Saturday, November 17, 2007

Mandatory Prayer in Schools (Illinois)

Is that what we are coming to as Christians?
I see some "christians" who do this!

There is a law that states that all schools "shall" have a moment of silence for a personal time of prayer in Illinois. Of course, there is an atheist who is against this and is planning to sue all of the school districts in Illinois to have it removed. You will hear the arguments of separation of religion and state. I have questions about the motive of the state mandating that there be a time of silence in schools so that people can pray "to their god."

I wonder if it is nothing more that an Illinois Democratic Government trying to appease the Christians by putting in a law requiring a moment of silence for prayer. And at the same time, promoting abortions, and other anti-christian movements.

I really have no problem with the atheist who wants it removed from the schools.

If a child does not know how to pray at home, he will most certainly not gain anything from a moment of silence at school.

We all cry about the fact that we used to have prayers in schools back in the 50's and even the 60's, be we didn't cry out when the churches stopped preaching about sin and repentance in church.

We didn't cry out when churches stopped preaching about God's Law, the Ten Commandments.

We didn't cry out when churches stopped expecting Christians to be obedient to God's Word.

We didn't cry out when we were no longer expected to strive towards righteousness.

We didn't cry out when reverence of God's Holy Word was no longer relevant.

We didn't cry out when joke telling became the "in" thing to do in church.

Why should we start crying out now, when an atheist wants the moment of silence removed from schools?

We cried out when the people said we could no longer say the pledge of allegiance in school, and yet, none of us teach the pledge of allegiance to our children at home. And we don't teach what it truly means to "pledge our allegiance" (be sure to watch this old clip)

We cried out when we were told to remove the Ten Commandments from governmental buildings. And yet we are silent about the Ten Commandments not being preached from the pulpits. Or better yet, we are angry about God's Law being brought up to us in church because we are offended by His Word because it makes us look guilty and besides, who does the church think it is to point a finger at us?? And one more thing about God's Law...

How many of you can name the Ten Commandments? From the people I have asked, I would venture to say that only about 5% of the people have been able to name all ten of the Ten Commandments! Pretty sad, huh? considering that Paul said he had not known what sin was "but" by the Law! The Law is to be used as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Law is used to shut the mouth of the self-righteous person. The Law is perfect for converting the soul.

And only 5% of us can name all ten of the Ten Commandments!

It amazes me how much Christian's get "involved" in the political world and yet stay out of the business of discerning how their church is equipping the saints (or NOT equipping). If we would take care of our church and require all pastor's to get back to biblical preaching...

if we as individuals would get on-board and be obedient to God's Word...

if we as Christians would repent of our sins...

if we as Christians would love our neighbors enough to talk to them about heaven and HELL...

if we would not just follow WWJD (what would Jesus do?) but rather we would WDJD (what did Jesus do) we would be much better off. We need to follow the way of the master!


So, for the 95% of you who cannot name all Ten Commandments, don't you think it is time to get back into God's Word? Let's make sure our walk matches our talk!

1. You shall have no other god's before me. (God is NUMBER ONE!)

2. You shall not make for yourself any graven image (no false idols)

3. You shall not take the Lord's name in vain (blasphemy)

4. You shall remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. (have we forgotten what "holy" is?)

5. You shall honor your father and your mother

6. You shall not kill (Jesus said you shall not hate either!)

7. You shall not commit adultery (Jesus said if you look with lust you are guilty of adultery)

8. You shall not steal (regardlss of the value)

9. You shall not lie (bear false witness)

10. You shall not covet



Let's get back to the basics. You have been in a church that has been feeding you potato chips (junk food) for a long time. How about having them feed you some real milk for a change?







1 comment:

Roland said...

Instead of going for all or nothing. Let's be glad that at least there is an opening. A moment of silence where some will see others pray. And the atheists will be upset. Because they will have to see it. That's what bothers them. Having to witness the reality of God.
But maybe you are right, "Why if I don't get it my way, then I don't want it!" could be the better tack.
After all, "I don't want to be saved by someone else, I want to do it myself!"
That is the logical conclusion of where we are.
I hate abortions. But we have gotten so caught up in the all or nothing, that we lose that many more lives every day.
How many would be saved if we agreed to a silly law that would say no abortions except in the case of rape or incest?
I know many that would support that. But the number is dwindling.
I would prefer none. But it is getting further and further from that.
It saddens me that a change for the better is whined about by all sides. (sigh)
But thanks for the post. It makes me think. And that is a good thing. :)