you don't believe in god... ever find yourself praying?

by Calliope 27 Replies latest jw friends

  • Elsewhere
    Elsewhere

    lol... I just found this while looking at today's comics...

    (Let me know if the image does not show)

    http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/PCcartoons/PCbest5.asp

  • jojochan
    jojochan

    The one time that prayed , was when I was having relations with my ex wife," Please god....just a little while longer...that's all I ask....please god?...god?"

    Sorry...I just had coffe, and I'll stop being stupid. Please forgive my assinine post.

    jojochan.

  • AlmostAtheist
    AlmostAtheist

    When I was a dub, I prayed whenever I felt like it -- which was often -- but always with meals and at bedtime. For a year or so after I left, I still found myself starting those ritualistic sort of event-driven prayers. It was weird, since it showed me how little those prayers really meant. Even as a dub, I would catch myself rattling off some near-memorized prayer, then stop, apologize to Jehovah for taking it all so lightly, and try again.

    It meant quite a lot to me at the time. Jehovah was a real person to me. It bugged me when I realized I wasn't treating him as such.

    Dave

  • collegegirl21
    collegegirl21

    Even as a witness I never really found myself praying. I would only pray around my parents. Sometimes I catch myself praying, but I think he already knows what I am thinking so to me it just isn't necessary. Although I think when I prayed to find the "truth" something brought me to this website... weird huh?

  • Calliope
    Calliope

    actually, i can count on one hand, the times i've actually said "amen".
    when i thought i believed in god, i felt like he was a friend and not so much a deity, hence the long rambles and chit chats.
    when i was young, i used to pretend that i was holding his hand while i walked to school...
    then again, i also had an imaginary friend...

    anyway, i've been experimenting with "prayer" as i'm not convinced either way whether he exists or not. i've tried praying/talking to the stars, trees, wind... but i suppose like infamous pointed out, i'm just having really creative conversations with myself.


    calliopé

  • JAVA
    JAVA

    As an agnostic, I don't find myself praying--even when I'm not thinking about it. :) However, I do find myself saying things from time to time to some loved ones who have died. For example, "well, dad--what do you think of this mess."

    I don't know if there is life after death. I do know that there is no solid evidence to support life after death, or for that matter God. However, speaking to the dead has been around for aeons, maybe it's part of the collective unconscious (a little Carl Jung theory to explain my behavior).

  • Low-Key Lysmith
    Low-Key Lysmith

    I never pray, but I catch myself saying things like "thank God", "for God's sake", etc. sometimes. Makes me feel kinda foolish.

    -Breck

  • itsallgoodnow
    itsallgoodnow

    check your premises said to atheists:

    What happens when you lose all your illusion of control and power that you think you have over your life. What happens when you are desperate, when you have nowhere else you can turn? Do you cry out to Darwin or Marx?

    Don't get me wrong. I am not making fun. I just remember when I was one of the above. It was real easy to be incredulous when things were going good. When things weren't so good I was more than ready to abandon my faith in no God.

    Doesn't prove anything of course... I don't mean to imply it does.

    I try to remember that life can be and is full of frustrations and disappointments, good times, too. Sure it's nice to be able to talk to someone who will just listen, and how many people really have that, but I can't get past the idea that there's nobody out there listening. It would be easier to assume there was someone listening, but when things go really bad, I just try to remember that nothing lasts forever, not the good things and not the bad things. We all go through rough times, and we just have to ride it out.

  • Midget-Sasquatch
    Midget-Sasquatch

    I think that the most reasonable conclusion to draw from all the terrible things that happen to the innocent is that god doesn't intervene at all. So what's the point of asking for anything right?

    But, a handful of times, I've been very worried about one or other of my immediate family, and I found myself saying stuff along the lines of "I don't think you play favourites, but if there's any way that you do look out for good people, that in my shortsightedness and ignorance I failed to see, please look out for so and so now. I don't deserve to ask anything of you cuz I don't have full confidence in you but they sure do."

  • still angry
    still angry

    LOL @ jojochan!

    Low-Key Lysmith: Hey, I do that too! Drives me crazy how I picked those little phrases up after I left the JW's out of defiance and now can't lose 'em.

    Elsewhere - Loved the cartoon!

    Check Your Premises- I don't think you understand the nature of being atheists. Being atheists doesn't mean that they're all knowing, it means that they do not allow that they are being controlled by a greater power. It creates a greater responsibility of ones actions for the collective of all living things. It doesn't allow for the possibilty of skating ones way into a paradise or heaven or whatever by saying you're a Christian, Muslim, etc., but that you aspire to create a better place through personal choices, not demands from a god. In other words, you hold yourself to your own higher standard, not a standard put forth by some religious organization saying that they represent god. I found that most atheists to be the most conscious of the world around them and their place in it, and some of the most kind hearted people I've ever met. I am undecided myself, but am certainly leaning toward the possibility that we are alone.

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