The Underground -- Question of the Week: Prayer

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• Question of the Week: Prayer
• Evangelical umbrella group condemns proposed bill to ban circumcisions
• UK Bishop supports bill in House of Lords that will restrict Sharia law
• Southern Baptists experiencing worrisome decline in baptisms, membership
• U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for religious freedom says she will be hands on
• U.K. study shows potential for heart to repair itself
• Woman conceived by rape responds to slurs from MSNBC commentator
• Christian group ministers to middle class prostitutues in India

Question of the Week: Prayer Posted: 11 Jun 2011 03:06 PM PDT Question: “What is the proper way to pray?” Answer: Is it best to pray standing up, sitting down, kneeling, or bowing down? Should our hands be open, closed, or lifted up to God? Do our eyes need to be closed when we pray? Is it better to pray in a church building or out in nature? Should we pray in the morning when we get up or at night before we go to bed? Are there certain words we need to say in our prayers? How do we begin our prayers? What is the proper way to close a prayer? These questions, and others, are common questions asked about prayer. What is the proper way to pray? Do any of the above things even matter? Far too often, prayer is viewed as a “magic formula.” Some believe that if we do not say exactly the right things, or pray in the right position, God will not hear and answer our prayer. This is completely unbiblical. God does not answer our prayers based on when we pray, where we are, what position our body is in, or in what order we word our prayers. We are told in 1 John 5:14-15 to have confidence when we come to God in prayer, knowing He hears us and will grant whatever we ask as long as it is in His will. Similarly, John 14:13-14 declares, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” According to these and many other Scriptures, God answers prayer requests based on whether they are asked according to His will and in the name of Jesus (to bring glory to Jesus). So, what is the proper way to pray? Philippians 4:6-7 tells us to pray without being anxious, to pray about everything, and to pray with thankful hearts. God will answer all such prayers with the gift of His peace in our hearts. The proper way to pray is to pour out our hearts to God, being honest and open with God, as He already knows us better than we know ourselves. We are to present our requests to God, keeping in mind that God knows what is best and will not grant a request that is not His will for us. We are to express our love, gratitude, and worship to God in prayer without worrying about having just the right words to say. God is more interested in the content of our hearts than the eloquence of our words. The closest the Bible comes to giving a “pattern” for prayer is the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Please understand that the Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer we are to memorize and recite to God. It is an example of the things that should go into a prayer—worship, trust in God, requests, confession, and submission. We are to pray for the things the Lord’s Prayer talks about, using our own words and “customizing” it to our own journey with God. The proper way to pray is to express our hearts to God. Sitting, standing, or kneeling; hands open or closed; eyes opened or closed; in a church, at home, or outside; in the morning or at night—these are all side issues, subject to personal preference, conviction, and appropriateness. God’s desire is for prayer to be a real and personal connection between Himself and us. Recommended Resource: Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah.

Evangelical umbrella group condemns proposed bill to ban circumcisions Posted: 11 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT The National Association of Evangelicals said in a statement that the move is detrimental to religious liberties and violates the country’s First Amendment. Leith Anderson, president of NAE said, “Jews, Muslims, and Christians all trace our spiritual heritage back to Abraham. Biblical circumcision begins with Abraham. No American government should restrict this historic tradition. Essential religious liberties are at stake,” CNN reported. Anderson also said, “The proposed ban violates the First Amendment’s guarantee to exercise one’s religious beliefs,” according to CNN. While the Jewish and Islamic faiths necessitate circumcision of all believers, not all Christians are required to do so. The originator of the measure promoting the ban is Matt Hess, who lives in San Diego and is the creator of a comic called Foreskin Man, which has been slammed by critics as being anti-Semitic. Foreskin Man is a blond superhero who saves a baby boy from the evil, knife-wielding Monster Mohel, a character who wears a traditional Jewish prayer shawl and hat. In the Jewish faith a mohel performs circumcisions. Hess has denied that Foreskin Man is anti-Semitic, and claims that the comic is told from the point of view of a baby. Hess tweeted, “People who forcefully cut the genitals of children are not reasonable. If they were reasonable, they would have stopped doing it by now.” Hess, through his organization MGMbill, managed to gather 12,000 signatures of support, the number that is required for it to qualify being voted upon in the pending November ballot. Under the proposed bill it will be “unlawful to circumcise, excise, cut, or mutilate the whole or any part of the foreskin, testicles, or penis,” of any person who is 17 years old or younger. Anyone violating the law may face a penalty of one year in jail, or be fined a maximum of $1,000. Sponsors of the bill claim that circumcision wreaks damaging psychological and physical effects on men, not unlike genital mutilation on women. Many doctors disagree with this, however. Health benefits have been linked to circumcision and complications rarely occur. If ever, they are only temporary and usually minor. By contrast, World Health Organization has said that there are no health benefits that are linked to female genital circumcision, and in fact there are long-term consequences including higher mortality rates of mothers and newborns, higher incidence of infection, difficulty urinating and fistulas. Circumcision is widespread in the U.S., with 65 percent of male American infants being circumcised in the hospitals where they were born as of 1999, statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate. However, while the percentage of circumcisions nationwide remains steady, there has been a strong drop in the West by 64 percent in 1974, and then a 37 percent drop in 1999.

