Praying for enemies

Here's a look at the message of the bible through a highly unusual medium. The Brick Testament depicts scenes and stories of the bible made out of Lego. This ain't no piddlin little project -- over 400 stories made up of over 4400 scenes with more to come. I think someone had a lot of fun painting expressions on the Lego people. My first reaction was that it includes the real and difficult messages that Jesus taught. For example, the scene for the commandment to pray for your enemies features a man praying for Al Qaeda. But viewing more of the teachings of Jesus, I find it to be too literal. Many of the teachings are hyperbole, used to get people to think yet to be put in context. Showing scenes, such as the one where Jesus calls on followers to put their faith ahead of family relationships, as literal with made up dialog comes across as harsh and dogmatic. The creator also loses lots of points when he illustrates the central phrase of the passage "But whoever practices these commandments and teaches them will be called 'great' in the kingdom of Heaven" by having one character say, "… that's why it's our duty to put homosexuals to death." Oh, please. I guess I don't have to bother with the other 4300 illustrations.


How should we pray for our enemies? Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin offers two examples, which I summarize.

The leader of a reparative therapy program:

Deliver these gay people from the bonds of darkness of homosexuality that Satan has wrapped him in and show him they're wrong and we're right.

That last part may not get spoken aloud, but it is definitely implied.

This is the ending of a prayer for enemies, from the gay point of view:

God, bring the program leaders close to you. Startle them with how much you love them, so that all he can do is share that love with others. Let him know that being right or wrong doesn't matter because it all comes down to love.