I've questioned this too, but do we really know what's best for whom? The things in my life that have been the most unfortunate have made me a stronger person, and teaches me valuable lessons to pass on to others. Nobody really knows what exactly happens after death so when we put death in the category with bad things, we are speculating that life is the ultimate state of our being...it truly may not be. When people ask for prayer on this board I don't think it's a religious thing, I think that there is something inherent to all of us that says there may be supernatural help out there and I want as much assistance as possible so that I can to reach that help. Hopefully this doesn't go into the D&D because I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, but personally I think prayer affords me a better quality of life, and whether or not all my prayers are answered, the least I can do is ask. Right?
Something that I've always believe AB is that prayers are answered, but sometimes, the answer is no...
I don't believe in a god. But I'm forced to pray once a year at this ceremony. So I just close my eyes, do my psuedo-push-up, and recite NBA/NFL draft picks in order from a random year, just to test my sports trivia.
God is not a vending machine. I found meditation to be actually productive compared to prayer, which I realized to be a joke quite some time ago. But prayer is actually just a weak form of meditation. It "works" because of focus, mindfulness, and attentiveness. But people just don't realize that so they mark it up to the supernatural. There are no wishes being granted by a higher power. If so people would never "die".
I do find it a little disheartening that 35% of my fellow BBS'ers Never pray. No wonder we lost last night.
I'm somewhere in between once a day and when I need guidance...I prayed more when I was going thru my divorce, and now, not as much, as I'm much happier...
Thy will be done. God isn't a vending machine. I agree. I thnk He uses prayer, even when the answer is "no", to mold us...to help us mature. As with many things, it's the process and not the outcome that's important. Having said that...I've seen miraculous things happen through prayer. Write it off to positive vibes or whatever....just my own experience.
I'm sure he was. I voted "never". I try not to mock anyone's beliefs, though. To those who pray regularly, I admire your discipline. It's just not for me.
I've seen miraculous things happen through a deep and abiding will to live... no prayer involved. My father, who was supposed to have died decades before he did, his cholesterol being about 650, and his triglycerides being about 1200 because of a genetic defect (one I inherited), with so much fat in his bloodstream that lumps of it appeared at different places on his body, lived to be 62. He had the old style Blue Cross/Blue Shield, when, if you met the limit of what you had to pay yourself every year, they paid for everything else. He had the finest medical care Houston could offer. He had one of the earliest heart by-passes, and took experimental drugs, which didn't do much good, and one had terrible side affects (another story). After the bypasses clogged up, or while they were, I should say, his body produced small arteries to take much of the load. His surgeon, Michael DeBakey, told us that did not happen, but it did. I would call it a miracle, and my Dad was agnostic, and believed that we were descended, in part, by travelers from another star system. Any wonder that I'm a SF fan? Go figure. He lived 30 years longer than the Mayo Clinic told him he would back in the '50's. It was a bloody miracle, if you ask me. He was a professor for 30 years, and a department chair for 20, at a well known Houston university that produced some damn fine basketball players. Sorry for going on about it. I dearly loved my Dad, who dearly loved his work, and us. He was a fine man. If there is a god, he must have wanted him to stick around. That's for you, Max.
Bingo. Another thought of mine is that whether your a good person or a bad person, things happen. Why do bad things happen to good people? I'm not trying to preach here but God never said if you pray or if your good nothing bad will ever happen to you. Thats part of life. Which is why I agree with what AB said in this quote. We all go through things in life that mold us into the people we are, and if we gain knowledge from our experiences we should pass them along so others dont make the same mistakes.
I understand and fully respect those who choose to pray. I don't find it odd at all for those to ask for prayers on this board. Prayers actually do work, in my theory, because energy is transferred from those who are praying to those needing the prayer.(I guess I'm New Age) Thus they become stronger and so does society as a whole. The only thing I ponder is your question, "do we know what is best for whom." I see no positive involving the Holocaust. I see no positive see people starve in Africa. I see no positive in walking past the lepers and beggars of India. Some might say the only positive is that it makes others realize how good their own lives are, but I find that to be a bit selfish. How about the person who is suffering to such a great deal? This begs the question of whether we are paying the sins of a past life. But that question will take this thread somewhere else. It is both sad and disheartening to see those who suffer so much, see their prayers go unanswered.
Like some of the other ones ... 5 times a day and then depending on whatever else I need. The number jumps really high during Terps bball season, cuz I swear to pray X number of prayers if they win so it piles up quickly.
