Apparently, the latest thing in “Debasing The Institutions You Pretend To Hold Dear In Order To Suggest That President Barack Obama Should Be Murdered Without Actually Coming Right Out And Saying So” goes by a shorter name: Psalm 109:8.
This is on bumper stickers, t-shirts, teddy bears, etc etc etc.
Here is a clip from the Rachel Maddow show that was on a week ago. I happened to see it as I was flipping through because I recognized Frank Schaeffer. Jenny was very offended and angered by the interview...because it's disturbing.
Frank Schaeffer pretty much says everything about this that I would. So I'll let him do it. Watch the clip.
As he says, this needs to be denounced. It's not just who's doing it. It's about who is not speaking out against it as well.
Enough is enough.
If you're on facebook, you can't see the video. Come see my blog entry instead: http://dannyjbixby.blogspot.com/2009/11/psalm-1098.html
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Psalm 109
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 O God, whom I praise,do not remain silent,
2 for wicked and deceitful men
have opened their mouths against me;
they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
and hatred for my friendship.
6 Appoint an evil man to oppose him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
may they be driven from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the Lord,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
but hounded to death the poor
and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
may it come on him;
he found no pleasure in blessing—
may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
it entered into his body like water,
into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the Lord's payment to my accusers,
to those who speak evil of me.
21 But you, O Sovereign Lord,
deal well with me for your name's sake;
out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting;
my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God;
save me in accordance with your love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand,
that you, O Lord, have done it.
28 They may curse, but you will bless;
when they attack they will be put to shame,
but your servant will rejoice.
29 My accusers will be clothed with disgrace
and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save his life from those who condemn him.
Logging you in...
Chris Stewart · 798 weeks ago
This is where I get lost in Christianity.. There seems to be so much in the Bible that contradicts itself..
If your a liberal there is scripture for you!
If you are a fundamentalist, there is scripture for you in there too!
dannyjbixby 85p · 798 weeks ago
Yes, revenge and prayers for death certainly don't echo the same message of Jesus...but that doesn't necessarily mean that we should pretend that someone didn't say it.
My take on Psalm 109 specifically is that it's a prayer of someone (probably David as recorded) who is looking for justice. Justice as he sees it would be for these horrible things to happen to his enemies. He sees them wishing these things upon him, so it would only be right (in his mind) for them to be repaid in the same fashion, so he prays for it to happen to them in return.
Whether or not that is righteous, or a 'correct' prayer isn't really an issue to the author. He sees it as justice, and whether he's right or not that's what he is praying for.
The Bible doesn't have a giant sticker on the last page that says "Do all of this." There are many things that it records as what people have done without affirming them as what you should do. Characters in the Bible and authors of it are often painted as incredible failures. Just, mind numbing failures at what they set out to do. Because they're human.
David was at times an adulterer, a liar, a murderer, and vengeful. But he was also at times humble, loving, a great leader of his people, wise and righteous. To paint one side of a person while leaving the other would be to create a caricature.
I find one of the more convincing aspects of the Bible to be the incredible amount of personal and behavioral failures that its central characters exhibit.
If it was ever trying to paint its "heroes" in a good light, it has failed miserably.
I think that is a great strength.