RNC Opens with Prayer to Ancient Demon

[Reasonably Sane]

Well, this is a wake up call to my fellow Republican friends, that no party is Christian. Many folks associate the Republicans for having a Christian moral ground, when in reality, no party has a Christian moral ground.

And hey, whatever works for you. If one is Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Mormon, these folks have every right to believe in their own religion, as long as it is not forced onto us. For myself, I believe Jesus is the one true God. In our prayers as Christians (well as a Catholic), we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the three parts of the Trinity. Jesus died for our sins as stated in John 3:16. None of these other gods died for our sins, nor have forgiveness on the level that Jesus does.

I left the R party in Dubya's second term and never looked back. And this information doesn't surprise me. I see the R's and D's as different wings of the same uniparty, playing "good cop, bad cop" with us. I can vote for Trump because I don't see him as a Republican. I believe he's fighting them just like he fights the Democrats. He just had to join one of the parties to have a chance at winning. And he chose the one with the most integrity and character, relatively speaking.

 

[durangodawood]

I left the R party in Dubya's second term and never looked back. And this information doesn't surprise me. I see the R's and D's as different wings of the same uniparty, playing "good cop, bad cop" with us. I can vote for Trump because I don't see him as a Republican. I believe he's fighting them just like he fights the Democrats. He just had to join one of the parties to have a chance at winning. And he chose the one with the most integrity and character, relatively speaking.

I keep bugging people like you here to get onto team ranked preference voting... or whatever arrangement can let us vote 3rd party without invoking the spoiler effect.

The 2 major parties will resist to the death of course, so its an uphill battle.

 

[AlexB23]

But you do understand that one cannot be understood without the other? The OT explains the NT as the NT explains the OT.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. KJV

I understand, as Psalm 22 and Isaiah describe Jesus.

Jesus in the Old Testament Devotional:

Son of Man - Jesus Predicted by the Old Testament

Hello folks. Think of this for a second. Imagine if someone from the middle ages in 1269 AD predicted that man will land on the moon. The 700 year duration between the middle ages and the Apollo 11 moon landing is the length of time between prophet Isaiah in ~700 BC predicting Jesus being...

www.christianforums.com

Disclaimer: I am not a Calvinist, but this is what the artificial intelligence had to say. It used Orthodox book, a Baptist document and a book by John Calvin as sources:

Also, a receptive state of mind for a non-Christian person to embrace the Gospel would involve humility, openness, and willingness to consider new beliefs. The quote from John Anthony McGuckin suggests that taking up the Gospel in the light of the Spirit requires a conscious renunciation of the old self, its desires for ease and self-congratulation. Additionally, according to the Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry document, one who is willing to participate in outward symbols of being a Christian (like partaking in the Lord's Supper) might be more likely to consider baptism and further explore Christianity. Lastly, John Calvin suggests that an openness to the authority of the Church could potentially lead someone unfamiliar with faith to embrace the Gospel.

Sources:

 

[AlexB23]

I left the R party in Dubya's second term and never looked back. And this information doesn't surprise me. I see the R's and D's as different wings of the same uniparty, playing "good cop, bad cop" with us. I can vote for Trump because I don't see him as a Republican. I believe he's fighting them just like he fights the Democrats. He just had to join one of the parties to have a chance at winning. And he chose the one with the most integrity and character, relatively speaking.

Amen, brother, well for the first half. It is good that you left the R party. Trump is a Republican, as he registered as Republican, though, he is way different from Bush, Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney. Have you thought about the libertarians, or even the American Solidarity party? I would vote for the latter, if not this year, then most likely in 2028. There are Republicans who left the Republican party temporarily cos Trump took over the Republican party, and these folks want to see some classier Republican candidates. For myself, I am not a fan of the state of both parties in 2024.

 

[rambot]

Or rather you recognize the political reality and act accordingly. Christians don't intrinsically owe America their devotion, only a baseline political loyalty that is purely practical.

Newsflash; Christians NEVER owed "devotion" to a nation state.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Newsflash; Christians NEVER owed "devotion" to a nation state.

Yet they gave it and many still do. I'd be more than happy for American Evangelicals to distance themselves from the USA and focus on their own political interests first and foremost.

 

[RileyG]

No, simply by what the Bible itself says.....nothing more......nothing less......as I can see it......

