your daughter. Your daughter is raped by her brother, by her uncle, by even her farther, or for that matter by a complete stranger. Rape is good with the Catholic faith and as a Catholic I have an argument here with it. Excommunicate me for it! I will defend a woman’s right, a child’s right and choice to abort a child under duress. Tell me once when a man was ever raped against his will and the end result was a child from that crime! Just give me one example. It's easy to talk about creation of human beings when you supposedly take a vow against sex. Then your own infrastructure hides your own members sex crimes against children. The Catholic Church does not have a bully pulpit to stand on right now and for them to try and influence voters is pretty much against church doctrine as well.
I find myself not thinking that the Catholic faith is not in line with the reality of the world around them. As much as I love my faith, the real world is not playing the same game. We as Catholics need to find our way back to the original message of Jesus Christ. If we can not, then so goes the faithful. Maybe we can hate the sin but love the sinner again? If we can not then Jesus and his message is lost to reach out for the lost among us. I think it is to late for that now and it angers me as a die hard Catholic!
I can honestly say that I don’t think that anyone is ever pro abortion but that is a political message left to spin by politicians and political groups that have no idea how many levels of government that this plays into, but politics should never play into my faith and my faith should never play into politics. Seperation of Church and State is there for a reasons. No member of the Catholic faith should be denied communion based on politics. What is a sin to one person is common sense to another. This is America and not the Vatican! This is the new Catholic faith that is not beholden to the Pope that is omnipotent.
One of the biggest things in politics not to do is bring up religion when it comes to any Presidential candidate. John F. Kennedy had to explain to the American people that he was not beholding to the Pope if elected President of this very religious nation as a Catholic. Governor Mitt Romney, a Mormon, had to explain that his faith as a Republican would not intervene if elected President. Mike Huckabee, well, we are all going to hell for not voting for him in the primaries and Fox News gave him his own “News” show.
Over at the Gun Toting Liberal, a site I proudly once wrote for, they have a great piece on playing the religion card from the McCain campaign double speak from Rick Davis. They intend on or are implying that they will bring up Reverend Jeremiah Wright once more against Barack Obama. I have to ask an honest question here, when did they stop bringing up Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Not for nothing, but I honestly believe that I have seen more than a couple of television advertisements a week for the past couple of months citing Reverend Wright?
GTL (Gun Toting Liberal) brought up these key points and I think he nailed this topic down cold and hard…
Obama Team Rethinks Playing The “McCain’s Spiritual Guides” (I.E. — Revends Rob Parsely And Ted Hagee) Card
Question: Should Barry Obama Go After John McCain’s Wacko “Spiritual Guides” Or Should That Be Considered “Off-Limits”?
Thus far, Señor Juan Sidney McCain Of Arizona Panama’s long-standing ties to the VERY controversial (to say the least) self-proclaimed “spiritual guides”, Reverends Rob Parsely and Ted Hagee, who were (in)famous for some of their recent remarks, have been considered “off-limits” by the Barry Obama Campaign. To re-wind a bit, let’s take a look at some “greatest hits” from these two “highly-respected (by Señor McCain) reverends:
Rod Parsely: “America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion [of Islam] destroyed.” …
John Hagee: “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” …
Not to mention the fact Sarah Barracuda Palin’s spiritual advisers have been known to play around with rattlesnakes, daring them to pierce the “Inpenetrable Veil of Jesus” and bite them as rumor has it.- Gun Toting Liberal
Many Catholics across this nation are looking at John McCain in a very favorable light based on just one issue. Abortion. In our faith this is an open and shut question but our government in America is not, can not, and should not be based on faith alone and your vote as a Catholic should not be based on just one issue. There is a much larger picture to this Presidential race and it is bigger than all of our faiths combined. No religion can win all of its dogma and belief with any candidate for President. It is the ultimate Catch 22 if you blindly vote your faith but hand over your government to those that would ultimate ignore your faith. As Christians we are taught to look out for and care for the poor. Republican Presidential candidates and the poor is the ultimate Oxymoron.
