Pray without Discriminating

"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." - Galatians 3:28 NIV

If we are praying regarding the crisis (which has abated for the time being) in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, let's pray without discrimination, for everyone - the Jews, the Palestinians, the victims and the perpetrators. 

"God so loved the world…" That 'world' includes the "other" side, the side we see as the "enemy", depending of who we side with (or not) in this crisis.

Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,.."

We may love our labels, the traditions, the Bible, our interpretations and all the associated religious activities. All those things may identity us with a religion or a denomination, but love is the only thing by which people will see that we are the disciples of Jesus. 

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - Jesus (John 13:35 ESV).

Did God send Sandy?

Warning: If you are easily offended, please do not read any further.

I can't believe some still believe that storms are from God and that it is sent so people might repent. Another popular interpretation is that storms are happening because America is not supposedly standing with Israel. 

i. If the storms are from God, Jesus was defying God's will when he calmed the storm.

ii. 'Repent' is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. It is associated with guilt, deep remorse, beating one's chest, wailing and all the associated actions.

The word 'repent' comes from the Greek word Metanoia, which simply means "a change of mind". Disasters do not make one repent; it is the GOODNESS of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4).

Think about it, who in their right minds would want to have a "relationship" with a god who is looking forward to "test" them with natural disasters?

iii. As for the Israel connection, Obama has said time and again that under his leadership, America is and will continue to stand with Israel. And given his penchant for drones, there is no doubt that he will bomb Iran, should Iran act on their dumb idea to "wipe Israel off the map." But I applaud Obama's strong stand for maintaining diplomacy. 

What else does the religious zealots need? Go ahead and bomb Iran without any solid proof that they have nuclear weapons? What was the excuse again, for invading Iraq?

Forget about international politics, do we realize how colossally stupid we sound to 'the world' (that we so love to judge and condemn) when we scream "pro-life", but are for war (regardless of how overt or passive we are in our support)?

iv. This is the New Covenant. God is not angry, as we are led to believe from the Old Testament.

v. God is love. Love does not destroy lives and property. How simpler could it get?

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Any teaching, interpretation and/or prophecy that promotes fear is not from God.

At the end of our lives, may we not say, "I was a faithful parrot all my life". We may not have all the answers, but let's not blindly believe something because "that's what my favorite preacher says" or "that's what I've heard all my life, so it must be right".

God gave us a brain, to think.