Ok

 

[RileyG]

I do think some Christians over exaggerate on some sins, more than than other sins. Because, t

I don't believe people should be forced to pray to any God. That's isn't in the Bible. Im fine if Christians and other religions have religion clubs at school. But I don't believe in forcing any religion on any one. And I'm like you , that should be good to people.

Well said.

 

[Hans Blaster]

Yeah, this would take time for us to figure out. We just need to look at what schools were like a decade or two ago, and go back to those times. Less woke stuff, less religion forced on people.

Really it doesn't take any time to figure out, Alex. If you don't like official prayer from other religions, doesn't it make you think about how people of other religions might view official prayer from your religion. (What set you off wasn't even "official prayer", but a prayer offered by a private organization [the GOP] that neither you nor I are part of.) And there were no prayers in my rural, Midwestern public schools in the 70s and 80s. Perhaps that is too far back for you.

 

[Pommer]

I have no doubt that there are a number of atheists in that crowd.....unless you think atheists can only be liberals?

The first question was rhetorical to set up the second question and I don’t hold to barring religion from informing people in their respective political parties, but when it becomes sectarian is where I part ways.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

My take is Since People/ Christians actually bowed down in prayer to Waheguru God. A God, that they have no clue about. It's sweet that Harmeet Dhillon offered a pray to her God. But ,since Christians bowed down in prayer to Waheguru God. They believe Christian God is the same as the Waheguru God. Another reason people are confused.

 

[dzheremi]

My take is Since People/ Christians actually bowed down in prayer to Waheguru God. A God, that they have no clue about. It's sweet that Harmeet Dhillon offered a pray to her God. But ,since Christians bowed down in prayer to Waheguru God. They believe Christian God is the same as the Waheguru God. Another reason people are confused.

I'm not sure that you can draw that definite a conclusion. Maybe they bowed out of politeness, or just to get all this prayer to foreign deities out of the way so that they could get to the Trump festivities faster.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

I'm not sure that you can draw that definite a conclusion. Maybe they bowed out of politeness, or just to get all this prayer to foreign deities out of the way so that they could get to the Trump festivities faster.

So. It's okay to bowed down to false Gods, but not to political leader. You cant have both ways.

 

[dzheremi]

So. It's okay to bowed down to false Gods, but not to political leader. You cant have both ways.

Pardon? I'm not saying either are okay. I'm just saying that there are other reasons why they could've done so that wouldn't have involved theological identification of the god or gods of Sikhism with the Christian God. We should remember that this was a political event, not a prayer meeting held in a Christian church (no matter how much the GOP tries to abscond with the idea of standing for Christianity in order to garner votes and make 'the other side' seem like the devil's cabana boys). It is entirely reasonable to assume that most people would be there in order to celebrate Trump's nomination, rather than to listen to prayers (especially prayers of a non-Christian religion that, if the opinion shared in the OP is to show us anything, is apparently not well understood in the USA).

 

[rjs330]

How is prayer to the god of one religion different from a prayer to the god of your religion?

And, no, you don't get to say yours "is true".

This country was founded on with the Cristian faith. It wasn't founded with a particular denomination, but the Christian faith. People on office used prayer frequently as public prayers and invoked the Christian God and while we had freedom of religion the government and schools uniquely used the Bible and Christian prayer. The RNC invoking a Hindu god is a rejection of the founding. It would be better to have no prayer than this.

 

[rjs330]

RNC makes tiny effort to make tent bigger.

Onlookers: Demons!

I wasn't going to mention the gross comments by rightwing racists like Nick Fuentes, but... I guess now I am. Can't be worse than demonic invocations.

MAGA Makes Racist Attacks Against JD Vance's Wife​

"Who is this guy, really?" Fuentes said on his podcast. "Do we really expect that the guy who has an Indian(*) wife and named their kid Vivek is going to support white identity?"

Vincent James Foxx, who was present at the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, wrote on X: "JD Vance gets tapped as VP and immediately there's a Hindu(**) prayer at the RNC."

(*) Usha Vance is an American born to Indian immigrants
(**) Dhillon (and her prayer) is Sikh

Yeah that's pretty disgusting.

