Christian capitalism at its finest.
This post is about an auction I was shown on eBay. Basically, what was being bid for was the desired prize of a family of 6, praying for you everyday for a year. And the minimum bid was set at $5000.
Allow me to list a few of the many things wrong with the auction.
#1 - It had a BID. I was initially annoyed with the auction itself, but then I saw that some plague of the human gene pool bid on it. So here I am, torn between ripping my eyeballs out or slicing my abdomen open, frying my insides and placing them on jellied toast, when I clicked on the bid history... HE or SHE BID TWICE. How many total bids had the auction received you ask? TWO.
Heck, I saw that and began praying for this person for free. Praying for the blessing of a better life. And by 'better' I mean shortened.
But I digress, I'm sure there really was a serious enough concern in this person's life that warranted a $5,000 double bid. My real beef is with the person who listed the auction. Let's move on.
#2 - The "contract" is for one year. Wow, a whole year. So, at the very moment the year is up, you stop praying for this person? Seems pretty heartless to me. Someone who is truly Christian would pray for anyone, for any amount of time based on their needs. Christ isn't bound by a $5,000 contract, we shouldn't be either.
#3 - The price tag. With 5 G's I could buy a motorcycle and pray I don't get decapitated by a low hanging branch. Or wait, I could blow it on a complete stranger, with an ingenious con on eBay. Certainly I would never consider asking my Christian friends and neighbors or, dare I say, my local minister or denominational authority. I'm sure none of them like my head as much as I do.
The day you start taking money for a contractual prayer agreement is the day you feel a little heat on the back of your legs and the rubber of your shoes begins to melt to the floor and the FIRES OF HELL ENGULF YOU.
#4 - The family. More specifically, those poor kids. I can imagine the looks on their faces when their mother gathered them around the kitchen table and told them they can finally afford to go to Disney World. They smile, giggle, clap and laugh. Then she utters the dreaded b-word... but. "BUT," she says, "We have to pray for Seymour Wilson's irregular bowel movements, everyday. For an entire year." Smiles turn to shock. Giggles to motionless gazes. The three year old pukes and wails. Wails a story of endless, Mickey Mouse-less, woes. The only shred of reason in the family lies in the six year old boy who turns the oven on and climbs inside.
But amidst the confusion, the mother kneels and prays for less trips to the can and healthy, free-moving stools.
fin
I don't have much else to say, other than praying for yourself, with sincerity, is more powerful than the entire planet praying for you for conditional reasons. I do not believe this auction was created out of love or anything near it. It was for social and economical gain and I hope they'll realize that some day before they die.
3 Comments:
*slowly claps*
*Not sure if laughing or crying is more appropriate*
That's a pretty interesting situation. If ebay allows that to continue, I speculate that we will see web savy ministers offering the prayers of their congregation for a week or a sunday, or a minute. "...we only charge $50 per minute of genuine, qualitee praaayer!" Of course the more popular preachers will be much more expensive. I mean, they can only say so many prayers in a day...Its all about scarcity!
Seriously though, only bad scriptures come to mind.
Isaiah 29… this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me,(ie, they just want the money!) and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men (ie, the precept of getting more money!)”…
Psalms 28:3 “Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.”
Romans 2:21Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? (or “you who pray for another, why not pray for yourself, to get over the love of money…”)
Isaiah 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations…
Maybe the best two are as follows:
1 Timothy 6:10…For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith…
Mormon 8:37 … For behold, ye do love money, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
The bidder must have forgotten the famous 52nd Chapter of Isaiah, verse 3… “ye shall be redeemed without money!”
But I am no judge. Maybe they were trying to raise money for their neighbors son who is dying from Leukemia… I’ll probably never know!
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