by Carmel 15 Replies latest jw friends
I always cringe when I hear TV interviews with natural disaster survivors. It often goes like this: "Well, the good lord musta been lookin' out for me and my famly today. We lost our home, but we still got our lives. God was sure listenin' to our prayers."
I could not agree more. If it was God's will to save them, it was clearly also God's will that everyone else be killed.
Ya, how come they never air the interview with an atheist survivor?
"Yeah well thats how it goes. My neighbor, well he foolishly built his house on sand, and I built mine on a firm foundation. No luck to it."
But havent you felt the compelling social nudge to acknowlege the creator when confronted by others?
Such as when someone sneezes in public. There is such a loaded moment when everyone is expecting someone to say it "God bless you!"
I wont say it not even if it is my dear husband sneezing. (But I feel like a heathen)
How about boxers in the ring, before they start fighting they both get on their knees and pray to their God.
Mostly likely each is praying for the death of the other.
When good things happen to people, whether JW's or others they always think that Jah had something to do with it but when they don't get what they want or need, the tendency is to excuse God by saying it was not his will
those that don't pray, their lives are just as good as those that do.
LT,
You above most present a face of reason as a religious person, but I actually think that the whole subject of prayer is not one that religious people should not publicize too much. Praying frequently is bad for your faith and can lead to atheism.
I do not mean this from the angle of those who have prayed not having an answer to those prayers, I mean this from the angle of physics.
For example, there are estimated to be 2.1 billion Christians on this planet. For this excercise I will presume that God only listens to Christian prayers, as we know he is not terribly fond of Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist or any prayer that does not end in 'in our saviors name'.
Let us presume that only half these Christians pray to God only once a week - cap the number at one billion. Now there are 86,400 seconds in each day. My math teacher once wrote on my report, 'Cheerfully incompetent', so please forgive any innacuracies, but how on earth can God do what he has promised with those who pray, that is listen to their prayers? Is this possible under the law of physics? At least 2,000 prayers a second to listen to, day after day after day.
I know that God listens to all who grope for him in prayer. ( the word grope is used without a slang derivation attached ), but how does this work?
HS
"My favorite is the athlete that prays for 5 yards."
My favorite is when the basketball player crosses himself before taking a free throw.
My other favorite is when the guy who scores a touchdown points to the sky, as if to say, "Thank you Jesus for answering my prayer. Praise the lord!"
Good one Carmel! I tried explaining that problem to a believer here, but unfortunately God doesn't love me enough for a decent rebutal... http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/116796/2048644/post.ashx#2048644
