Comment on Soycucks making peace with their Vaxdicks
Spotted_Lady@wolfballs.com 2 years agoIf you don't believe prayers can work like magic, then one doesn't have real faith in God, IMHO.
Yes, you can look within, but that's not the only reason to pray. You can come together and direct energy to things. Christians used to know this, but it is like the whole faith has become cucked.
And there is little use to pray for what one can do oneself within reason. I mean, yes, pray for success and that you do things for the right reasons (kinda where you were going), but don't use prayer in place of action out of laziness. "Oh, I'm not gonna lock the front door or see the doctor for this severe infection. I'll just pray about it." Well, one just might end up seeing God quicker that way.
This ties in with AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) teachings. I partially disagree with Step 11. I get the intention, but it also robs God of a chance to show power and might. I mean, if you are a drunk and you keep praying, "Don't let me drink today," you will likely be disappointed. The Serenity Prayer sums up the whole program. It's a rather humanistic program that puts the onus mostly on us and is designed to work interdenominationally. The NT Apostles performed miracles in the power of God.
Speaking of Step 11. It goes, "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." I think it would be better to say to not pray in a self-seeking way or for God to do things that we should be doing.
One former defense attorney discussed the misuse of prayer. He said that members of a certain ethnic group that he saw the most of in his practice didn't pray that everyone would tell the truth, that they'd learn to avoid committing crimes, etc. No, they prayed for things like witnesses getting killed in a car crash on the way to court, that the judge would get sick, etc. They mostly prayed in a way to be able to do what they wanted without consequences. No, the time to pray in this context is before you commit a crime or do whatever behavior. And the true test would be if you can pray about something without hypocrisy, sarcasm, or as a way to escape consequences. I mean, blessing fornication before you do it doesn't quite have a ring to it. "God, forgive me for this gay sex I am about to have." I don't see any grace being given there, not if you willfully do something that is wrong in a premeditated fashion. I don't think anyone should pray, "Please bless this murder that I am about to commit." On that, we already have the Ten Commandments.
So I believe that prayer for miracles when the matter is God's will is valid and can be powerful with enough faith or at least enough of a critical mass behind it. But of course, on the critical mass thing, there are caveats. Ba'al worshipers went as far as to work themselves into a self-destructive frenzy in the Old Testament, and they didn't get results, and one prophet prayed for the desired outcome and got it. Or take when Joshua sent out the spies. Only 1:6 returned with a good report about the promised land, and nobody got in for 40 years. They didn't have the faith to take possession of the land.
So, I believe we all should pray for the state of the world, and not just to survive in it.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
Thank you for putting so much thought into writing this. I enjoyed reading it.
I meant prayer "looking within", as asking God for direction. Prayer is always to God, like you said. Without God, there is no prayer
When I say prayers are not magic, I mean God is not a Genie. Just like you said, "Don't let me drink today" won't work. Wishful thinking is not prayer.
We cannot ask God for outcomes, e.g. to save a dying child. Man can ask God for strength and direction. But what happens is God's will. None can oppose it.
Thank you so much for the enlightened discussion. God bless :)
Spotted_Lady@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
I see nothing wrong with asking for outcomes, just keep it general and not try to dictate the direction. I mean, in the NT, folks did ask to save dying children. Remember the man who asked that of Jesus?
I said a lot of what I did because of the humanism I've seen creep even into the Baptist Church. Like a pastor who really didn't believe God could do anything and that prayer was really just a psychological exercise to change yourself.
So I think more should be asking for and believing in miracles. And I don't mean the used car salesmen-type faith healers. I saw a clip out of some movie (fiction) that illustrated the problem. One "faith healer" in the movie touched people on the stage to heal them, and he had pre-screeners to find out what everyone needed healing from. Somehow, someone decided to troll his system, and they fed some of the wrong data about the subjects. Like saying that someone with severe hemorrhoids had lesions on their arms. So, the "healer" is not going to ask someone with severe hemorrhoids to show everyone on stage to show him the area that needs healing. But if he thinks it is some condition that can be shown without public indecency, then he'd want everyone to see the "proof" of his "healing." So you know what happened (though this was fiction). He was embarrassed when he got the wrong profile from the screeners. "Show everyone the affected area," and to his shock, the subject is stripping out of their clothes on the stage in front of cameras.
Thank you, I've enjoyed this too.
iamtanmay@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
My understanding of the statement was to save their soul. Maybe you are right. I am not a scholar. The Bible is the deepest thing in existence. It can take a lifetime to understand a statement. I try to understand it better day by day.
Yes you are absolutely correct. The word of God is THE WORD OF GOD. None can reinterpret or add to it. I also find the preachings in most places to be hollow. Its rare to find someone who digs at the origins, meanings and shares a deeper knowledge.
Yes, miracles exist. Only when we face tragedy, do we realise the blessings we took for granted. Being grateful to God's blessings, makes my life meaningful.
Spotted_Lady@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
And we have to even be careful when digging at the origins. I mean, the schools where you'd learn ancient languages are compromised. I've heard some very shaky apologetics of that sort.
Just listen to LGBT apologetics, and you'll see what I'm saying. Things like, "Deuteronomy says that men are not to dress as women, and I'm really a woman, so this doesn't apply to me." Now, if you dig at the original wording, you may find that it mentions specific clothing items. It may read closer to "Don't let women wear combat gear or let a man wear an apron, for this is an abomination to the Lord thy God." If that is the case, then the real issue here is not about the clothing, but the underlying social roles. If all the women are out fighting wars and the men are at home doing chores, cooking, and taking care of kids, it just won't really work.
This element may even have relevance to the Original Sin. I mean, why was Eve alone with the Serpent? Why wasn't Adam taking her of her and accompanying her? Without Adam's guidance and leadership, she thought the Serpent made a good proposal. And why did he also eat the fruit? So Adam let Eve (and therefore also the Serpent) set the direction of their family.
A lot of times, God's mercy is spontaneous and we have miracles or sometimes just "gut instincts" that prevent a tragedy. It seems that God uses the foolishness of mankind. I remember a Sunday School teacher saying that he and his wife were arguing on the interstate highway, and he missed the turn-off. So he was fussing at her for causing him to miss the exit. So he had to go a mile out of his way to get turned around to have another chance at the exit. When he returned, there was a pileup. At that point, his spirit changed. He was thankful, not upset about missing his exit, since he could clearly see that if they made it the first time, they could have been involved in the multi-car collision.
Sometimes God may act in a psychic sort of way. Like if you suddenly feel an urge to check the lugs on your car, and you find that someone has loosened some. Or in the book that "Chariots of Fire" was based on. The Christian runner visited a woman who had survived a bad fire, I think to the point she had to have electrolysis done on her eyelids since the lashes were deformed from the scarred skin and growing toward her eyes. She gave him a letter she was going to send him but hadn't, and he figured he'd read that on the bus. And his spirit was drawn to a man on the bus who looked very depressed. He talked to the passenger and found he intended that to be his last ride and that he was going to commit suicide at his destination. Not knowing what to do, he handed him the woman's letter where she explained her ordeal. I don't know if he received God's salvation then, but he did change his immediate plans to not include suicide.