If John McCain, Rick Davis and Karl Rove and company want to bring up faith then let’s go to the facts. John McCain accepted an endorsement by John Hagee for President and later had to slap Reverend Hagee upside the head with a “Thanks, but no Thanks” after numerous reports cited Hagee as calling the Catholic Religion pretty much Satan worshipers. Mind you, my Jesus is your Jesus no matter what Christian Church pew you sit in, but all of us Catholics were damned to hell by Hagee! I didn’t like it, I don’t accept his apology because I think he wasn’t sincere and honest. With that one statement by Hagee he sent my five baby girls to hell and he was and is in John McCain’s corner. That was when many Independent and Moderate Catholic voters moved to Obama’s corner in this election.
Don’t even get me started on all of the ways that McCain is enabling big business to screw over the poorest amongst us and leave the cleanup for faith based organizations to take up the slack. From homeless veterans, cutting VA benefits for our troops, voting against minimum wage every single time. John McCain really does not care about feeding the homeless, or offering them shelter till they get on their feet which is what faith based kitchens and shelters all across America are doing 365 days a year now.
John McCain is a very angry man and if he wants to use Jesus Christ as a weapon against Barack Obama, a fellow Christian, then I have just one question. What would Jesus say?
Pitting one form of Christianity against the other is not a smart political strategy and it makes your political campaign look more than just desperate. It’s lining up Christian against Christian and that is not what our faith and belief in Jesus Christ is all about.
Us Catholic’s are a tough lot. Hell we have to deal with the shame of the child molesting priest issue that went underground for decades but we all own that shame together as Catholic’s. It is a shame that should never be forgotten by every single Catholic.
Mind you as church organizations go the Catholic faith is very strict with its teachings but very liberal with its actions. Caring for the poor, feeding the homeless, clothing people, offering assistance in many areas of life without care as to whether you are a Catholic or not. There are no flares fired off to make notice of our churches response to people in need, its just done.
With that being said, there is a religious Christian war going on in American politics that is based in hate. Christian, and hate are two words that should never go together when talking about the American Christian experience of faith. Love thy brother does not have the word “except” in it. Down at the bottom of the page there is no italicized notes with a list of who is not to be loved. If you think this war is happening in both political parties then you would be dead wrong. This issue is totally owned by the “My God is better than your God” Republican Party and Reverend John Hagee is heading up the battle with his endorsement of John McCain. Over at the Washington Post they have this great read on it…
Hagee Endorsement of McCain Has Risks
By LIBBY QUAID The Associated Press Monday, March 3, 2008; 6:23 PM
SEDONA, Ariz. -- Endorsed by an influential Texas televangelist, Republican John McCain endeared himself to one group of voters but risked alienating another with the pastor's anti-Catholic views.
The controversy has been mild so far, but still, every vote counts in a presidential election that is expected to be closely contested.
Evangelical or born-again Christian voters were key to George W. Bush's victories, but so were Roman Catholics, who chose Bush over their fellow Catholic John Kerry in 2004 and over Al Gore in 2000.
The televangelist, San Antonio megachurch leader John Hagee, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system" and "the apostate church"; the word "apostate" means someone who has forsaken his religion.
He also has linked Adolf Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism.
McCain said he does not agree with some of Hagee's past comments. "It's simply not accurate to say that because someone endorses me that I therefore embrace their views," McCain told reporters at a news conference Monday in Phoenix.- Washington Post
Just checking facts and we have this video from YouTube…
John McCain needs to look in the rear view mirror of his campaign and think about this endorsement more clearly. No matter how McCain spins this in the desire to hold on to the Bush Evangelical right vote he will loose the Catholic vote in large blocks. That is where the weakness of the McCain campaign will be in the general election. Pitting one Christian based religion against another Christian based religion offers no hope or change from the Bush full speed ahead of separation of the people. Good luck with that one Johnny! Here is your cross, you earned it, wear it well.
My family was from the old school, marry an Irish girl and marry a Catholic girl. I got one out of two right but one thing is true of both my wife and I is that our Catholic faith is one issue we never argue over. Our faith is our rock and we stand on it many times to keep our heads above the tides of life. To have someone call our faith a bastardization of religion or a whore just bothers me.
As for John Hagee, from this die hard Catholic, you sir are a money grabbing hypocrite. You call my church a group of “Whores”? You call my faith a “False Cult”. Then you call us a “Nazi” shaping tool of Adolf Hitler! I’ll turn the other cheek. Hit me again as you drive away from your multi million dollar church and studios in your luxury car to go to your personal mansion paid for by believers only looking for any beacon of hope that is the beginning of their faith.
