why dont we just pray our way out of all problems?

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by galant, Dec 2, 2014.

  1. galant

    galant Banned

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    are you aware that a billion muslims, Russians and Chinese are praying for you to DIE, so that they can come steal everything that we've built up here? Better be gd glad that prayer doesn't work
     
  2. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    The flip side is that if prayer did work there wouldn't be any Russians, Chinese, or muslims (or anyone else for that matter).
     
  3. Defender of Freedom

    Defender of Freedom Member

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    God is not a Genie. The original definition of 'prayer' means 'to ask'. God does not answer to calls for death, he offers forgiveness, mercy, justice, and love. You may not believe that, but you completely ignore what prayer is and what it is for.
     
  4. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    There are countless passages in the Bible where people pray for God to kill their enemies and he does. Jesus said that a believer could ask for anything without exception in his name and that he will do it.
     
  5. AboveAlpha

    AboveAlpha Well-Known Member

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    And people ask me why I would NEVER want any such GOD existing? Ha.

    AboveAlpha
     
  6. Swensson

    Swensson Devil's advocate

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    I'm certainly not aware of this, and I'd like to know how you've arrived at that conclusion. Bear in mind that I will keep a statistically rigorous stance towards your answer.
     
  7. Aleksander Ulyanov

    Aleksander Ulyanov Well-Known Member

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    That might make a neat movie. This Chinese student goes off his trolley and begin to preach this new religion .Besides complete and total love of everything and everyone it's main precept is that you should do twice as much as the government asks. It catches on and become like a virus post, spreading not over China but the whole globe. What will happen when it's tour boats dock in California
     
  8. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    I know what it's for. It's for people who want more than they have.
     
  9. cassandrabandra

    cassandrabandra New Member

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    Do you have evidence for this?
     
  10. DennisTate

    DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Unless the plan that the Creator had from the beginning was to give a significant percentage of humanity what could be termed "Cyrus Consciousness" so that we could learn to genuinely respect differences in religion and culture and language and social customs?


    http://www.thomastwin.com/7 A Thomas samples.html

     
  11. DennisTate

    DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Actually…. once the Iron Curtain fell millions of Russians were desperate to get their hands on anything in English to read because they could see that articles in English attempted to cover subjects from several relevant angles whereas most of what they read in Russian were obviously propaganda and clearly was not an objective search for truth on most topics!
     
  12. DennisTate

    DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    A month or so ago I noticed that online it is Falun Gong intellectuals who quote the astonishing research of Helen Wambach Ph. D. and Dr. Newton and Dr. Weiss more than just about anybody else.

    No wonder the bureaucrats of China fear the Falun Gong and have decided to persecute them.

    Their research has the potential to transform how all of us view what is really happening on this earth and why so much pain and suffering is allowed to take place. I read both of her books back in the '90's and they sure did change my view of the world.


    http://www.pureinsight.org/node/1267
     
  13. Dood

    Dood New Member

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    How frequently do you pray?
     
  14. FoxHastings

    FoxHastings Well-Known Member

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    I think it's obvious prayer doesn't work without getting silly about it.
     
  15. lizarddust

    lizarddust Well-Known Member

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    I used to pray to Hughie, god of the surf, every evening asking for good waves in the morning. Only worked some of the time.
     
  16. One Mind

    One Mind Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I don't know if prayer works. I do not say it is impossible, but I just don't know. But if prayer is something that some god answers after you wheedle him to death, then it would have to be a prayer that would not involve him breaking the moral code he gave to man For he would be our example. So if the muslim prays to allah to kill the infidel, that prayer would not be answered, no matter how many billions prayed for it.
     
  17. lizarddust

    lizarddust Well-Known Member

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    One of the main reason the Chinese government feared Falun Gong was due to the rapidity it spread and the number of adherents it gained in a very short time. China thought if something as innocent as Falun Gong can spread so quickly, more 'sinister' ideologies could spread even faster.

    Falun Gong is neither a religious or political movement.
     
  18. Defender of Freedom

    Defender of Freedom Member

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    Name me one, and Jesus asked his followers to love thy neighbor, even our enemies. He said that if you follow God and follow in his footsteps, we too could perform miracles.

    - - - Updated - - -

    It is for people to be thankful for the things they do have, to praise God, and to ask for strength in the hardships ahead. So you obviously don't know what it is for.
     
