by oompa 28 Replies latest jw friends
I've told this story before...but it was funny so ya'll are gonna hear it again.
I'm not a praying person.... but my 'never been a jdub' husband is. And never forgets.
I once asked him why (?) and he prayed over his food. At first he told be he wasn't praying over it, he was "blessing it". What ever that mean?
Then he said he was 'giving thanks",
HA..I said, "um..excuse me but I'm the one that prepared that food."
He said..."I was thanking God for you."
lisa
Even though Clyde has been out much longer than I have, he still addresses Jehovah in his prayer.
One time we had a discussion and I mentioned that some people say, "Dear heavenly father of our lord Jesus Christ." He thought that was great, but he still uses Jehovah. Doesn't matter to me. In fact it doesn't matter whether or not he says prayer, sometimes he doesn't. I feel thankful many times during the day and say it silently or sometimes out loud, just in case he's listening.
Bonnie
Remind your wife to wear a hat when praying and you are present.
This was just another way they kept people in line. Mess up on any of the rules, and your prayers would be hindered (which would further lead you astray--Jehovah hinders your prayers just when you need them most). I believe that this card was played any time they needed an excuse for Jehovah's not answering your prayers. You keep meeting an ever-escalating demand load, and at the level just past where you attain, your prayers will might be answered.
food tastes the same... doesn't it just?!
actually mine tastes better as it's not been taken on a load of bile induced by a prayer
" Dear Lord, thank you for this food for this too shall pass. In Jesus name, amen."
pray for me too while you are at it cause you prob have a lot better connection.....
sounds like a Verision commercial...Can you hear me now?
OOMPA- Sounds like your wife is wanting to be her own spiritual head. Hey, don't fight her for it, let her be the spiritual head if she wants it ! My ex-witness wife ( divorced in 1998) before we split wanted to be the next circuit overseer , but she didn't realize she had to get appointed elder first. She was already the self proclaimed elderette messiah in her own mind , so wouldn't be much of a reach for her. She didn't like me praying either , just kind of put up with it.
Interestingly enough , in 2003 spring I had a close inactive witness buddy of mine die . And because he was inactive they had the funeral at a funeral chapel, as he had non witness relatives. Some of my buddies close friends and family members got up informally and gave touching eulogies about him, including myself . Well, my buddies worldly brother was so impressed by my take on his deceased brother that he asked me to give closing PRAYER in front of 200 people, including the ex-wife and many elders who knew I was a doubting witness . Funny thing was in a kingdom hall I would not have been asked to say prayer , but a "worldly " man sees I cared and asked me to pray. So OOMPA, it shows that real normal people with normal values would value you. But most witnesses are not normal people . You are very valuable to this board my friend , love your insight. Don't assess yourself based on how your wife incorrectly views you . Peace out my friend, hang in there, Mr. Flipper
Prayer has always seemed weird to me, even when I was a believer, and I'm now atheist; I don't even say "bless you" when someone sneezes because I feel it would be hypocritical to invoke the blessing of a deity I no longer believe in, preferring to say "gezundheit" (sp?) instead. This has long been a bone of contention between my wife and I, to a greater or lesser extent, usually lesser.
When I did pray, I felt ridiculous doing it-after all, god supposedly knows our every thought, so what could you possibly have to say to him? And the prayers I heard others say when the occasion called for it were no better, I always had secretly cynical thoughts about the wording or phrases used... "Lord, we would ask that this food nourish our bodies" etc etc... My inner self said, well if it's nourishing food, it will, if it's junk food, it won't, what's the point of saying such an inane thing? (And yes, it tasted the same whether prayed over or not, loved that comment, lol.)
I can still vividly recall once when I was a child, awaking early for some reason or other (about 4 am, my father worked construction most of his life and usually had to get up VERY early to head to work) and happened to enter the living room where my father was down on his knees praying in the dark. I hadn't known until then that this was his usual routine, and at first I thought something was wrong, maybe he dropped something, or wasn't feeling well... I asked if I could help, or was he ok, something along those lines, and he just ignored me...to this day I'm not sure if he was so engrossed that he didn't hear me, or if he purposely ignored me because I was interrupting. I remember standing there for a minute or so, with no idea what to do, until I realized no answer was forthcoming, and quietly backed out of the room. Left me with an eerie feeling, and somehow left out, I suppose.
"sounds like a Verision commercial...Can you hear me now?" - loosie
That reminds me of a joke I heard once...something about an Italian priest and an Irish priest trying to out boast each other over who was more devout, the Italian priest brags that there is a longdistance phoneline direct to god in the Vatican, the Irish priest responds "oh yeah, we've got one of those too, but from Dublin it's a local call".