 

[rjs330]

At least until the elections are over anyway, and then it's "deportation time", and "go back to your own country you brown-skins", or any other skin/ethnicity/religion except for white-skins, etc.

God Bless.

This is craziness. Maybe some white supremacists think this, but they are a pretty small group and if anyone does then they should be chastised severely.

A just law is one that applies to all. Anyone here who is here illegally should be deported regardless of skin color. I don't think the only illegals here are brown skinned. I am sure there are others here from other places that are white that need to be deported.

 

[rjs330]

1) The entire Sikh faith is only about 500 years old. So there is nothing that can called ancient about SIkhism. 2) Waheguru is a title, not a personal name that means something like "Wonderous Teacher." From my understanding, there isn't really such a thing as a personified god in Sikhism since god is the only truth and this world is an illusion. 3) This is probably the most important one. As much as Christian nationalism has crept into the party, the Republican Party is open to members of any or no religion, as should be the case in a nation founded on religious pluralism and secularity.

I suppose having a Sikh prayer kind of puts to lie the claim that the Republican party is the party of Christian Nationalism. Quite frankly i would rather we just lay aside the idea that in order to have a bug tent we have to have other religious prayer. America is a nation where we can practice whatever religion we want. But it doesn't mean we can't acknowledge the unique place of Christianity in its founding.

Staying close to how things were in the beginning in that sense cannot hurt. As long as we aren't rejecting people out of hand.

I think we can take the approach of Paul when he met the religious believers of the unknown god, where he told them he could tell them the truth about God.

We can be kind and welcoming without condescension while at the same time holding to the true God and faith.

Sikhs are welcome in the party and Native Americans are welcome, African Americans are welcome and we don't have to run around either our hair on fire yelling "false religion, false religion!"

We can also have a Christian prayer to start us off without condemning anyone.

 

[AlexB23]

Really it doesn't take any time to figure out, Alex. If you don't like official prayer from other religions, doesn't it make you think about how people of other religions might view official prayer from your religion. (What set you off wasn't even "official prayer", but a prayer offered by a private organization [the GOP] that neither you nor I are part of.) And there were no prayers in my rural, Midwestern public schools in the 70s and 80s. Perhaps that is too far back for you.

Yeah, that is far back for me. When I went to school in the 2000s and 2010s, there were no prayers in my rural schools in a small town of 15,000 people that I lived in until 2016. From 2016-2018, there were no prayers at the high school that I went to in a medium sized city.

Yeah, we are both not part of the GOP, so I see your point. I had a talk with an atheist guy yesterday at my work, and told him how I do not like why Christians are so quick to judge others who are different such as him and myself, and how I am trying to live the words of Jesus. The atheist guy likes how I respect him for his differences. So yeah, maybe I opened this post up a bit harshly, and I do regret labeling the prayer as to an ancient demon. Plus, Sikhism has only been around since the end of the 15th century, which is technically in the Medieval period and early Renaissance, not the ancient era (which is from 3000 BC to 500 AD).

In other words, my bad, and I am sorry for being quick to judge. In an ideal world, maybe there should be no prayers to open up government, political organizations or televised shows, but hey, there is freedom of religious expression in the US. And I like that freedom, cos I am free to profess the Christian faith, just as the Sikh woman is free to express her Sikh faith.

From Jesus:
Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV): "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

 

[Reasonably Sane]

Amen, brother, well for the first half. It is good that you left the R party. Trump is a Republican, as he registered as Republican, though, he is way different from Bush, Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney. Have you thought about the libertarians, or even the American Solidarity party? I would vote for the latter, if not this year, then most likely in 2028. There are Republicans who left the Republican party temporarily cos Trump took over the Republican party, and these folks want to see some classier Republican candidates. For myself, I am not a fan of the state of both parties in 2024.

You could call me libertarian, but when I vote, It's for someone that has a chance of winning.

BTW, my wife and I went to Paramount + yesterday and watched Shooter again (I saw it years ago). I forgot how good that movie is, especially after the events of the last week. But the end of the movie sums up how I see American politics. Especially Ned Beaty's justification for what he authorized.

It bugs me when I say this to my wife, but I stand by it, "everybody thinks they are justified in what they do and are doing the right thing." Even Hitler did, IMO. That is why we make such terrible Gods. It's best to defer to His wisdom.