UK Bishop supports bill in House of Lords that will restrict Sharia law Posted: 11 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, who was formerly bishop of Rochester, said he supports The Arbitration and Mediation Services (Equality) Bill, noting that Sharia law conflicts with the British tradition of equality. Presently, there are some 85 Muslim arbitration tribunals and Sharia councils throughout the UK. Ali, who grew up in Pakistan said, “People in this country are free to practice whatever faith they have. But at the same time we have a very long tradition of people being equal under the law,” according to The Christian Institute. Ali added, “The problem with Sharia is that it is inherently unequal for certain kinds of people. Muslims and non-Muslims are treated unequally. Similarly, men and women are treated unequally,” The Christian Institute reported. Ali said that should Sharia be recognized by public law, it “introduces a principle of contradiction in the body of the law which will cause problems for the country and for people who will suffer, particularly women,” according to The Christian Institute. The bill, which was introduced by Baroness Caroline Cox to the House of Lords early in the week, bans the application of Sharia law when it is discriminatory to non-Muslims and women. The bill also proposes that public bodies are legally required to inform women of ways by which their legal rights will be affected if their marriage is not recognized by British law, The Christian Institute reported. It will furthermore include a new law that penalizes false claims of legal jurisdiction insofar as family or criminal law is concerned, according to The Christian Institute. However, it will not impose on any religion’s internal theology. It does, however, seek to prevent any rulings that may be discriminatory and are in conflict with UK law. At the same time, it will clearly define the limits of Sharia law. Cox said, “My Bill seeks to stop parallel legal, or ‘quasi-legal’, systems taking root in our nation. Cases of criminal law and family law are matters reserved for our English courts alone,” Christian Today reported. Cox said, “I want to make it perfectly clear in the law that discrimination against women shall not be allowed. We must do all that we can to make sure they are free from any coercion, intimidation or unfairness,” according to Christian Today. Under Sharia law, a man who wishes to divorce his wife only needs to declare that he divorces her three times. By contrast, a woman who seeks to divorce her husband must file an application to a Sharia court, pay a fee and seek the permission of her husband to do so. Also, under Sharia law, men can remarry while women cannot. Furthermore, sons receive twice the inheritance of daughters. Ali said, “We need to make sure that people have free access to the courts and equal protection from the state, as far as their fundamental rights are concerned,” Christian Today reported.

