29 August 2008

Would it be wrong to pray for diarrhea?

Well, not according to the Bible, anyway. Here, for example, is a prayer from the Psalms.

Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Psalm 109:16-18

But the Bible-god not only curses bowels, he also, on occasion, messes with them so much that they completely fall out.

Thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out. 2 Chronicles 21:15

So praying for diarrhea has a solid Biblical basis. And though the following video is just making fun of Focus on the Family's (failed) prayer for rain on Obama's acceptance speech, it might be worth a try.

5 comments:

v_quixotic said...

Given that the bloke in the Focus on Family video already has a bad case verbal diarrhea, I think the object of prayer needs to be more carefully stated... the Lord moves in mysterious ways after all!

becky said...

I can't tell what's funnier, the video or the comment that the Lord moves in mysterious ways! Love it.

afungus amongus said...

Psalm quote is out of context (it describes a wicked man) but 2 Chronicles is spot-on. +1 horrible thing God did in the bible!

Steve Wells said...

Afungus,

So it's OK to pray for bad things to happen to bad people? Isn't that what this passage is doing in context?

Alex Neil said...

Diarrhea is a familiar phenomenon defined as unusually frequent or unusually soft or liquid bowel movements. It is the opposite of constipation. The word diarrhea with its odd spelling is a near steal from the Greek diarrhoia meaning "a flowing through."