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Author Topic: Excellent Inaugural Prayer by Rick Warren  (Read 9387 times)
EverAStudent
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« on: January 20, 2009, 10:26:27 am »

Rick Warren gave an excellent prayer at the inauguration of Obama.  It was one of the few "unity" statements that, for me, carried any amount of sincerity.  And he left no doubt who the Lord and God of this planet is.  Amen Lord Jesus. 
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lone gone
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« Reply #1 on: January 21, 2009, 05:40:18 am »

After finding and reading  a transcript of the prayer at Christianity Today I was amazed by the comments to it sent in by readers.

An observant Orthodox jew praised it.  A muslim praised it. many christians praised it.

But Sadly, there were Christians that blasted it.... one who even , in their horrible ignorance, complained that no one should pray in any name except Jesus ( american pronunciation).... that Yeshua,Isa,Jesu, Jesus ( spanish prounuciation) were wrong....

Such a sad sad sad testimony to the state of American Christian culture.
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Linda
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« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2009, 07:18:24 am »

I thought he did a wonderful job and the transition in to The Lord's Prayer made it something everyone could participate in. Out of curiosity, he gave the Hebrew, Spanish, and English words for Jesus, but what language was the other one?

Oh, never mind, I Googled, it's Arabic, which was what I was guessing.

Warren seems to have Obama's ear, and seems to be stepping up to the plate. God bless Rick Warren.

« Last Edit: January 21, 2009, 07:25:57 am by Linda » Logged

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theresearchpersona
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« Reply #3 on: January 21, 2009, 08:36:37 am »

I didn't like a few things, off the top of my head again:

Asking for forgiveness without reproof and conviction/remorse unto repentance; praying for something like a social gospel (build kingdom/peace/etc. here, all things Jesus denied), and the use of "Issa" (the Muslim conception of Jesus is gnostic). I think it catered a bit too much to American religiosity, and when all men speak well of you...

Invoking the Lord's prayer also, which was teaching the disciples, not all, (the "us", and who asked to be taught to pray, etc.), was unfortunate: especially since "thy kingdom come" not only means something entirely different to secular culture (they have illusions, and they shouldn't want it to come...really), but nowadays is also much different among many christians too (this is one of those points I'm all for updating the language, several of the rendered "kingdoms" in the NT translate a word which means "reign", while "kingdom" has been drifted away from that to a narrower sense since early middle english); the wider "we like Jesus" culture, and the christians (if that's what they are), that re-make "kingdom" from Scripture, have an idea of utopia, of a socially regenerated and transformed society, bringing God's kingdom to earth for all, irregardless of repentance...and that's what Warren's language echoed: that's the thoughts on the street, the popular books among the "christian" young, and much of what permeates different segments of GC and its practices (not necessarily officially, but it's catchable, and the influence is definitely detectable there, big time). I mentioned GC: Kairos LA is an exemplar of thinking and teaching along these lines, and much of the training GCM has implemented absorbes a lot from these warped definitions and teachings of Scripture: at least these things have something of an affinity with the "relevant" type teachings, though originally they did not. I think the shift was inevitable: those who think they can be friends with the world (even if they don't call it "friendship"), will go a bad way.

I also get this sense, from the people selected by Obama to pray, that it's something like the Roman Pantheon: when you have Christians, false Christians (the openly practicing-gay ultra-tolerant jesus-of-the-world universalist anglican bishop), Jews, Buddhists, etc. all invited to invoke God's blessing on the country's leadership not to do justice, but create utopia: a leader who vows to fight and remove all restrictions on infanticide, and wants to divert the entirety of NASA's budget to create eduction for "pre-five-year-olds"...whether or not he acts civil or has a lot of celebrity to "do good", that leader is not only not good, but possibly a curse, and God's Holy name should not be invoked over Him in blessing for wisdom of action and civility, but rather repentance, to stop blaspheming Christ's name by claiming to be Christian while in practicality an atheist (or else, in remorse, turn from the sin and follow Him wholeheartedly), and then the wisdom dribble. A wise ruler who mocks God in profession and deed...is not a wise ruler. I'm personally glad, in some respects, for the celebrity the guy does have, because it truly is, indeed, useful in this world (it's just not a Christian's way). As a world ruler, I don't have a lot of expectation for the guy to do much as "Christian"; if he was, he might do as Emperor Justinian and declare that no one will harm the unborn or take an aborticide, and if one finds a baby abandoned, it is to be taken in. I know people would say "you can't do that", but they (1) underestimate executive orders and (2) Roe isn't constitutional: judiciaries don't have authority delegated to them legally by the constitution to overturn the authority of the legislatures in 50 states!

And I don't mistake this nation for Christian, nor the governments as there to do "social justice" in the way the so many today think (conspicuously absent the NT is any mention of Jesus or the apostles putting any emphasis about this upon the government, though they do teach about social responsibility and "true religion" to individuals...but nothing like modern versions of these things [sadly]): we're told who the world's ruler is. They are, however, supposed to administer justice: and the throne "is established by righteousness"; and anyone professing Christ needs be held accountable...but it just doesn't happen.

Thus the point here is...I'm all for doing what's right, and urging society at large to do what's right, etc., but not when it's coming to be a works-righteousness religiosity that obscures Christ, as it has become; and not when it's co-opted by the world for its purposes to de-emphasize Christ, and not when thereby God is, so to speak, invoked by prayer to come into the "Pantheon" of the false American/world religiosity, setting the petitioning of YHWH in the name of His Son beside the pettitioning of that bishops blind, dumb, deaf god, and the absent (really) god of the buddhist, and the delusioned god of the Jew (he who has not the father, has not the son, said Jesus), rather than us declaring He is Sovereign over all, and cannot be controlled.