Southern Baptists experiencing worrisome decline in baptisms, membership Posted: 11 Jun 2011 02:58 PM PDT The 2010 Annual Church Profile report, submitted by LifeWay Research, indicated that while the number of Southern Baptist churches has increased, there has been a plunge in overall membership, attendance at worship services and participation in church activities,. The report was released in preparation for the forthcoming annual Southern Baptist Convention which will be held in Phoenix on June 14-15. Ed Stetzer, LifeWay president told The Tennessean, “This is not a blip. This is a trend. And, the trend is one of decline.” The report showed that while there was a 1.59 percent increase in the number of churches in 2010 totaling 45,727, the number of baptisms has continued its pattern of decline. The report noted that 332,321 baptisms were performed in 2010, a decline from the previous year by 17,416. The number of baptisms has continued to fall in the last 10 years, and is the lowest since the 1950. Membership has also continued to fall in the last four years and is presently tagged at 16,136,044, The Tennessean said. Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources told ABP that he is hoping that the upward trend of church planting, however, can help to stall the decline. Reasons for decline Two reasons were cited for the decline by Stetzer. First, Southern Baptists are aging, resulting in fewer children who are growing up in the church. Second, the church is not working hard enough on evangelizing, The Tennessean said. Stetzer told The Tennessean, “Baptists love to talk about evangelism as long as someone else is doing it.” Frank Page, president of SBC’s Executive Committee, told Baptist Press, “I am saddened to see this report which seems to indicate a lack of passion for winning our world to the Lord. That will turn around when we repent of our sins and seek the power of our Lord in our evangelistic efforts.” Page told BP, “I am convinced that we are doing many good things but will see this situation change only when the churches and people of the SBC return evangelism to the top priority of our Kingdom activities.” Last year, Southern Baptists engaged in an internal restructuring and launched the Great Commission Resurgence program, which essentially channels more money into evangelizing efforts. Rainer told The Tennessean that it will take time before the efforts of The Great Commission Resurgence can be determined. He noted however that in the 1950s, when evangelism was a priority, the ratio of baptisms was one for every 20 Southern Baptists. “Now, it takes 40 of our members to baptize one person.” Page told The Tennessean that denominational leaders also provide insufficient teaching on how to effectively evangelize. “You can talk about having a vision all day long, but you have to show people how to put that vision into action,” he said. There is also a need for SBC to engage more efforts in attracting minorities. To date, only 19 percent of SBC churches are minority parishes. Rainer told The Tennessean, “We’ve got a long way to go for more ethnic diversity. We are still a very white denomination.” The report also noted a decline in donations for missionary work, The Tennessean reported. The SBC International Mission Board announced that only $145.6 million was raised for the yearly Lottie Moon missionary offering, far short of the targeted $175 million.

U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for religious freedom says she will be hands on Posted: 11 Jun 2011 12:35 AM PDT The Obama administration’s U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom said recently that she plans to apply a more hands-on, faith-based approach in dealing with global faith issues. Rev. Suzan Johnson-Cook told Michel Martin on NPR’s radio program Faith Matters that she hopes to put a face on religious freedom and to perform her duties more strategically. The recently sworn in ambassador-at-large told Martin, “[W]hat we’re trying to do is have a faith approach to some very real issues that are global. And I think people have not had a hands-on, frontline experience before. And so what they will see now is a face of religious freedom…a woman who’s…[m]oving forward strategically,” NPR reported. In her new position, Cook will be monitoring religious freedom issues globally and will report directly to President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The latter has said of Cook, “To many, she is more than a minister, more than a spiritual leader, although she is certainly that. She is a passionate advocate for the God-given rights of people everywhere, no matter which god they believe gave them those rights in the first place,” Beliefnet said. Clinton, during Cook’s swearing-in ceremony, said in her speech which was reprinted in the U.S. Department of State website that she will be working “in very close partnership” with Cook to uphold religious freedom, citing issues of violent extremism geared to exploiting sectarian tensions, abusive authoritarian regimes and threats to religious freedom whether through “quiet intolerance” or “violent attacks.” When questioned by NPR about what Cook can do regarding religious freedom issues in countries with ties to the U.S., such as Saudi Arabia and the People’s Republic of China, Cook said, “I’m the poster child of religious freedom,” and added that she plans to “elevate” these issues with U.S. allies, NPR said. Cook told NPR, “[Y]ou work with the allies that we have as partners and then you begin with diplomacy [with countries that are not allies] where there are pragmatic openings, begin to sit down and strategically plan to see if there could be partnerships where there have not been in the past.” For 21 years, Cook was a chaplain with the New York City Police Department, which has a longstanding reputation for being at odds particularly with minorities including African-Americans and Latinos. When asked how she mediated the role as chaplain of the NYPD and a voice for a beleaguered minority of which she is part, Cook told NPR that she saw herself as representative of her “culture and their concerns.” Cook told NPR, “You need people from all sides of the world. You need some who are outside, who are the activists. You need some who are inside. When you have a department that’s 50,000 people strong, you’re going to also have minorities within the department…So I think you look at the opportunities that have been open and where you have been placed by God and by the Almighty.” Cook, who in 1996 founded Bronx Christian Fellowship Baptist Church, told NPR that she measures  measures success by knowing that she has done her best with each day, enabling her to sleep peacefully at night. She also noted to NPR that success is measured in due time by how one is remembered in history. But for herself, “[E]ach day I awake and I ask God to use me for that day in the best way that God [wants] and that I might make a difference for the people whose lives I touch and who touch mine.”

