[Vision2020] Jesus and imprecatory prayer, as if it mattered

Fri Dec 15 21:39:58 PST 2006

The Kirk and its defenders continues to engage in, defend, and urge 
imprecatory prayer against its "enemies," assuring us that the failure to 
pray in such a manner is responsible for some of the weakness of the modern 
church.

As opposed to someone who had significant influence on the development, some 
guy named Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ:

"Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?"  But 
Jesus turned and rebuked them . . . "  Luke 9:54

"Lord, should we strike with our swords?"  And one of them struck the 
servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear,  But Jesus answered, 
"No more of this!"  And he touched the man's ear and healed him.  Luke 
22:49-51

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."  Luke 
23:34

(Note:  Any bets on how long before the Princess or my off-list critic 
points out in a withering display of sophistry that they've not actually 
SAID the words "Call fire down," or that no Kirker has ever cut off a guy's 
ear with a sword?  Duly noted.  Not relevant.  Let's continue . . . )

I am sick to death of Christ Church and its leaders and defenders pointing 
out the example of everybody in Scripture, under ever possible circumstance, 
to hold to the right and necessity of imprecatory prayer.  They seem to not 
remember that they are Christ-ians; that is, that the example of Jesus, God 
revealed in the flesh (and that is what we believe), is our Lord, Savior, 
example and guide.

An article on how the toxins of patriarchy, neo-confederacy, 
Reconstructionism and right-wing politics have combined to foul the public 
witness of some expressions of Christianity can be found in the current 
issue of Harper's.  It's titled "God BLESSED America."

I am not ashamed of Jesus Christ nor his Gospel.  I am, however, both 
ashamed of these people and fearful of the soul-hardening effect of their 
beliefs and conduct.  It's quite a read, and I think it illustrates that 
militaristic, peace-breaking practices like imprecatory prayer are often 
bound up in even more dangerous practices.  I recommend good wine, a few 
tissues, and a heart ready to be angered.

keely

From: "Michael Metzler" <michaelmetzler at email.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] the Princess, Part 6 (Imprecatory, Prayer Part 2)
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 23:44:42 -0500

The anonymous Kirk apologist Princess writes:

   "Mr. Metzler puts words in my mouth. He claims I wrote in defense of
   Doug Wilson; however, I made no mention of Doug Wilson. As usual, Mr.
   Metzler assumes too much. He still believes in the infallibility of
   old Pater Nostril. He not only puts words in my mouth based on his
   assumptions concerning me. . . Metzler's approach here is simply
   lacking in the charity that is required of a Christian"

And the Princess goes on:

   "And since Mr. Metzler brings up Wilson's recent prayer posted
   online, let me state the obvious and acknowledge that there are ways
   of reading this prayer that would lead one to conclude it is an evil
   prayer. However, such a reading is either uncharitable or not
   biblically informed, or both, and reveals more about the person
   making the interpretation than it does about Wilson. There is also a
   charitable and biblically informed way of reading this prayer which
   does not lead one to condemn the person who made it.. . ."

As usual, the Princess’ lips drip with...something other than sincerity
and truth. Oh my! How dare you claim that I had intentions of defend Doug
Wilson! How presumptuous! Why, this is not even Christian!

Perhaps she felt comfortable finally answering me here since I hardly
furthered an argument this time around, but rather just directed you to
the kind of prayer the Princess *would* be committed to defending. Ah!
There I go again! How unchristian of me to presume that the Princess
would want to defend this prayer! That is just putting intentions in her
little royal heart! What audacity! How off base my sniffing snoozer was!
I just can’t get anything right anymore.

Now, let me direct your attention to the fact that the Princess does not
deny my preliminary claims, answer any arguments (whether explicit or
implicit), or explain to us how “obvious” it is that there is a wonderful
meaning hidden behind Wilson’s lengthy pleading with God to harm, punish,
mutilate, and remove from all grace particular people. The Princess can’t
claim that these particular people are unrelenting murderers and rapists,
since Wilson is contextually committed to praying these prayers to local
critics in Moscow, Idaho. The claim that my bracketed comments suggest an
uncharitable reading into Wilson’s meaning is unwarranted, to say the
least; they were largely argumentative questions directly made to the
natural meaning of Wilson’s words. The princess writes:

   “he puts words into Doug Wilson's mouth based on his assumptions
   concerning Wilson. (Note all the bracketed insertions into the
   extended quote from Wilson's blog.)”

