Is it just me, or was this wrong? (my issue with a church prayer)

[ModelBreaker]

“There are Christians who mainly think about spreading Christianity.”

I can’t tell if you are criticizing these Christians or not??

[jla]

May I ask what denomination your Church is?

[goseminoles]

As an add-on. The japanese aren’t very religious people.

[Retired Greyhound]

In lieu of attending church, I watch 4 services online every Sunday morning.

I get my fellowship from another organization that I belong to.

God knows that I love Him.

[Hot Tabasco]

Sounds to me like this individual is under the believe that citizens of Japan are not Christians...........He couldn’t be further from the truth.

[NavyCanDo]

You’re right. Nothing wrong with that being in the prayer, but it shouldn’t be the prayer. Have a talk with him, and let him have the opportunity to set it right. Maybe he didn't notice it himself.

[susannah59]

A reading of Matthew 25 might be instructive.

Also, think of it in this way. What better way to show God's love and mercy than to extend help to those in need, as these people in Japan assuredly are?

Whether or not helping benefits their immortal souls, it is certainly not detrimental to one's own.

[cripplecreek]

I pray for our enemies as well as our friends. I pray for gays, atheists, the homeless, the rich the sick, the healthy, the suffering and the content.

I think I’ve found most peace in praying for those its hardest to pray for.

[Flying right]

I think that many people don’t know how to pray in these situations.

[mnehring]

Sometimes people don’t always express verbally what they feel. The person leading the prayer may have had very much the compassion you were looking for and thought the phrase “their land will be healed” an example of that.

[gusopol3]

Hell’s worse

[goseminoles]

“Sounds to me like this individual is under the believe that citizens of Japan are not Christians...........He couldn?t be further from the truth”

About 10% are christians, about 60% have no religion, and the rest are Buddhist or Shinto. They believe in self-determination.

[brytlea]

I don’t do that as much as I should, but I have, and it has indeed given me peace when I have been able to honestly pray for someone who I feel does not deserve my prayers, someone who has really wronged me or someone I love. It is an amazingly peace giving experience (but very difficult—I can’t always do it).

[vpintheak]

I think asking for them to realize real comfort and compassion through Christ Jesus is great.
I am positive the rest willand has already come normally from the congregation. Love, Prayers, donations, offerings.
Nothing wrong with it at all, it sounds like something I would say. Not cold or unfeeling at all.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Don't get me wrong, I think our goodwill toward the Japanese people extends to all dimensions, here and hereafter: so praying for their eternal well-being is God-pleasing and right. But this sounds like saying to a dazed and suffering mother with a dead and dying family, "There, let that be a lesson to ya. Gonna get baptized now?"

So I hope he really meant to appeal for a Matthew 25 compassionate response. Hopefully the way he worded his prayer could be chalked up to rhetorical thoughtlessness or clumsiness rather than premeditated sado-evangelism.

[RobRoy]

The body of Christ has different parts for different purposes. Some have more empathy than others, but each has his role.

[muawiyah]

Some Japanese are Christian. Some are Buddhist (and there are different brands with different scriptures to which they turn). Some are Shintoist. Some are nothing. Some are......

As with all religions there are liturgical, scriptural, and social considerations.

As Buddha would undoubtedly say, if pressed, if somebody wants to become a Christian in the midst of this incredible disaster, that's OK ~ whatever he needs to deal with it.

Just to note that Christians and Jews look at the request that the Japanese find Jesus quite differently than do Buddhists, so self flagellation with whips is not needed.

[RBIEL2]

"Please let the experience in Japan turn the people towards you Christ, so then their land will be healed"

Its definetly you and you didnt post this in the Religion forum which explains alot also. Maybe you've learned all the biblical lessons, but you havent read the OT, or at least in decades. The above quote is actually 100% Old Testament compatible, except that through the prophets(and OT) God promises the Israelites their land and security if they turn back to God, both before disaster and after disaster --extremely biblical. Seems your not too familar with this biblical pattern that is repeated some 100 plus times throughout the Bible in examples of droughts, plagues, military defeats and successes.

[Retired Greyhound]

I don’t have a problem with that prayer. There are a lot of ways to look at it. I think we go out of our way to say the obvious sometimes. Of course we all want the suffering to end. By “experience”, perhaps he meant the tragedy as well as the recovery.

The best possible thing that can happen for those suffering in Japan is that they find Christ.

[ari-freedom]

Prayer will help their spiritual well-being but if you want to help their physical well-being then you have to give $$$