U.K. study shows potential for heart to repair itself Posted: 11 Jun 2011 12:35 AM PDT A study headed by Paul Riley and a team from University College London showed that dormant repair cells in the hearts of adult mice can be reactivated by transforming dormant cells from the epicardium with the injection of thymosin beta 4, according to Reuters. It has yet to be seen whether similar results can be elicited in human hearts, and the research is still in a very early stage. However, it does indicate that there is the possibility that a drug could be developed that can prompt hearts that have undergone cardiac arrest into self repair, Reuters said. The research was funded by the British Heart Foundation. Dr. Peter Weissberg, medical director said, “We have always believed that the heart has no capacity to heal itself, but this research suggests that this is not the case. We think we have discovered a natural process that brings about repair of the heart,” according to theheart.org. Weissberg said in a press conference, “Until now, this has been science fiction. We are trying to understand what the triggers are for this process. The cells that are capable of this healing are already there in the epicardium. They just need to be tweaked and primed and the effect scaled up. If this works, we might be able to heal cardiac injury caused by heart attacks without resorting to stem cells,” theheart.org reported. Riley, who heads the research team, told Reuters, “I could envisage a patient known to be at risk of a heart attack taking an oral tablet…which would prime their heart so that if they had a heart attack the damage could be repaired.” Regeneration of heart tissue In recent years, the number of deaths caused by heart attacks has gone down with medical advances. What has yet to be addressed is debilitation caused by the incidence of heart failure leading to a specific accumulation of dead heart tissue, Reuters reported. Presently, mechanical devices are used in such case, or a transplant. But Riley’s study, which came out in the June 8, 2011, online publication Nature, targeted progenitor cells from the epicardium, or outer layer in the heart, Reuters said. Riley said he targeted these progenitor cells because in an embryo, they become cardiomyocytes. “During pregnancy, these cells contribute to heart muscle and coronary blood vessels,” theheart.org reported. Riley added, “In the adult, these cells sit in a dormant state. We think there is a possibility that these cells might be able to be activated to switch on the embryonic gene that causes them to make new myocardial cells,” according to theheart.org. Thymosin beta 4 Riley found out that by injecting the healthy hearts of adult mice with thymosin beta 4, they can be “primed” to repair themselves after damage, according to Reuters. After injecting the healthy hearts of the adult mice with thymosin beta 4, the researchers initiated heart attacks in the mice. They then gave the same mice another booster dose of thymosin beta 4. This prompted the transformation of dormant progenitor cells into cardiomycytes, Reuters said. Riley said, “These cardiomycytes can link into the existing muscle of the heart and they home to the area of injury. [T]hey are also both structurally and functionally coupled to the heart, and therefore represent a bona fide source of new heart muscle,” Reuters reported. The mice who received the treatment experienced a 25 percent improvement in the heart’s ejection fraction. There was also a reduction of myocardial scarring and remodeling, theheart.org said. Preemptive treatment Attempts are being made to see if the treatment will be effective on human cells. However, Riley emphasized that the treatment is primarily preemptive. It must be applied before heart injury, according to theheart.org. Riley said, “We would need to treat patients at high risk of having a heart attack before that heart attack occurred. That is the key. The idea would be to identify these high-risk individuals and then give them this medication that would keep them their cells in a primed state, so that if an MI occurs repair would occur,” according to theheart.org. Weissberg said, “If we could achieve a 25 percent increase in ejection fraction in humans, that would be a substantial effect. However, we rarely see in [humans] the same benefit as is shown in animal studies. But even if we could achieve a 10% improvement, that would make a major difference to quality of life,” theheart.org reported.