Also curious is the Princess’ worry about *who* the prayer was directed
to, since it doesn’t matter to me at all if there were particular people
Wilson had in mind when writing this prayer (although the larger context
is suggestive). The point is that when someone prays a prayer like this
they *are* to have specific people in mind; further, this prayer was
explicitly given as a defense for the use of imprecatory prayer of the
kind prayed by the Kirk. And when Wilson and the Kirk prays imprecatory
prayers *they do* have specific individuals in mind. And as I stated in
my original post, and what the Princess has not denied, Wilson’s practice
of imprecatory prayer has been largely directed to local neighbors in the
Moscow community, local neighbors who happened to have great public
concern about Wilson doing things like praying imprecatory prayers. The
point is obvious and yet the Princess expends all her/his/their energy
trying to simply cover the point up through great concern over my
uncharitable suggestion that the Princess was actually interested in
defending Doug Wilson’s imprecatory prayers!

The Princess leaves us with some disturbing words for the contemporary
American Christian:

   “[I]mprecatory prayer is not only justifiable for the Christian, it
   is *necessary,* and its neglect is not a good thing. The fact that
   Christians fail to properly understand and use imprecatory prayer
   probably accounts for a considerable amount of the *weakness*
   experienced by Christian churches today."

I dare hope for the Kirk to gain any more *strength*!

Here again is the prayer for your own consideration; here is the model
prayer of imprecation, the kind of prayer Wilson and other Kirkers have
prayed against their critics here in our otherwise fairly peaceful small
town of Mosocw, Idaho. Here is the gospel of peace to the surrounding. .
. . “enemy”:

Father, we pray that the angel of the Lord would chase them down. We pray

that You would set for them a dark and slippery place, and that the angel

of the Lord would persecute them there. They have hated us without any

just cause at all, and they have devised all their plots without any good

reason. We ask You therefore to rise up and defend us. Stand in the pass

behind us, and lower Your spear against them. Turn them back from their

wicked attacks. Rout them, we pray. Chase them like chaff in a stiff

wind. We pray that You would string Your bow, sharpen Your sword, make

ready all the instruments of death. Ordain Your arrows to fly against

those who persecute the righteous. Make their mischief to roll back on

their own impudent heads.

. . . Let their table become poisonous to them, let it become a snare.

Let their eyes be darkened, and judicial blindness fall upon them.

We pray that their eyes would be blinded by You; strike them so that they

cannot see. Father, we pray that You would make their loins shake

continuously, that they would be seized with fear and amazement. Pour out

hot indignation all over them; take hold of them tightly in Your wrathful

anger. May their dwellings become empty and desolate—for whenever You

chastise anyone else, they love to pile on as though You were not there.

They persecute the one that You are disciplining, and by their talk they

dismay the one who is suffering under Your hand. Add iniquity to their

iniquity; make a great heap of their sins. Do not let them enter into

Your righteousness. Blot them out of the book of the living. Do not

record their names alongside the names of the righteous.

God of our praise, do not hold Your peace. The mouths of the wicked and

the mouths of the deceitful have joined in chorus together, and they are

speaking against us with lying tongue. They are surrounding us

with words of hatred, and they fight against us without good reason

. It is because we love You that they are our adversaries

, but we still give ourselves to prayer. Not only have we

incurred their hostility by loving You, but we have also loved them, and

have been treacherously betrayed by them. They returned evil for good,

and hatred for love, ingratitude for kindness.

Let these wicked men come under the rule and reign of wicked men. Let

Satan be continually at their right hand, accusing them. When they come

into judgment, when the trial comes, we pray that the verdict of guilty

would be rendered. When they cry out to You, let their prayers be

reckoned as sinful. When they pray to You, let the ceiling above them

remain silent. Cut short their days. When they have abused offices within

Your Church, let other faithful men rise up to take their place.

Let their children be orphaned, cut off without a father. Let their wives

be widows, and we pray that their children would be desolate, having to

beg their bread in empty places. We pray that the extortioner would come

back at them, catching them in their plots, and taking all that they

have. May strangers and aliens pillage them and leave them with nothing.

We pray that when this happens, and Your hand is evident, that no one

would show mercy, and that no kindness would be extended to his

fatherless children. Cut off his posterity; may his name and his line

come to nothing. Recall how sinful his father was, and call up again the

sins of his mother. May their sins come before Your throne continually so

that their name may be blotted out, and remembered on the earth no more.

We ask for this because he is merciless. He loved to kick the poor and

downtrodden, and sought to kill the broken-hearted. He loved cursing, and

so give him that cursing. He detested blessing, so let blessing remain

far away from him. He would put on curses like a comfortable coat; let

those curses of his seep into him deeply. Tie those curses around him

permanently. Let this be the clothing of all our enemies.

Let them curse, so long as You bless. When they get up in the morning,

and hear of the blessings You have bestowed on us, let them be greatly

ashamed. Let confusion cover over them completely, as though it were a

mantle. I pray that You stand at our right hand, and that You would

always save us from those who would condemn our souls.

We offer this pray to You in the righteous and holy name of the Lord

Jesus Christ, and amen.

Posted by Douglas Wilson - 11/24/2006 1:04:30 PM | Link to this post |

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