Dear Lord Jesus Christ,
I make this prayer request in your Holy Name, for all the people of the world to embrace a “Culture of Life” that respects and supports human life in all of its stages from conception to natural death as a sacred act of creation, and reject in their hearts the existing ”Culture of Death” that has been allowed to take root within society today in its many terrible forms. I pray that you would open people’s hearts to see and understand that the defining character of any society is based upon how well that society takes care of and protects the defenseless who can’t defend themselves, those who don’t have a voice to argue their case with, those who are on the fringe of society without the protection of active and prominent social causes, those who are viewed by others as a mere burden to be eliminated for selfish reasons or economic self interests, and those who have been convinced or have convinced themselves that their lives are no longer worth living for whatever reason. All human life is precious and I pray that all hearts around the world would open themselves to that fact – and choose to uplift all human life to the protection and care that it needs and deserves.
Dear Lord, in like manner, I pray that all humanity around the world would also respect and cherish the natural life that surrounds us on this planet we call Earth, and own up to our responsibility as caretakers of this world - of the animals, plant life and natural environment that shares it with us. As shepherds and stewards of the land and the environment that surrounds us, I pray that all hearts would be open to the protection of the animals, plants and environment that sustains us on this planet; so that it may continue to support generations to come in a pristine and natural condition. All people have the responsibility to ensure that our natural environment surrounding us – in all of its diverse forms of life - are treated ethically with the utmost care and respect; as the natural world has no voice to argue or present a defense against the injustices we inflict upon it – either by choice or through ignorance. May the domestic livestock that supports our population in all manner of diverse uses, be given special protection and rights, in order to show these animals the respect and appreciation that our society holds for them in the service that they provide to mankind. We understand that many domesticated livestock breeds would not exist except for their usefulness to society, but may we also know in our hearts that for this service to society they should be honored, respected and afforded exceptional protections for their service.
May this prayer for the entire world to support a “Culture of Life” – one that respects all life, in all of its forms to include the environment that surrounds and sustains us; be found to be in accordance with your Will oh Lord – and may you bless the hearts of this world to open up to this Truth and “see” the harm that is being caused to everyone and everything in the world by hearts of stone that currently embrace an evil “Culture of Death” in all of its many perverse forms. May the light of your Truth shine brightly throughout the world oh Lord, so that your people turn to the light and Truth by rejecting evil and unnatural death in all its forms. I pray this prayer for the entire world to embrace a “Culture of Life” in the Holy Name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Tim Keller argues that:
* Disbelief in God takes as much faith as belief in God.
* It takes MORE of a leap of faith to disbelieve in God than to believe in God.
* you can reason to a point of probability, it takes personal committment to come to certainty
http://about.metrowest.cc/?p=182
By: John on February 5, 2010
at 10:15 pm
John,
I agree with the statement that it takes as much or more faith to disbelieve in God than to believe in God – because the fingerprints of God are all over His Creation – making it obvious that we and everything around us are part of a well designed and beautiful creation that has universal physical laws and elements that are common to the whole of the universe over the expanse of millions of light years. To disbelieve in God means to have faith that this creation was only “accidental” and somehow built itself without a blueprint. As a parent who has shared in the sacred act of creation and watched the birth of my son, I have a certainty of belief that through the creation of children we share with God but a minute fraction of the joy He feels in having created the universe and declared that it was good.
One can either place their faith in the belief that there is a loving and all knowing God who created us and all of creation – and who desires to have a love relationship with us – and even sent His Son to show us the way back to the Father and become the gate through which our reconciliation with God the Father is completed; or to believe in the emptyness that says there is no God and nothing after this life to live or hope for. If nothing exists for us after this life, then by default our existence has no meaning or purpose. If our existence has no meaning or purpose, then all morality and beauty – and all that is good – has no bearing on life, because it can’t then be argued that any objective reason would exist to choose good over evil, beauty over ugliness, building up over tearing down, kindness over cruelty.
I place my faith, hope and belief in a loving God who wants me to have a loving and obedient relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Obedience to God merely means to follow a path that is in my very best interests as a created being – like a parent who gives rules to a child to keep him or her safe, strong, confident and loved. It is in my best interests to love and obey God because for me there is no other path or light of Truth to light my way – only a great void of darkness, deception, lies and pain. For a disbelief in God means by definition to believe in the deception and lies of the Devil that God doesn’t exist – which is in and of itself false – because even the Devil knows of the existence of God – he just doesn’t believe in Him – because the Devil has choosen the path of darkness which is by definition a lie.
So to believe in God is the only viable option that I can choose – for I will choose no other path in life. My faith in my belief in God, is made complete for me through the events of my life – where answered prayer has taken my belief in a loving God beyond the veil of faith – to the certainty of His existence. It is when one’s relationship with God goes beyond the theoretical into the personal, that faith becomes certainty. I pray that all those that have taken the course of believing in a “lie of darkness” that God doesn’t exist, would instead ask God to reveal Himself to them – as Jesus did for Thomas by showing him the wounds from His crucifixion – to give them the certainty of belief that God does exist and wants a personal and loving relationship with them through His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
Cheers,
Mark
By: livelovethinkexist on February 6, 2010
at 8:03 am