{"id":4729,"date":"2012-06-13T20:24:12","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T00:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/?p=4729"},"modified":"2017-01-25T19:40:55","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T00:40:55","slug":"praying-for-your-enemies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrescat\/2012\/06\/praying-for-your-enemies.html","title":{"rendered":"praying for your enemies…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026 Once when a priest told me to pray for my enemies I retorted, \u201cBut Father, I do pray for them. I pray for the Lord to smite them\u201d. He didn\u2019t laugh. Not even a chuckle. <\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nYes, what was meant as a joke did leave me feeling bad. For a minute. It left me to wonder a great deal longer. I know we are commanded to love our enemies and pray for them but what exactly does praying for an enemy really mean? <\/p>\nAnd it is such a stretch of the imagination and against Christian love to pray for our enemies to be defeated. Being defeated isn\u2019t an eternal condemnation. It\u2019s not the same as wishing someone to Hell, from which there is no escape. What if someone we know is committing evil? Do we not have a duty to pray for their attempts at wickedness to fail? Certainly we don\u2019t pray that our enemies be successful and prosper. I do not want enemies of The Church to succeed and I pray that those enemies who persecute Christians be crushed. I mean, goodness. The Psalms are the perfect example. I\u2019m too lazy right now to look them up, but you know. Jaw breaking, teeth smashing smiting \u2013 it\u2019s all in there. <\/p>\nSo do I have a biblical cause for praying for the defeat of my enemies? Would you believe me if I said my motives were altruistic instead? Good can come from a crushed and defeated man. Just as there are no foxhole atheists, an evil man who has lost everything \u2013 job, family, riches \u2013 will be forced to turn to Christ once he\u2019s been stripped of everything. <\/p>\nSometimes man is that stupid and stubborn. It isn\u2019t until something horrible happens that we realize how much Christ is needed. So if we want bad people to change praying for them to suffer and have their lives generally suck is just helping the conversion process along. Right? Does any of that make sense or am I just looking for an excuse to ornery? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2026 Once when a priest told me to pray for my enemies I retorted, \u201cBut Father, I do pray for them. I pray for the Lord to smite them\u201d. He didn\u2019t laugh. Not even a chuckle. Yes, what was meant as a joke did leave me feeling bad. For a minute. It left me to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[423],"class_list":["post-4729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-probably-not-an-example-of-living-christ-like-but-i-bet-st-jerome-could-relate"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>praying for your enemies...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"... Once when a priest told me to pray for my enemies I retorted, "But Father, I do pray for them. I pray for the Lord to smite them". 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