prayer before eating

by stillin 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  stillin

  I mentioned to an elder/friend the other day that it occurred to me that there really doesan't seem to be any scriptural precedent or mandate for the tradition of praying before we eat. I said that Jesus blessed the loaves and fishes when he performed that miracle, and he blessed the wine and bread at the last supper, but I couldn't think of any other example of it. I also suggested that the tradition of praying before eating was probably rooted in giving thanks to the various gods of nature and the perception og God as being involved in the outcome of the harvest, and that, by that way of looking at it, we probably shouldn't pray before eating....silence.
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  OUTLAW

  God owes me Food..Beer..

  And..

  Better poker hands..

  ....................... ...OUTLAW
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  undercover

  Dear God,

  We paid for this food, so thanks for nothing...
• 

  Brocephus

  So you can be like the Phairees and show off how pious you are by embarassing everyone with you at Luby's.
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  JWoods

  Just as a question - was this custom more of a Protestant or even Puritan thing (rather than a Catholic one) for day to day meals?
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  stillin

  well, the whole ban on "toasting" the newlyweds (or whatever) being, as we know, rooted in the invoking of pagan gods, therefore we (remember, I'm stillin...) avoid anything that pagans may have done. The thing stinks! I mean, the pagans breathed, too, right? Speaking of breathing, I could use a breath of fresh air!
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  Robdar

  I think we shoud do like my cats do, eat the food first and then say thanks. Afterall, you never know.....the food could disappear while you are giving thanks and wouldn't that be a bummer?

  Yeah, eat first, say thanks later.
• 

  sir82

  Interestingly, there is no "giving of thanks" at all in the Lord's Prayer.

  I imagine it is a Protestant custom that JWs picked up.
• 

  Open mind

  Robdar:

  "Yeah, eat first, say thanks later. "

  An old inactive JW curmudgeon I grew up around always used to grumble to his active JW wife about saying a prayer before meals.

  "What if the food's no good?"

  For some reason this never had an endearing effect on his wife, the cook.

  om
• 

  Robdar

  That was funny, OM. Thanks for a good giggle!