Woman conceived by rape responds to slurs from MSNBC commentator Posted: 11 Jun 2011 12:34 AM PDT Attorney Rebecca Kiessling, who is holding a week-long “Conceived in Rape Lecture Series,” responded to a rant by commentator Rachel Maddow against her speaking tour for Personhood Mississippi. Kiessling said that under the “personhood” ballot or Amendment 26, the term “person” will refer to all humans from the moment of fertilization. She also took exception to Maddow’s use of the phrase, “the rapist’s child.” In her response to Maddow, Kiesling said, “First of all, I am not the rapist’s child! He doesn’t even know of my existence, as in most rape cases.” She added that those who choose to abort face four times the risk of death within the year. Kiesling said, “If you truly have compassion for a rape victim, you’d want to protect her from the abortion and not the baby.” She added that being pro-woman “is to recognize that women are much stronger than they are given credit for, and to understand that a baby is not the scary enemy.” Inconsistency Kiesling also cited inconsistencies in Maddow’s thinking as the MSNBC commentator is “against the death penalty for rapists, but supports the death penalty for the innocent child who happened to be conceived in rape…she failed to mention that the “Conceived in Rape” tour involved a real human being — and I’m a woman no less.” Kiesling, who hopes to put a face on the child conceived in rape, said, “My birthmother did not choose life for me. She chose abortion. But pro-life advocates in Michigan chose life for me by making sure abortion was illegal in Michigan, even in cases of rape…I owe my life to them.” When she was 18 years old, Kiesling searched for her birthmother and in this way, learned that her mother tried to abort her. She adds, “[My] birthmother is proud of me today, has shared her story alongside me, and is so thankful we were both protected from the abortion. I honor her and I bring her healing, which is why she and her husband legally adopted me last fall, 22 years from the day we met.” In Kiesling’s personal website she said that her personal value is not based on being a “product of rape,” but a “child of God.” She said, “I know that there is no stigma in being adopted. We are told in the New Testament that it is in the spirit of adoption that we are called to be God’s children through Christ our Lord. So He must have thought pretty highly of adoption to use that as a picture of His love for us.” Not lucky Kiesling does not believe her survival has to do with luck. Instead, she says she is alive because of choices “that were made by our society at large, people who fought to ensure abortion was illegal in Michigan at the time — even in cases of rape, people who argued to protect my life, and people who voted pro-life. I wasn’t lucky. I was protected.”

Christian group ministers to middle class prostitutues in India Posted: 11 Jun 2011 12:34 AM PDT International Mission Board is ministering to a lesser-known group of prostitutes who come from India’s middle class, and who have resorted to the profession out of desperation, according to Mission Network News. India is described by The New York Times as the country with “the largest number of human-trafficking victims in the world today,” with some children from very poor districts who are sold as prostitutes, sometimes as young as five years old. While there are many Christian organizations addressing their needs, IMB is focusing on what is commonly referred to as “fly prostitutes,” or middle-class housewives and students who have children to feed and bills to pay, MNN said. Fly prostitute with HIV One “fly prostitute” is Ajanta Gupta (name changed), a widow whose husband died from AIDS. She was in her early 20s when her husband died, and had to provide for two small children. She also had HIV. Gupta was introduced to prostitution through her friend, Laghuri Kapoor (name changed). It was a way to get easy money and to earn more than a regular job would pay. MNN said a woman in unskilled labor earns only $1.25, while a man doing the same work would get one-fourth more. Gupta told the IMB website, “I need money to run my family, and the money I was able to earn was not sufficient. Also, because I am sick, I am unable to work properly. So I had to go through with that work (prostitution).” Kapoor told IMB that she regularly helps women to work as prostitutes, and more housewives have been joining the profession in the last few years. She blames this basically on desperation and a need for finances. Kapoor, aside from bringing customers to the women, also cares for them when they are ill and trains them on ways to avoid AIDS. Of those who come to the profession, she told IMB, “No one comes into this profession happily.” Vicious cycle Rather, Kapoor told IMB that they come because they are desperate. One example is Darpana Rana (name changed), whose husband left her with three children. She said many women are victims of a vicious cycle. The husband is addicted or abusive, the wife looks for legitimate work, but when she comes home from work her husband continues to abuse her. Rana told IMB, “Slowly, slowly [the women] get involved in the profession.” Oftentimes it is difficult to leave the profession. Yamini Chopra (name changed) worked as a prostitute, then later, found le

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