I’ve always wondered why some Christians are so intent on having public prayers, given that Jesus didn’t seem to think much of public prayer.
Both spellings exist and have the same meaning, though they have different etimologies. Sharp technically predates shark, but both are more than two centuries old so there’s not much point in arguing which is the “right” one by now.
So we’re Jesus’ ant farm ? We get set up in Eden, punished for it, suffer disease and hunger and pain and fire and demons and so on, just so Jesus can look good in the photo-op ? That’s not very comforting. And if that’s the case, I don’t really see any love for *us *in this game.
So even the most rotten, thieving, murdering bastard gets a share in the end ? If so, that’s equal parts unfair and absurdly, overwhelmingly decent of your God. I’d like him much better than the ant-farm guy above, even though they’re the same 
For some reason, I find this concept marvellous - or maybe the idea that someone had that thought in the first place, and the non-dogmatic approach to custom and ritual. But then it’s not the first time the intricacies and layers of meaning in Jewish customs have impressed me that way. Maybe if I approached Christianism as an outsider and total stranger today I’d get the same feelings, I dunno.
More to the point, so is Spiderman. Him we can be 100% sure doesn’t exist anywhere, ever. I think.
All the cold and snow we’ve been having the last few weeks is definitely not helping my mood.
The more I think about it, the more I like this theory. Maybe that’s why some of the religious or non-religious jerks get jerkier around Christmas time. Do they have the same “war on Christmas” thing every year in Australia and New Zealand, or are they mellower because it’s not cold at Christmas time there?
So is Stalin though I would assume no one on this board will claim to have seen him.
If you are not going to take to word of God or man then what’s the point 
Jesus would not have died for an ant farm, nor would He have given the ants His name, nor would He regard and respect men as gods. If you can’t see the Love in that I would say you don’t know what Love is.
Why do you worship a cheater, anyway? You sound like a dog that licks the fingers of the motherfucker who beats it.
Jesus prayed infront of 4000 and IIRC 6000 men, not including women and children, giving thanks for the food that the Father provided, if that’s not public prayer then I don’t know what is.
Here’s a photograph of him.
Got a photo of Jesus for me?
I am SO going to hell, if there is one.
So why did he say in Matthew 6:5-6 that private prayer was preferable to public prayer?
He can’t give you a photograph of Charlemagne, either, but that doesn’t mean Charlemagne didn’t exist.
The Master seems to accept that a historical person named Jesus did exist.
Silly rabbit, cameras were not invented then 
You don’t believe in miracles?
Shark or sharp, God shouldn’t make book if he can’t cover bets.
To have him misunderstood, persecuted and tortured unto death? Some father. Even better is the story of Isaac–the whole mental anguish/ play mindfucking games one–some deity, that one.
Living through what, exactly? Man made problems that man can solve (for the most part. Re damage to our planet, I’m not so sure we can solve. Re the ignorance of the world–that’s overwhelming etc).
Seriously? Who are you to speak of raising babies? Are you a mother? Do you have babies? Do you have any idea how difficult the task of raising babies is? Do you truly think it was easier back when mothers were not “allowed” to work outside the home (mothers of a certain socio-economic class, that is–most mothers have always worked while raising babies).
Wait–I thought we were raisin’ babies! Now we’re stuck in perpetual labor and we don’t qualify for an epidural. What is this reward of which you speak? Eternal life, to be spent with someone whose idea of love is to test us continually, play mind games and arbitrarily set rules that all depend on which translation of ancient writings (written by men, btw) you’ve got ahold of? Um, no thanks. I’ll take my chances on the sanity of the natural world. I may be worm fodder but there’s no manipulation or psychodrama in that.
And all this talk about babies and birth etc completely ignores the other faiths of the world, including the other two Abrahamic ones: Judaism and Islam. Love one another, eh? Unless they don’t happen to believe as you do. That’s some God.
Hmm not taking anything on faith ? Making a difference between fact and fiction ?
Though I’m sure you can understand the point I was making in saying “Spiderman is in the Wikipedia too”, I’ll walk you through my train of thought - namely that Spiderman has never existed. He is entirely fictional, made up by creative writers out of whole cloth. There’s no real inspiration for the Spiderman character, he’s not a dramatized version of a historical hero. Nobody has ever developped superpowers from spider bites, exposure to radiations or whatever his canon origin story is these days. He’s just hot air. Wisecracking, webslinging hot air.
Yet he has his own (very) extensive Wiki page. Hence, having a wiki or encyclopedia article is not proof of existence - at best, the existence of a wiki page on demons is proof that the concept of demons exists, and has existed for a long long time. It is not a proof that actual demons walk the actual Earth, and FTR the Wiki pages on demons, devils, Solomon’s 72 spirits of the Goethia etc… make abundantly clear that they are mythical creatures. Folk tales, with no proof whatsoever that they were or are anything more than… brimstone-smelling hot air.
Like angels, zombies, goblins, pixies, banshees, elves of all denominations, dragons, hydras, unicorns, ki-rins, the phoenix, vampires, werewolves, satyrs, centaurs, valkyries, kobolds, pant, pant, gasp for breath djinni, efreeti, Cerberus, kamis, kodamas, strigoi, brownies, korrigans, gremlins, ghosts, wraiths, mummies and every other brand of undead, sirens, tritons… and every creature appearing in the D&D Monster Manual. All of which have their Wiki pages, no exceptions.
At this point, there’s more evidence of the existence of the Loch Ness monster than that of demons.
Then keep your retarded “nobody here has seen Stalin” rebuttals out of it.
Prayer is conversation from the heart of the believer to God, if prayer is done in a way that is used to honor oneself it does not speak to God and as prayer is worthless. In praying in private you eliminate the temptation of trying to impress others. We are to go into a private place in our hearts with God.
OTOH IMHO we are made to be social and in such to thank God in groups as well. If we are in a position to give thanks to God, and we are in a group where that group also has reason to give thanks to God, the opportunity for others in that group to join in, it all depends on the condition of the heart, what is the motivation behind the prayer. That group BTW is actually one body, the body of believers, the church, which is also the body of Christ. As such that group can pray privately as one person can.
Everything to do with God has to do with the heart, or the motivation behind the act, prayer is no exception.
Actually we do, Jesus can transform suffering into joy, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit, called ‘joy in suffering’ or sometimes long suffering Paul has spoken on this on occasion. Jesus takes some of our pain, though IMHO the part of the pain that we need to serve Him He will not remove.
Living with God in total peace and joy forever, your best mood multiplied and never ending. With God with us and in us sin will be no more, free will will be replaced by living the life God always intended for us (IMHO our true free will decisions happen very rarely, perhaps one per month, they will be gone and never noticed that they are gone.) Also God translates His Word for us, in that He speaks to our heart.
This thread has evolved into something I never intended.
Oh, yes–cancer pain is so elevating. The grief of losing a child–so joyous since that child has gone to God. :rolleyes: Pain is pain. Joy is joy. Good can come out of bad, but I doubt God has much to do with it.
My best mood multiplied and neverending? Sounds like a lifetime supply of Prozac to me. You cannot distinguish joy without sorrow. I’d rather have it all, in all its messiness than some ultimate Oneness etc.
I have broken a cardinal rule of mine: don’t stick my hand in the crazy. I leave you to your version of god. Just know it is only one version among many and that you don’t speak for all OR for god.