Dreamer
Matthew 6:5-6 (New English Bible Verision)
[Jesus said]
Whether you like it or not, telling someone you’re praying for them does place you in a position of superiority, just as asking someone to pray for you places you in a position of inferiority. Also, saying “I’m going to pray that you will experience the power of God’s spirit in your life.” implies conversion.
I spend a fair amount of my time in the real world associating with people who have been put off Christianity by people who seem so obsessed with pushing our religion on people that they forget the people they’re dealing with are seeing all of their actions. Some of these people know of my faith; some don’t. When they find out, they’re usually pleasantly surprised because I haven’t been ramming it down their throats. Instead, they find out by a casual reference to St. A’s church.
Please do pray for me, kiddo (if I may be so familiar); I’m unemployed and worried about the future, despite assurances to the contrary, but keep in mind that I asked you to, and don’t brag about it. Also, just to let you know, one of the most profound experiences of my life came in a room in a mental hospital when an inmate prayed for “the woman in the next bed.” That woman was me, and I was too far gone to speak my name. That prayer came from a stranger, in privacy, in quiet, in secret and I don’t know if she knew if I was capable of hearing her, but that prayer was one of the few things which touched my soul.
Wow. That’s real nice of you dreamer. I’m touched.
Normally I wouldn’t do this, but what the hell … tonight, I’m gonna sacrifice a virgin in your name. And then maybe a goat. Screw it, lets go whole hog – a virgin goat. And I don’t have to tell you hard those are to find.
Why don’t you pray for the soul of the son-of-a-bitch in Salt Lake that raped and beat up the 11 year old girl and smashed every single bone in the middle of her face in with a hammer? My life is fine, thanks. I have my spirituality, I have my faith, and it doesn’t include your God. Your way may be the right way, that’s fine, but don’t spend any energy praying for me. Why don’t you take some time and pray and ask your God if he was taking a nap while that little girl was brutalized? Pray that she recovers and can live something of a normal life? Pray for peace in the middle east? Leave me out of your prayers. I don’t need them or want them, really.
Maybe it’s the two double-deuces of Camo in my blood right now, but I think people praying for me is really sweet. I can’t really be hostile about anything with such benevolent intent. And no matter the scorn I have for Pascal, it doesn’t hurt to hedge your bets, does it?
Nobody would know it, but the constant wave of religiously themed GD material in the last couple months (coinciding with a period of time in which I had very little to do) has made me go back over all things religious, which I didn’t have the time to do while law school was on. For any interested, I managed to hold onto materialist athiesm only by remembering that “only a fool would live in a fool’s paradise.” (quote from Shaw) I had a crisis of philosophy, like described in Bad Religion’s new tune “Materialist”, that passed eventually, with little fanfare.
Moderator’s Note: Actually, dreamer, Great Debates is the appropriate forum for witnessing, which is what I think your (belated) OP qualifies as. Since no one has really cut loose in this thread while it’s down here, I’m going to move it to GD now.
Heh…I always feel a little Christ-like when I do that…it’s not so often I get to to move a thread from the Pit. It’s like I’m harrowing Hell or something!
I hope you understand that your declaration of intentions binds you legally as would any other written contract. If you fail to pray for me, I will sue.
This said, thanks for the intention. Please knock yourself out.
Have I been misled? I truly was under the impression that the Christian God even loved nonbelievers. I mean, not that we’re not doomed to Hell, but that He loved us anyway.
Just one more thing, dreamer. If one of my Wiccan friends offered to send you energy that you might be more at peace with the universe, how would you feel? That’s sort of the equivalent of what your “I’ll pray for you” statement is, at least among the Wiccans I know.
White Lightning, not all Christians do claim that God loves everyone. The Christians who don’t believe that God loves everyone can cite Scripture to back it up, too:
Of course, there are Christians who believe that God loves everyone; they will cite other passages and interpret the passages cited by the first group of Christians differently.
Mkay…Dreamer. First of all, why did you even tell us all of this? Do you not have the faith that God will work some type of miracle on us, or would it also require your “swaying”?
It is because of “christians” like you that I despise religion as a whole. I shouldn’t, but I do, none the less. What was the reason of you posting this in a debate forum? Couldn’t you just say your prayers and have the faith that God would do it himself? This post was a complete waste. If you wanted to refute something, or back something up in the Bible, etc. etc., then by all means, this is the place for doing it.
So here’s something for you to defend. We’ll assume that God gave us free will. The will to choose to do whatever we wish for our lives. But you and I both know there is only one “right” way out of it. It’s entrapment. Why would He do that? People are so afraid to not go to church for the plain and simple fact that they dont want to go to hell. It’s rediculous. I’d rant more, but I’m not in The Pit, so, I’ll shush up. :mad:
