Comments on: 3MT : Learning to pray— for friends and enemies

By: tunji

tunji — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:41:05 +0000

Justin

Sorry for the long delay in responding.

1 Clearly,we are to pray for ‘enemies’.I don’t think that is a matter that is in doubt.

2 The real issue is as regards the position of Archbishop Akinola on the unscriptural position of his opponents.Opposing what is against the Word of God,is not incompatible with praying for those who seek to reinterpret the unchanging Word of God in the light of modernist thought.

Tunji

By: Justin Lewis-Anthony

Justin Lewis-Anthony — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:53:46 +0000

Thank you for your reassurances Tunji, even though they are hedged with conditionals (“must”). If Archbishop Akinola is so familiar with Bonhoeffer, then I am sure that he (and you) will know well this passage:

In the New Testament the enemy is always the one who hates me. Jesus does not even consider the possibility that there could be someone whom the disciple hates. Enemies should receive what sisters and brothers receive, namely, love from Jesus’s followers. The actions of the disciples should not be determined by the human actions they encounter, but by Jesus acting in them.
and, as he has read the Bible throughly, he’d know John 5.39-40 , don’t you think?

By: tunji

tunji — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:57:05 +0000

I can assure you that Archbishop Peter Akinola must have read Dietrich Bonhoeffer.Even more importantly,he has read the Bible thoroughly.This must be why he stands resolutely against heresy.
Tunji

By: Mark F.

Mark F. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:39:10 +0000

A gay friend of mine was beat to death on an American Army base July 6, 1999 by a fellow soldier wielding a wooden baseball bat. My friend, Barry, was 21-years-old. He was a good soldier and a very loyal friend. I still miss him. I attended the court martial for the killer and the co-conspirator. The trials revealed that my friend was targeted for violence and death because of his sexual orientation. In 2008 I am appalled to hear that Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria and Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda (when queried by a news reporter at GAFCON) have both refused to renounce violence against same-sex attracted persons. I follow the Anglican Cycle of Prayer. I prayed for Archbishop Akinola, his clergy, and laity. I realize that Nigerian Christians have some tough economic challenges. Nigerian Christians also face opposition and conflict with certain Nigerian Muslim groups (these conflicts sometimes erupting into violence). So I prayed for Archbishop Akinola and his church that God would bless them, meet their needs, and protect them. I also, spontaneiously, found myself praying that God would protect any same-sex attracted persons in Nigeria who might be targeted for violence or murder by Archbishop Akinola and his church members. If I, a gay man, were in Nigeria, the Anglicans and their hierarchy in Nigeria would terrify me. I was in Rwanda immediately after the genocide in 1994 with the U.S. Army’s Operation Long Distance Runner (mostly humanitarian relief with emphasis on setting up sources for potable water and food distribution). Rwanda had been described to us as the “most Christianized country in Africa.” But the hatred between Hutus and Tutsis took precedence over Christian praxis. And there were even Anglican Christians involved in the Rwandan genocide. One thing of value Akinola can teach the rest of the church is what signs should we look for to see that our own societies are beginning to come apart with groups turning on other groups with violence. I imagine the first step in something like this genocide happening is when bishops, clergy, moral leaders publicly refuse to condemn violence against certain minority groups, or even encouraging violence. That is certainly how the genocide began in Rwanda. Bonhoeffer, from an affluent and respected family, via empathy, was able to put himself in the place of the Jew, political suspects, the hounded, and the outcasts of the Nazi regime. Bonhoeffer emphasizes that we must embrace and never lose awareness of “the view from below”. We must understand and have profound empathy for “der Perspektive der Ausgeschaltenen, Beargwöhnten, Schlechtbehandelten, Machtlosen, Unterdrückten und Verhöhnten Bonhoeffer called this new perspective “der blick von unten,” the view from below. Perhaps we should pray that Archbishop AKinola and his church learn to embrace and understand the “view from below.”

By: Robert Thomas

Robert Thomas — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:55:43 +0000

Thanks Jane. God does work in amazing ways and what better time to be reminded to pray for those who sometimes we not want to. Thanks for this thought and gentle reminder.

By: FranIam

FranIam — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:17:09 +0000

Here via Jane’s link and delightedly so. What a moving and beautiful post you have served up here… and in 3 minutes as promised. Not that that matters to me when the content is so rich and beautiful.

As a progressive American Roman Catholic, I see the challenges within my own church. This prayer from Bonhoeffer is brilliant and much needed in many ways.

Thank you and God bless.

By: Justin Lewis-Anthony

Justin Lewis-Anthony — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:50:39 +0000

Thanks for the link, Jane. I’m glad you appreciated this 3MT.

By: Jane R

Jane R — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:05:12 +0000

Thanks so much for this reminder. I’ve linked to your post.

And I’d love to have the GAFCON folks read a few Bonhoeffer books — including, as you have noted and quoted, Life Together and Letters and Papers and also some of the sermons…