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Why does my praying offend people?

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Fuzzy
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23 Jan 2010, 10:51 pm

leejosepho wrote:
Mention Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny and nobody goes ballistic.
[/quote]

Harangue a 15 year old that they must believe in them and you better believe they will.


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DentArthurDent
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23 Jan 2010, 10:55 pm

Fuzzy wrote:
leejosepho wrote:
Mention Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny and nobody goes ballistic.


Harangue a 15 year old that they must believe in them and you better believe they will.


I really had hoped that this would not need to be explained :lol: 8O


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24 Jan 2010, 12:56 am

time is moving forward not backwards. so god to most sane individuals is silly, but continue praying if thats your thing. i cant say i've never prayed before because i have. now though, i'll just exept any outcome that happens to me so im not gonna worry all too much about praying. besides if there is a "god" im shure he already knows what you need and when you need it before you even ask and it wouldnt make any sence for him to snubb you out because you didnt pray


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Greshym_Shorkan
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24 Jan 2010, 1:56 am

richardbenson wrote:
time is moving forward not backwards. so god to most sane individuals is silly, but continue praying if thats your thing. i cant say i've never prayed before because i have. now though, i'll just exept any outcome that happens to me so im not gonna worry all too much about praying. besides if there is a "god" im shure he already knows what you need and when you need it before you even ask and it wouldnt make any sence for him to snubb you out because you didnt pray


I had the same thought just this last Thursday: If God knows everything, why would he snub you for not praying? And at what point does God respond, if so? So much about this reality contradicts, that no matter what you do it can be seen as idiocy in some light. But... thanks for your response, you sound really nice.



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24 Jan 2010, 2:03 am

Greshym_Shorkan wrote:

I had the same thought just this last Thursday: If God knows everything, why would he snub you for not praying? And at what point does God respond, if so? So much about this reality contradicts, that no matter what you do it can be seen as idiocy in some light. But... thanks for your response, you sound really nice.


So do you actually believe in god and if so why?


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Obres
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24 Jan 2010, 3:57 am

I've recently been introduced to a phrase that truly disturbs me. This phrase is "let me pray on it". Now what's so disturbing about this, you may ask. Well I'll tell you. It basically means one of two things. Either:

A - you truly believe you can't make a rational decision on your own and expect someone else to give you the answer

or

B - there's something that you want to do, and that little voice inside your head commonly known as a conscience tells you it's a really dickish thing to do. But, you can't figure out why it's technically wrong, since it's perfectly legal and doesn't violate any of the 10 commandments. So you mull it over, and convince yourself that it's the right thing to do because god is cool with it. But in truth, you really just wanted justification to do something that you already knew was wrong the minute you considered it. And as an added bonus, if things do go horribly wrong, it's not your fault. After all, it was god's will.

Make the decision yourself and take some responsibility for your life.



Fuzzy
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24 Jan 2010, 5:14 am

Obres wrote:
I've recently been introduced to a phrase that truly disturbs me. This phrase is "let me pray on it". Now what's so disturbing about this, you may ask. Well I'll tell you. It basically means one of two things. Either:

A - you truly believe you can't make a rational decision on your own and expect someone else to give you the answer

or

B - there's something that you want to do, and that little voice inside your head commonly known as a conscience tells you it's a really dickish thing to do. But, you can't figure out why it's technically wrong, since it's perfectly legal and doesn't violate any of the 10 commandments. So you mull it over, and convince yourself that it's the right thing to do because god is cool with it. But in truth, you really just wanted justification to do something that you already knew was wrong the minute you considered it. And as an added bonus, if things do go horribly wrong, it's not your fault. After all, it was god's will.

Make the decision yourself and take some responsibility for your life.


Amen Brother. Preach it! :D


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DentArthurDent
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24 Jan 2010, 5:15 am

Obres, very few posts in your 2.5 years with WP, but as the saying goes quality over quantity

:thumright:


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Greshym_Shorkan
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24 Jan 2010, 5:42 am

Obres wrote:
I've recently been introduced to a phrase that truly disturbs me. This phrase is "let me pray on it". Now what's so disturbing about this, you may ask. Well I'll tell you. It basically means one of two things. Either:

A - you truly believe you can't make a rational decision on your own and expect someone else to give you the answer

or

B - there's something that you want to do, and that little voice inside your head commonly known as a conscience tells you it's a really dickish thing to do. But, you can't figure out why it's technically wrong, since it's perfectly legal and doesn't violate any of the 10 commandments. So you mull it over, and convince yourself that it's the right thing to do because god is cool with it. But in truth, you really just wanted justification to do something that you already knew was wrong the minute you considered it. And as an added bonus, if things do go horribly wrong, it's not your fault. After all, it was god's will.

Make the decision yourself and take some responsibility for your life.


I sort of agree with B more (parts of it I do, at least.) It is a defense mechanism, kinda when people are born with disabilities or unfortunate circumstances, they say "Hey, if God wanted it to be, if would be." There, it's sloughed onto God or whatever you pray to, and if you try and things still don't go your way, it's God's fault. I don't necessarily think people want justification to do something they know is wrong. If that's the case... well, I've never done that. If I wanna do something wrong I either do or don't.



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25 Jan 2010, 5:44 pm

A classic example of why praying offends. They just pulled a guy out of the rubble in Haiti. He was found in the shop he was working in at the time of the quake, in this shop there were items of food and drink for sale. So basically for days his brother and a friend had been searching through the rubble of the shop looking for him, under the rubble the guy finds some Cola and biscuits. His brother and friend eventually find him.

Does he thank his brother and friend for their persistence in finding him, or the fact that the shop sold coke and biscuits. No he credits the pact that he made with god whilst trapped and thanks god for leading his brother to him and says he will devote the rest of his life to god.


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25 Jan 2010, 6:40 pm

Obres wrote:
I've recently been introduced to a phrase that truly disturbs me. This phrase is "let me pray on it" ...

Make the decision yourself and take some responsibility for your life.


Responsibility *for* my life or simply some responsibility *in* my life?

Breathing is automatic. But either way ...

In my own experience, prayer is not about asking someone or something else to decide things for me. So yes, even I can only roll my eyes when "Let me pray on it" ends up being nothing more than somebody's feeble shot at getting away from a question.


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masterdieff
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29 Jan 2010, 3:45 am

Greshym_Shorkan wrote:
I've mentioned in a conversation before that I pray, and somebody insulted me over it. He scoffed and goes like "that's a crutch for the weak."

That's his opinion, that it's a crutch for the weak, but it was rude as Hell to say it like that. And I'll say it again, athiests can be every bit as stupid, rude, and hypocritical as the extremists.


If your legs are broken, you need crutches. It doesn't make you weak. We're all here on this planet with no clear guidance and no overwhelmingly obvious "answer" that is good enough to convince everybody and put their minds at ease. In that sense, just having a conscious human mind makes you "weak"- ie, it does not.

However- let us compare crutches. That is, let us compare methods of coping with reality- activities which make one feel better, reduce anxiety, and do not harm others. You're actually pretty lucky and if I were you, I wouldn't complain. Sure, you might get scoffed at by others if you say a prayer in public. But if you wanted to whip out a pipe of opium and smoke it in public, or a joint, or even a drink of alcohol, you'll find yourself behind bars pretty damned quick.

If you get yours, I want mine. That's my take- it's jealousy.

Also, yeah, to be serious here for a moment- it makes me really uncomfortable and just generally creeps me out when people pray.


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