When one knows the context and kind of "civility" Warren constantly preaches: being unoffensive in hopes that we might thereby gain power to move people into the kingdom, when that's God's purvey, according to His word, alone. When the gospel is not offensive, it is not the gospel, as the Bible itself says it is an offense, and woe to you when all men speak well of you. All this "let's be civil", "make Christ attractive", "how to gain persuasiveness", "how to build and protect influence", "how to win by arguments so people will become Christians", kind of stuff and so forth is pathetic syncophancy; it's the kind of stuff church-growth and PD[F] resources and popular evangelicalism trains people in. All the "good works", defined unlike in Scripture, and done at expense of truth and right teaching, irregardless how good they are, are worthless. The world has "good works" religion: I run into it almost weekly nowadays, or practically whenever I run into someone who believes in God: they profess their good works. The biblical kind of good works don't impress people. Frankly, the wordly "social endeavors" kind, however noble and worth pursuing (and they usually are), shouldn't in themselves impress us: those fornicating with virgins and drinking heavily...go out and do good works. Those who utterly despise and reject Christ are often those who, when one participates in "good works", are those who are there. It's a feel-good thing, it's a social thing as often are churches, and a way to gain advantage.

Living uprightly, and wanting to obey the rules as commanded, and not be worldly, I've found, leaves one often separated not only from the world, which becomes convicted or just thinks "boring", or whatever, but separated also from many who say they're Christians, who have zeal and good works, but still, suddenly you find yourself all alone, either by rejection, or because one can't stand to continue "hanging out" where it's disorderly, or the emphases are wrong, or etc.. That's one problem I had with GC: people saying "your friends are so cool, they just..." and I'd have to say "I had nothing to do with that and don't approve". And honestly, I hated it: I loved them dearly.


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Linda
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« Reply #4 on: January 21, 2009, 09:10:06 am »

Quote from: Rick Warren's Prayer
Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven. Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Jeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
I still don't think it's that bad. I am struggling with asking God's blessing on a man who has vowed that the first thing he will do is by executive order remove restrictions on abortions, so I might not have said the "God bless you" part, but other than that, I thought he pointed out that there is only one God and He created all things.

I have an emotional reaction to the words "social gospel" and "justice" because when I hear them I think of people who want to "help" others without telling them about Jesus and sadly, it sometimes turns into an either-or thing in people's minds. I say, we help the poor AND tell them about Jesus. Proverbs tells us that helping the poor is lending to God.

Also, praying for peace is a good thing. 1 Timothy says: " First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time."

Finally, we don't have a king. WE are the government. I am one tiny part of it. I do think that American Christians need to repent and ask God for mercy and wisdom--especially when all restrictions on abortion are about to be lifted and my money will go to fund the taking of innocent life.

As far as the names of Jesus, I think Rick Warren went out of his way to make sure he did not deny the Son. That's all.

And, saying the Lord's prayer, well, there's nothing wrong with the Lord's prayer. If people said it with something else in mind, I guess it won't be answered!

« Last Edit: January 21, 2009, 09:11:44 am by Linda » Logged

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EverAStudent
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« Reply #5 on: January 21, 2009, 11:08:50 am »

Linda, thank you for quoting from Rick Warren's inauguration prayer. 

Just like GCx, Rick Warren is not all bad nor all good in his words and practices.  Similarly, I doubt I could attend his church as a member and feel comfortable.  He is populist in his approach to preaching, to a fault.  He misunderstands the very purpose of a church gathering itself together.  On the other hand, he is very evangelistic in his approach and applies the principle of doing good in this world better than most of us.

Yet, Warren's prayer was far better than I had hoped or anticipated.  And frankly, I was impressed that he did not accommodate the protestors even a little, hammering home beyond ambiguity who the God of his prayer is.  Though I am not in favor of "praying" the Lord's example prayer back to Him, I also understand that Warren was probably trying to show that this Jesus whom he had just prayed to is the same Jesus as drafted the "Lord's Prayer" so as to connect in the minds of the people a common acceptable literary piece with the very God Who created them. 

Over all, I thought he put a good Christian witness out there and petitioned God in a manner similar to what we should have all been asking of the Lord on this day when a radically liberal government replaced a conservative one. 

 Grin Everyone hold on tight--here comes spend and tax, abortion for all, and more attacks on Christianity!  Shocked
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theresearchpersona
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« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2009, 03:11:28 pm »

I'm also very glad he prayed in Jesus' name unapologetically.

I personally didn't have expectations for his prayer: didn't let myself think about it; if I had, I probably would have expected less, but to be careful I was hopeful for the guy, and now considering it, I think he did better than I might have expected (especially when, in response to the outrage of his selection for the invocation for being anti-homosexual, he went around taking huggy pictures with gay guys for publicity, and removed from his website the terms that disallow openly practicing homosexuals from membership in his Church--though for all practical purposes, if they can come and go as pleased, and do everything but sign a form...--!).
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G_Prince
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« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2009, 09:28:46 pm »

I voted for Obama and I am excited about the incoming administration! Warren's prayer was excellent as was rev. Lowery's benediction. This country is never going to be an evangelical utopia and I am glad that Warren and many on the right are working with the Obama administration on common ground issues: reducing abortions, fighting poverty and AIDS...etc.
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« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2009, 07:12:37 am »

are working with the Obama administration on common ground issues: reducing abortions...

Reducing abortions???  Obama's as pro-abortion as you can get.  First thing he did was to remove restrictions on funding abortions.  Ugh.
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