The power of prayer.
 

Elspeth on another thread said (possibly tongue in cheek) that she prayed to god to get her safe back to Spain.

It struck me as interesting.

If there is a god like the religious say who answers prayers, then which prayers does he answer?

Think carefully on this. If you can't demonstrate that a particular type of prayer will get answered, or stand a better chance of being answered, then the actual likelihood is that the idle bastard isn't pulling his weight, or else has put the answer phone on and has forgotten it.

Of course, if prayers aren't answered, then why do you need to keep the priests in work.....

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Yes but then Elspeth is a very interesting person.

My own opinion is that prayers help or comfort those who pray. I have never seen any evidence that prayers help in any other way. Much in the way that people rush to say goodbye to a dying person, the only person to gain anything from this is the person who went to say goodbye.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god5.htm

Just a little simple reading (there's a very nice little video somewhere by the same people that talks about a "devine jug of milk")

Re: The power of prayer.
 

You know how they say there are no atheists in foxholes? (ie when your life is in danger, you suddenly start praying?

Me, when in the sh*t, I pray thus to any listening deity.

'***** you. ***** you, and f*uck the cheap, diseased whore who sh*t you out like the turd you are!

I like to feel that this gets right to the nub of the matter

Re: The power of prayer.
 

blimey.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Thanks for that most interesting, although after reading some of that religious cack, I now have to spend time prying chunks of vomit out of my keyboard.

It is pathetic the lengths these people will go to in order to justify their belief system.

Don't you think they are rather counting on god really, really liking butt kissers?

I'll admire them a bit the day they announce that no religious building will ever carry insurance or lightning conductors.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I am lactose intolerant so no use to me :)

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Hey, that's my profound beliefs you are criticising there.

Light the bonfire, we have a blasphemer!!!

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I noted in Touching the Void, that Joe Simpson, when in the crevace, sates that he did not turn to God.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

On another board some time ago when the gawdelpus 'miraculous' landing of that plane on the Hudson river took place, one of the resident retards posted a pic that had a pair of divine hands gently lowering the plane onto the water.

I posted asking that in balance would they post a picture of people jumping from the twin towers to certain death, with a huge divine hand in the sky giving them all the finger.

For some reason that didn't go down at all well.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Good for him. I'd rather have a strong rope and a good mate at the top any day.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

hehe

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Believe it or not, there are those who believe in God or religion, who are not in any way involved with paedo priests or indeed any priests or places of worship at all.
They have no wish to start WW3 or indeed cause any bother or discomfort to any living thing.
They don't regularly attend church, go round preaching fire and brimstone or any other claptrap.
They basically just get comfort from their prayers and religion, and nothing more.
They could be ppl.who simply believe in the basic principles of Christian religion. They could be buddhist monks or whatever else.
Whilst a non believer myself, I still respect the rights of such ppl.and see no reason why they should all be tarred with the same brush, by those launching vindictive attacks on all sectors of religious ppl.

Another thing, I wonder just how many non-believers on here were christened at church or chapel or had their offspring christened or baptised at church or chapel ?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I firmly believe that people should be free to follow any religion they wish as long as they dont try and foist it on to me.

And in answer to your question yes to doing all that including getting married in a church but I was once a believer/follower call it what you will but later changed my mind :)

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Well, first off the 'good xtians' you talk of pollute children's minds, denying them the right to grow up without indoctrination.

Second, these 'goodies' seldom really follow xtain rules. they pick and mix what tehy choose to believe from teh bible, and when it scomes to Jesus's command that you should love your neighbour as yourself, they don't.

Vindictive? Oh puh-leeze.

Oh yeah. I had no say in my christening. I didn't, wouldn't get married in church, nor were any of our kids baptized.

As if.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

How about allowing them to foist it on others, especially children?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

It is about time that the buddhist monks were not just given a get out of jail card.

I strongly recommend Ekai Kawaguchi's book "Three Years in Tibet", to see what a practicing buddhist monk had to say about some of his colleagues.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Same here.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I doubt that any religion has a spotless record for its personnel.

