Subject:
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Thoughts on prayer
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Apr 2001 03:55:07 GMT
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Viewed:
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133 times
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Greetings! I noticed so many interesting posts regarding spirituality here
so I thought I'd start a discussion about prayer. One day my wife was
telling me about one of her friends at work, an older Christian woman. She
is a very nice woman, perhaps a little bit of a bigot, but always telling my
wife how she's praying for this or that. Lately, she says she prays for our
baby. Of course, my wife appreciates the kind gesture, and doesn't bring up
the fact that she doesn't believe in God. Nor do I for that fact. However,
it got me thinking about how people view prayer.
My father would always say a little prayer before starting the car, leaving
on a trip or just stepping out of the house. At family meals, he would
always lead a prayer before eating. Although the worship of God didn't take
with me, the idea of a moment of clarity did. To this day I still take a
moment to gather my thoughts (before driving, taking an exam, working on
something) or reflect on how fortunate I am (before eating or going to bed).
I wouldn't call it prayer since my thoughts aren't on God or gods. It's my
moment of clarity to reflect or just clear the mind of distractions. That's
what I think prayer should be.
Conversely, I've noticed so many people treating prayer like a shopping
list. It boggles my mind watching people, with so much already, asking God
for more. I remember lots of misused prayer during my high school (public
HS) basketball days when Coach would lead a prayer for us to prevail over
our opponent. Perhaps we didn't pray hard enough since we lost 11 of 12
games? Maybe the other team just prayed harder? Maybe it was having an
atheist on our squad? I've even watched pro athletes give praise to God and
Jesus for hearing their prayers so they could win the championship. That's
not prayer to me. That's more like wishing.
Last thought: People are still debating prayer in school. I say why not
allow a moment of silence? If kids want to pray, let them go for it
(silently). If others want to take a deep breath, relax and clear their
worries, even better. But saying it's unconstitutional is plain wrong to me.
After all, doesn't our money say "In God we trust"? So what if a kid want's
to take a moment to pray quietly to Jesus or whomever? Did Coach's prayers
violate my rights as an atheist? All I was thinking about was how dorky we
looked in those old, polyester, butterfly collar warm-ups and hug-me tight
shorts, and me going out to warm the bench and watch us lose.
Dan
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Thoughts on prayer
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| (...) Daniel: I completely respect what you have to say here. If I may paraphrase you, simply to better understand what you are saying, do you mean that because you do not believe in a higher power, that you believe prayer to be a self-reflection; a (...) (23 years ago, 10-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
| | | Re: Thoughts on prayer
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| (...) Some years ago a friend who'd done some study on the matter defined black magic (as many sources do) as the practice of ritual or enchantment without the permission and/or knowledge of the intended recipient. By this definition, prayer without (...) (23 years ago, 10-Apr-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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