i am finding it hard to pray with my children

Evidently Apostate

i have been fading for 6 months but my wife is still in and always asks me to pray at dinner and when i put the little ones to bed but i am finding prayer to be more of a pretense than heartfelt. i have to pray for the sun or the earth but why thank him for the food, hell thank me for going to work everyday .who put us in the house we live in, god? Its really hard for me to pray for anything anymore as i have an anger toward him and dont want anything to do with a future (mythical)paradise under his control, so why ask for it?

cantleave

It gets hard to speak to an imaginary friend, when you are a sane adult.

shamus100

And the anger that you feel is entirely normal.

Time will change the way you feel - for the better. It's the way human animals work. Hang in there.

JustThatGirl007

I haven't read your story, but have you told your wife how you feel?

I don't pray anymore. I don't believe in god, either. My husband (Baltar447) prays, but only to a heavenly father, I think. No specifics. The kids know I'm atheist. The husband is a deist. They require a prayer before bed, so he takes care of that.

cuckoo in the nest

"Dear jehooooover, I put this food on our table, the clothes on our backs and this roof over our head, so thanks for nothing". Job done.

simon17

How about making your prayers about your genuine feelings instead of the usual JW checklist.

Dear god, I wanted to express how appreciative I am tonight for the wonderful family that I have, and I pray that we can always maintain the love and respect that we have for one another like we do right now. We are also thankful for how relatively fortunate we are to live in a area of the world where we have ample food and provisions and housing, good friends and opportunities. I pray that we can always keep in mind those less fortunate than us by no fault of their own and I hope we can strive to help such ones. I look forward to a happy future and pray that our family will always remain as strong and happy as we are now, able to overcome our struggles with our love. Amen

Thats what I did as I went through the fade portion where i was still being asked to pray for family, meals, and the congregation. Actually, ironically as I made it totally about my feelings and wishes for myself, family, friends and humanity, I got a lot of people telling me how much they appreciated my extremely heart-felt prayers.

truth_b_known

I have the same issuer with the OP. I have a hard time even believing in gods or a Jehovah. I feel silly and stupid, but for some reason my wife feels the need for it. I refuse to pray to Jehovah when I do pray for the family at meal times.

mind blown

EA even though I'm out, I've haven't stop believing in God. Studying a bit on quantum realities/quantum mechanics has made me still have a open mind on this thought. Through personal experience, I have been in some pretty dire situations, prayed, and some crazy help has always arrived. I thank him for the good and ask for help with the bad. God may not be how we understand this figure to be....

And don't anyone give me shit about this...

breakfast of champions

Have no belief in god whatsoever, but pray at dinner with my wife because I know she finds comfort in the ritual, and I'm not ready to pull the rug from under her. I keep it simple, thnx for the time spent together today, the food, help us be supportive of friends family and others in need. I just try to keep it secular as possible. Even so, it bothers me.

WTWizard

First, ask some questions. Who is it that is actually responsible for the food? The farmers plant the seeds and work long hours, often spending lots of money in the process, to make sure they actually get something to harvest. Often they are paid poorly for their crops. Then, the crops are sent to be processed and distributed. Finally, it reaches your supermarket or farmers market, and you buy it. From there, you or your family prepares the food--if you are eating out, you are paying someone else to do that.

Now, who earns the money you use to pay for the food? How does that happen? Usually, you have to slave for some giant corporation with a bunch of rubbish rules along with high productivity standards so they can make their "record profits" (Morgue Stanley, anyone?). Some people instead have their own businesses, and they have to work long hours to maintain them while answering to customers. You then need to collect your pay toilet paper (which, given inflation these days, might soon not buy anything) or make sure customers are paying you if you are in your own business. And, if the dollar does become toilet paper, you instead offer a service in exchange for a good or service someone else has--barter. Still, you are the one doing the work providing that service.

Where in all this does Jehovah come in? Does he actually do anything to help the farmers? Does Jehovah make sure Monsanto keeps its damn hands off their supply of seeds? No. Does Jehovah make sure the crops actually produce anything worth harvesting? Just ask the farmers in Texas last year, or in Ethiopia in 1984-85. Does Jehovah make sure you get the money? Does he actually do any of the earning the money you need to buy things? No. Does Jehovah provide service so you won't have to, so you have something to barter with? No. Does Jehovah do anything to help you start a business or keep one thriving? No.

So, why are we thanking Jehovah for what we ourselves are doing or paying someone else to do?

i am finding it hard to pray with my children

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