Priesthood and the godbothering business are both very corrupting.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I take it a tad further. I want my ashes scattered on unconsecrated ground to ensure the church can't get its hooks on me.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

One positive thing about Buddhism as opposed to other belief systems is that the Dalai Lama will accept new scientific findings.
:lol:

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Your first two statements are merely a matter of opinion and not necessarily always the case.
I wonder how many non believing parents incl.yourself would deny a daughter a church wedding if that's what she preferred ?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

What a strange argument. An adult daughter could do as she pleased.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

While my intuition has a great deal of time for the Dalai Lama, it needs to be noted that he is the first Dalai Lama in a while to be out of power, and all his predecessors (him in previous incarnations, if you will) were a right gang of evil murdering and torturing gits. We will never know what he would have had to say about things if he had managed to get power in Tibet.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Yeah, because no parent ever tries to get their kids to follow their flavour of sky pixie, do they?

My daughter does as she pleases. She's an adult. I have never told her what to believe, just to question everything and apply critical reasoning.

That's a really dumb thing to say.

Here's one for you.

Add up all the bad for religion, and all the good, and tell me which weighs heaviest.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Fair point. I'm not familiar with Tibet, but enjoyed reading his book The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

If every Bhuddist were as the D Lama, it would be pretty damn good.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Well I probably worded it badly,maybe I should have said supported it,gone along with it and attended or took part in the ceremony, would have been more appropriate.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Just because I don't belive, doesn't mean I can't enter a church. I have attended many weddings including C of E, Catholic, Muslim and Hindu.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I am really unsure what this is supposed to be saying.

I am an atheist, my daughter did not get baptised, but she does go to a church pre-school. I had knowledge of religion as I went to catholic school, I feel I rejected that religion then from a position of knowledge, and other as I read in later life. I want my daughter to be knowledgeable about many areas of life and the world and for her to make decisions based on knowledge and not on what her father tells her. In the culture that I live, knowledge of christianity is needed to participate fully in that cullture, christianity is refrenced in art, film and books, and in language on a daily basis. As are the religions of rome and Greece.

edit: If I understand your point correctly, my answer is that a non beliver will still happily deal with religion on a cultural level, I think christians are the same, most will happily talk about an achillies heal, and not think they have to believe that he really was dipped in the river Styx

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Here's a fun story. Occasionally I have to attend a church service to give support to family or friends. I have no wish to cause embarrassment, so I stand when the sing, but do not open my mouth or pick up the hymnbook.

I sit during prayers, I will not kneel.

At my uncle's funeral, the c*ck sucker of a priest saw me not singing, climbed down from his perch, stormed over to me, and handed me an open hymnbook in front of everyone. I took it, and staring him in the eye all the time, closed it and just dropped it. He stepped back (presumably expecting me to sprout horns) and went on with the service without saying a word.

In order to prove a point, one year I worked my way thru a bible tearing out the pages and using it as toilet paper (but only for the first wipe, where each page collected the most of what it deserved.) The empty covers went in the dustbin.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Bit extreme innit ?:rofl:

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Not at all. It was and is my belief that it was only worth wiping my *rse on.

Here's a question.

If someone who has 'an imaginary friend' is a nutter, how come millions of people who claim to have the same imaginary friend have to be treated with respect?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

To put it more kindly, an imaginary friend is treated as a phase one grows out of.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Got to disagree with you on this. Bit like book burning, but a bit more weird.
Its the belief that the content is gods word, that makes it a problem.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

Whose belief?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

:confused: The people that believe.

edit: let me try again.
The book is just a book, but some people think that its content is the word of god, that belief is what causes there to be a problem.

Re: The power of prayer.
 

The Bible is a collection of writings by different authors. If someone wishes to wipe their arse on it, how is that hurting people who believe it to be 'The Word of God.'?

Re: The power of prayer.
 

I don't think it is hurting them distinctly. I think damaging books is a no-no that hurts our shared culture.