Breaking My Silence

Rejoice oh world Rejoice. I have something new to procrastinate about, so I will be doing more blogging (instead of preparing for a promotional exam!).

I originally set out to blog about the recent Democratic debate where the subject of prayer was discussed. After reading through the comments from the candidates I decided that my blog would actually be on something different. Not that the Dems didn't have something stupid to say about prayer, just that they had nothing surprising to say. Basically they were asked if prayer could affect/prevent tragedy (9-11, Katrina...). In general they responded in the negative. Then several of them commented on how faith is important but personal and that they wouldn't be public about their personal faith when holding public office.

In my opinion their comments are illuminating of the simplistic way they believe/disbelieve in God and the supernatural. On one hand they were asked if prayer could be a preventative action. They didn't believe so and then they cited examples of recent disasters that occured in spite of prayer asking for the prevention of the disaster (Hurrican Katrina, family illness...). It is a mistake to look at what HAS HAPPENED when deciding if something has been prevented FROM HAPPENING. To draw an anology, billions of dollars every year are poured into fire prevention programs (e.g smoke alarm campaigns, family exit drills, cooking safety, fire codes, burn bans, home and commercial fire inspections...) yet it can never be quantified exactly how many fires were prevented from happening or how many deaths were averted. When was the last time you saw a newspaper headline that stated that "No Fire At Sears Last Evening Around 11:00 PM Thanks To Adherance To Fire Code". Every day dozens of fires don't occur due to prevention programs and activities. Also, the severity of fires that do happen are lessened due to preventative actions, such as a family escaping a home fire in the middle of the night because of properly working smoke alarms.

My point is this, perhaps Katrina would have been 20 times as destructive if all those prayers hadn't been offered up. Perhaps the family member who died was brought to saving faith through God's abundant grace through the intercessory prayer of the loved ones. Their Earthly life not being preserved is not nearly as important as their eternal life being spent in Heaven.

Why will Democrats pour billions of dollars and hours into secular/social prevention programs (e.g. fire prevention, suicide prevention, crime prevention, poverty prevention, unemployment programs) without ever really being able to quantify the actual prevention of negative events, and yet refuse to invest prayer into the prevention of the same? Or to at least not acknowledge the efficacy of preventative prayer, also known as lamentations or prayers of deliverance.

Do they actually believe in God? Are they afraid they will alienate the Democratic constituancy of athiests, agnostics, and alternative religionists if they admit to believing in God's sovereign power?

Scripture and history are full of examples of God's intercession. Read these accounts about the Battle of Lepanto (another account) for example.