Two words for the most self righteous Reverend John Hagee, “False Prophet”. Somewhere in the bible is a story about being very aware of men preaching God’s word and directing hate towards our fellow man. Again, God and Hate are two words that should not be used together if you are a minister, priest or a Reverend. In politics this endorsement is tantamount to forsaking an entire people for the favor of one.
In the battle for Christian voters John McCain is selling out his own self respect for votes from just one religious political group. What would he do as President? In acceptance of this endorsement he has basically endorsed the same words of Reverend John Hagee and called all of us in the Catholic faith “Whores”! As a practicing Catholic I resent it. If this is what the Republican Party is all about then I would suggest Catholic Republican’s jump ship in the general election simply for this endorsement.
There is no back peddling on this very central Catholic issue and Senator McCain will not back off or denounce John Hagee’s endorsement. That is the issue to stand and fight for as Catholics come November. Our faith is not a whore!
I have to run, as a Catholic I have to say a couple dozen Hail Mary’s and a ton of Our Father’s for this post…
Over the past few years we have herd of the term Fatwa from the Muslim people of the middle east and it intrigues me to learn what a Fatwa really is. Step in and correct me if I am wrong and please comment if I am wrong!
My former line of thought was that a Fatwa was similar to Jihad and yet now I find that they are two very different things. Seeing that we are at war with a nation and I presume an entire region I would think that it might be a good idea to educate ourselves as to what these terms that are thrown around by our so called enemies mean.
I don’t have anything against someone that chooses to be a Muslim or was born a Muslim. I don’t have a problem with someone born in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia or any other Muslim based theocracy and nation. Reading up on the faith that is Islam it is a very proud and non violent faith. Much like the Christian Bible, the Koran can probably be interpreted ten ways to Sunday and none of the interpretations is correct.
Take for instance the first Commandment of the Christian faith. Thou Shall Not Kill. If America is a religious Christian Faith society then according to this Commandment we should not have an army to defend us? No offense to all of my friends in service to our nation in the military intended. No pink slips will be issued to those in the military based on this post… Trust me on that one. My interpretation is very wrong but could the same mistake be made with the Koran?
Over at the Washington Post they explain what a Fatwa is from someone that should know…
Sheikh Ali Gomaa: When each person's unqualified opinion is considered a fatwa we lose a tool for reigning in extremism and preserving balance of Islamic law. Almost two years ago the citizens of London were victims of a great atrocity. Those who perpetrated those crimes would like you to believe that they were inspired by the religion of Islam. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There is nothing in Islam that could ever justify these blatant acts of aggression. Islam calls on Muslims to be productive members of whatever society they find themselves in. Islam embodies a flexibility that allows Muslims to do so without any internal or external conflict. This is why we see a vast variety of cultural, artistic and civilisational phenomena all of which can be described as Islamic, ranging from the Taj Mahal in India to the winding streets of Fez to the poetry composed by English converts that represents not only the rigor of English verse, but also encompasses the beauty of Islamic piety.
This flexibility is not just present in the cultural output of Muslims; it is an integral part of the Islamic legal tradition as well. In fact, you could say it is one of the defining characteristics of Islamic law. Islamic law is both a methodology and the collection of positions adopted by Muslim jurists over the last 1,400 years. Those centuries were witness to no less than 90 schools of legal thought, and the 21st century finds us in the providential position to look back on this tradition in order to find that which will benefit us today. This is one of the first steps in the issuing of a fatwa (religious opinion/ruling).- Washington Post
So I’m a little bit wiser today than yesterday. Fatwa is a religious opinion and or ruling on the religion of Islam. Islam is a religion that changes over the course of time and its history is relevant to the changes declared with a Fatwa.
So now I have to find out who is the equivalent of the Pope to find out how these Fatwa’s are issued and made part of the permanent Islamic law. Can anyone that is a Cleric issue a Fatwa? According to the article that is not the case. I’m wondering if the same rules apply as to all of those Jihad’s that everyone talks about in the Middle East?
My main point of this post is to think more about who we as a nation are as a target of Islamist misunderstanding of Americans as a people. If we can find the common links for change so two people can exist with understanding of one another then that is for the good of all people.
Papamoka
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