http://media.nbcmiami.com/images/410*410/Psalm+t-shirts.jpg
Is This T-Shirt Praying for Obama's Assassination?
from: www.nbcmiami.com
The shirt is yellow with the following printed:
“Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8”
and an image of two hands clasped in prayer
which is interpreted as hastening president's demise.
Dusted off my Bible (cough, cough).
Psalm 109:8 reads, "Let his days be few; and let another take his office."
If you stop here, the message on the shirt might seem somewhat innocuous. In a literal sense then, there is not much wrong with the shirt. What if you continue reading?
Psalm 109:9, Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
109:10, Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desperate places.
109:11, Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
109:12, Let their be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
109:13 Let his prosperity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
I presume that the further verses refer to the same "his"/"him." Now the message on the shirt may be interpreted as problematic. What if the message on the shirt read, "Pray for Bush?" Would people who bought the Obama shirt be outraged?
Religion and its documents are problematic. I quoted from the King James version of the Bible which contains archaic grammar, syntax and words. When interpreting from Early Modern English into Modern English, one may come across problems. Now take into account that before King James, there were other versions of English, which were translated from Latin, of which some translations came through versions of ancient Greek, which may have been translated from any number of dialects as the Bible is a collection of stories by many authors spread over countless years. To know the original meaning or intent is quite problematic.
So should we then, just keep our religion to ourselves and interpret it as we see fit without pushing it on others? Is the shirt even really pushing it on others? No. Probably not. It certainly falls under freedom of religion and expression. Does it advocate hate or homicidal demise? Again, up for interpretation. Is it distasteful? Probably--if you are an Obama supporter.
My conclusion, then, is that the shirt has a right to exist and people the right to wear it. I have a right to dislike it.
I wish religion were kept private. I wish religion could just be kept between like-minded people: the congregation, the preacher-type person and one's god(s). Religion is too vulnerable for it may be interpreted in a myriad of ways so as to support both good and evil. It is problematic. Use it for yourself, but golly, i wish it were not used to spread hate or war.
Post Conclusion and warning: This is what i wrote in an initial response to the post and visiting the associated link:
"Fucking outrageous, but not surprising. How many of these fucks do you think also say that Islam is an evil religion? If the shirt read, "Pray for Bush," you'd bet they'd be crying terrorism and deriding the twisting of the Word of the Bible! Hypocrites! The human race is despicable! What would Jesus do concerning Obama? Would they follow Jesus' advice on Obama? Or would they rather grab Obama, a rope and find the nearest bough??! Won't the yellow shirt clash with their white hoods? Or their black souls?"
Which just leads me to say how dumb i was to have a knee-jerk reaction to a subject that was puffed up and skewed. I didn't even consult my own Bible first. Don't let yourself be blindly brainwashed and lead astray from logic, responsibility and reason. Research your incoming information as much as possible. Don't get it all from KTLA 5 or CNN or FoxNews or MSNBC or what-have-you. Don't get it all from American outlets. Follow the BBC, The National, Al Jazeera, DeutscheWelle, Univision. See how the same story is told through Ha'aretz and the Electronic Intifada; HuffPo and Fox; the LA Times and the Daily News.
Don't let one media outlet or network of outlets lead you as so much cattle. Cattle eventually get slaughtered and served to the status quo. Be responsible denizens of the internet and television land. Get a second opinion! Or research yourself. Don't be led astray. That's how they keep you complacent and mask the truth!
OK, now i sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist. Let me stop. Just be careful out there people. No one is altruistic. Not even the Pope or Obama or Bush or FoxNews.
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