  19. Defender of Freedom

    Defender of Freedom Member

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    Interesting, however he is not my God, and if you wish to pray to this Hughie, it is not my concern. God has answered my prayers before, and of those around me, I know he is merciful and loving. He has given me strength when I had none and has shown me mercy for when I have done wrong. If you do not believe in that, that is fine. However, I believe Jesus is my savior and he has done me good.
     
  20. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    How about Psalm 143:11-12 (GNT) = "11 Rescue me, Lord, as you have promised; in your goodness save me from my troubles! Because of your love for me, kill my enemies and destroy all my oppressors, for I am your servant."

    Psalm 58:6-7 (CEB) =
    6 "God, break their teeth out of their mouths! Tear out the lions’ jawbones, Lord!
    7 Let them dissolve like water flowing away. When they bend the bow, let their arrows be like headless shafts."

    1 Maccabees 3:33 (GNT) =
    "We love and worship you; so let us kill our enemies, that we may then sing your praises."

    2 Maccabees 12:28 (GNT) = "
    28 But the Jews prayed for help to the Lord, who crushes the power of his enemies. So they captured the city and killed about 25,000 people."

    As Jesus said in Luke 19:26-28 (GNT) = "
    26 ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘that to those who have something, even more will be given; but those who have nothing, even the little that they have will be taken away from them. 27 Now, as for those enemies of mine who did not want me to be their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence!’”28 After Jesus said this, he went on in front of them toward Jerusalem."

    These passages prove my point.
     
  21. Gelecski7238

    Gelecski7238 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Not that we really need more examples, but these are also noteworthy.

    Psalm 18:3 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

    18:34 He teacheth my hands to war....

    18:40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies....

    18:42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind....
     
  22. Gelecski7238

    Gelecski7238 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Tradition assumes that a deity receives prayer and decides on a response, if any. An alternative is an inherent dynamic two-way process.

    The potential for hostile mass thought process to translate into manifestation that inflicts damage could be realized if it coincides with corresponding real events. An attack could be amplified by the reaction of the receivers if they are immersed in victim consciousness.

    Here is an excerpt from Embracing the Rainbow, Volume II, taken from section 40. Copying is unrestricted except altering the wording or text is not permitted.

    When a sufficient number of mental foci desire to create this experience… it begins its manifestation process within the flow of creational thought energy. It literally already exists, it is just that the energy flow is so slow that it is not perceived or brought into the experience at the 3rd dimensional level until the sum of vibratory oscillations reaches the total necessary to manifest into realized experience…. In excessively simple terms, the thought process travels outward into the aqueous (fluid like) energy of the creational flow at a much more rapid pace than it returns as manifested reality. The focused thought process when fueled by emotion moves quickly through creational energy. As it leaves the dense field of energy, it becomes finer or vibrates more rapidly. It is the return trip, so to speak, in the manifestation process that slows in its oscillation rate. The law of attraction magnetizes the object of the focused thought that was “sent out into the creational field of energy” and it is returned to the point of origin….

    This process was not elaborated further because a different subject was being explained, i.e. why sequential time is slower than concurrent time. Thus it gives us only a partial look at what might be going on behind the scenes in the generation of the reality that we struggle to perceive and understand.
     
  23. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    don't forget mercy and forgiveness when you've done wrong. as I said, asking for more than you have.

    meantime, praying to say thank you (for things undoubtedly provided to you by humans) and to worship is the mental masturbation component.
     
  24. domer76

    domer76 New Member

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    I read all the time about newborn babies in sub-Saharan Africa dying slow, agonizing deaths from malnutrition, starvation, disease, wars, drought, poverty, etc. And those that survive have no way out. Doomed to a probable short life of poverty, misery and more suffering. True innocents.

    You can have that god of mercy, justice, love and forgiveness. For me, that kind of god can go eff himself.
     
  25. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    What you say is true if there is a God but there isn't. Only real people can do things here on Earth. So when someone sees something that needs to be improved it's up to the person to make it happen. Water, sun, and fertilizer make the grass grow but if I want the lawn to look nice I have to cut the grass and keep it free from weeds. People starve for any number of reasons but one of the main one is that they have crappy leaders. To improve the situation requires getting rid of them first and then it will be possible to solve the other problems.
     

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