Prayer a Waste of Time? (page 2)

wherehasmyhairgone

R.A.M

are you saying then as children don't ask/can't pray to God he doesn't listen to them?

To claim that some prayer do not really belive, may be so, but when you drowning i am pretty sure you are sincere for any help at that point.

To claim God help you sort our some issues you had, but decided to ignore the a child that get abducted and killed, is bordering on warped.

I realise using children examples is a extreme emotional tactic, but when it comes down to pray, to ask people to think that praying will save/help them, when clearly it does not, i think that mind set always needs to be challenged.

fedorE

WHAT GETS ME IS THAT WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL I USED TO SEE MY DAD COME HOME FROM KILLING HIMSELF IN CONSTRUCTION AND WE WOULD ALL SIT DOWN TO EAT AND FIRST THANK GOD FOR HAVING PROVIDED THE FOOD. ALL I COULD THINK WAS ,BUT MY DAD JUST WORKED HIMSELF TO DEATH FOR THIS FOOD , ?WHY ARE WE THANKING SOMEONE ELSE FOR IT?

THEN I THOUGHT IF I HAVE A GUN POINTED AT MY HEAD, OR I KNOW IM ABOUT TO DIE, WHY IS IT THAT I START TO ASK GOD FOR HELP?

I READ ONCE THAT "THERE ARE NO ATHIESTS IN FOXHOLES, BUT THERE MIGHT BE A COUPLE OF HOMOSEXUALS"..............AND NOW MAYBE SOME AGNOSTICS..I THINK ITS THE HUMAN CONDITION TO WANT TO NEED TO LOOK UPWARD FOR THE UNKOWN. OR IT JUST MIGHT BE US CHASING OUR TAILS AGAIN.

White Dove

Prayer is theraputic but also a copout by people not wanting to take 100% responsibility for their actions. If you enter the military, you must be prepared to die at some point, so why pray to live if dying is just part of the job? Uh-oh, I screwed up again. Please God save me from myself! Just live consciensiously and responsibly and you up the chance of not needing God to fix your messes. Drowning? Know your limits and take precautions. Illness? God doesn't save anyone or there would not be any early deaths by accidents. Shit happens. Be prepared to fix it or accept it.

White Dove

One more note on praying for God to fix your messes: Quit being so damned dependent! Co-dependency on anyone is a cultish attribute, so knock it off! God needs us to worship him so he will feel big and important. We need God to fix our messes. Co-dependency is a disorder. Try praying to yourself and come up with solutions to your problems and see if your prayers don't get answered 100%. I started praying to myself and now all of my prayers are answered!

Sassy

I rarely pray for myself.. I guess in some ways I feel unworthy.. kind of because I have no path at the moment.. nor am I ready for one..

but I still believe in a higher power.. I still believe there is a god who listens..

and I do pray for others.. like I do with the vigils on Tuesdays..

and I am for my son today

Sassy

that if Jehovah wills

although those are trigger words for me..

TJ - iAmCleared2Land

wherehasmyhairgone, I agree 100% with what you said. I've felt this way for a long time. To think that God helps some (and on trivial matters in the big scheme of things), and ignores others that are helpless and who really NEED his help, is ridiculous.

r.a.m. thinks that God's going to help him/her get to go to this wedding. Riiiiiggght. It's his boss/principal who will make that decision. Thank the right person!

monophonic

re: bargaining with god, 'i know i touched her breasts again last night, but i'll make sure to get in six hours this weekend and please bless me with a bible study and i promise never to touch her breasts or lick those sweet dark nipples again. amen'.

for this stuff, i never judge yay or nay b/c i really don't know. is there something set up in the universe that makes things happen if we will them? there's that saying, 'putting it out to the universe', where if you want to change or you want something to happen, just saying it aloud puts the attraction there.

it has worked for me at some very critical points in my life. i can't explain it. it wasn't prayer, but it was something....this was specific stuff that would be handed on my lap...then i'd say, 'woe' like keannu reaves in the matrix.

re: prayer, there have been times when i've prayed for an answer, when i felt really down, when i doubted myself for leaving the jws and asked god for a sign, anything, if the answer was they had the truth and i need to ignore what i don't agree with i'd go back. i was sincere and praying from my guts.

the few times i did that my prayer was always answered. once it was answered by finding the raymond franz book. once it was answered when i picked my wife up from the kh and hadn't been inside for a while, and a sister got vocal and hostile with me for no reason. these things happened within a day of my prayers.

it could be explained as coincidence, but i don't feel it is.

it could be something in the universe that's interpreted as prayer. i don't have an answer, i just have what has worked for me.

and i don't judge anyone when prayer doesn't work for them or if it works for them everyday....if i pray once a month, that probably means i'm suicidal, so i don't pray very much at all and praying even kind of pisses me off b/c of growing up a jw.

so, i don't think it's a waste of time b/c what else are we doing with our time as humans that is really all that important. watching game shows, football, going through a drive-thru @ mcdonald's, masturbating (ok, that's not a waste of time)....

monophonic

oh, p.s.

when i was 13/14, i used to pray to satan for a playboy to see if it would work. those prayers never worked. i'd pray for it to appear under my bed, then wait 15 minutes and sweep my hand under the bed. no luck.

JH

I don't ask God anything anymore, I just say thank you for the little I have. That way, I,m not deceived.

Prayer a Waste of Time?

Share this