Have your prayers changed? (page 2)

LyinEyes

Yeah my prayers have changed. I dont pray as much,,, but I still
try to pray . Most of the time I dont feel like anyone hears me.
I now pray to Jesus too. I still pray to God, but I address them both since I am not sure who is "in charge", and who we are supposed
to be asking for help. Mostly I ask for faith, for a sign I am doing the right thing. I do feel more peace, within myself. So maybe
I am on the right track. As a witness , it was a no no to pray to
Jesus, I always felt that was wrong.

jaccilynn

my prayers have pretty much stopped too. i try to connect to "god" (the universe, energy, whatever it may be) in a diffrent way now. by being aware of my surroundings and meditating when soemthing is wrong; or just taking a deep breath and smiling when things are going well. it's worked good so far.

SixofNine

re: starting sentences adressed to God with "bless.."

Perhap just a tad arrogant? Especially if done incessantly. And I noticed you were pretty specific about how you were going to allow god to do her work: "bless the poor of world with hope and a glimpse of you Lord even if it is through non-Christian religions, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists."

Thank god the poor have such concerned advocates. Yessir, what they need most is a glimpse of the Lord. And Lord, if you want to use all them other religions, go right ahead, you have my blessings.

What about this one: "1. grant everyone in the world regardless of race, colour or religion, at least the absolute bare necessities for each day – they are all your children and Jesus loves them."

Preaching to God? And really, if after so long, God hasn't given everyone the absolute bare necessities, do you imagine that your demanding it of him will make the difference?

All in all, in almost every line of prayer you listed, the words seem to think god needs some instruction on how-it-is-down-here.

Yes, my prayers have changed greatly. I was quite a good pray-er at the end of my witness career, I don't mind saying. Not out loud, but in personal prayers. I was sincere, honest, and contrite.
Now, in the odd time that I pray, I may start off with some of the old prayer rote, but I immediately think, "thats wrong", "that doesn't make sense to say", "that's not your name, sorry", etc.

I usually just end up asking God to "let me know if I'm missing anything".

I read an essay by an atheist who showed quite convincingly that god had told him that He (god) does not exist. For me, god was not so dogmatic or direct, He told me that He may or may not exist, and not to get too sure either way.

metatron

I pray thru Jesus to the Heavenly Father.

Sometimes I pray to the Higher Self - or the Amau'kua,
the trustworthy Parental Spirit.

It basically amounts to the same thing - a protective parentlike
spirit overlooking my life.

There came a time in my life, a few years ago, when I
was losing faith in everything. I asked myself 'what is
real among religious and spiritual effects that are claimed?'.
Prayer and meditation has caused some nearly miraculous things
to happen in my life - over many decades. A review of my life
indicated to me that strange interventions appeared in my life
at critical moments - in ways I couldn't have predicted or
engineered. I got the feeling that someone or something kept
watch over the course of my life in spooky ways.

Overall, I don't know what to make of it - I do wonder if
some kind of future self or alternative self feedsback direction
to the present existence. I read all the mystical theories I
can to try to explain what I experience as real.

metatron

SPAZnik

A few more thoughts...

(i like this thread)

I'm not so sure I even consider it 'prayer' any more.
I think I'm at a point where it is in my head and
nobody else is really listening. In which case I definitely
do that more than twice a year. lol.

Perhaps what you are calling 'prayer'
for me more closely resembles

self-talk
meditation
reflection

All of which, IMO, can cause
'nearly miraculous things to happen' (to pull a line from metatron)
in a persons life. Simply because of how the mind works.

People just seem to be different about
who they credit for the changes incurred.

In the past, I credited a Creator, heavily.
Now I credit myself, and other tangible beings.
That said, I still haven't made my mind up entirely
about my thoughts and feelings about a Creator, a God.

Who knows how I'll feel in the future.
I'm enjoying the journey though.
Whoever wishes to take credit for that,
can go right ahead.

And I will continue right on talking to myself. lol.

SPAZ

Will Power

Thoughts for mature Christians ;)
Jesus said: Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified IN the Son. If you ask ME anything in MY name I WILL DO IT.
If you love Me you will keep My commandments. [can't find where he prohibited blood, or sharing a meal with a sinner]
John 14:13-15

If claim to be Christian, I would hope that your prayers have changed.

Thomas said to Him, "Lord*, [*Jehovah word not inserted here]
we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way? [to whom shall we go? Who has the sayings of everlasting life?-sound familiar?]
What did Jesus the Lord* answer? [WT/org?, I don't think so]
"I am the way and the TRUTH, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him. [compare with didn't we prophesize in your name? Nope,begone, I never new you]

If alienated from this invitation it could be why JWs tend to feel empty inside [reinforcing the no soul/spirit]making prayers feel unanswered, non-comforting.

Met's post about Jesus being unemployed in the JW's life is a fact. They deny [steer away from] Christ.

I as well have experienced many strange things as a result of prayer. Words are not needed, your true heart/spirit/inner self is what is communicated. Somethings, you cannot tell others about because no one would believe you but that doesn't matter because you, inside, know. Little things mean alot.
God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; Rom 8:26

WT theology has the spirit with anointed only, FDS, GB. They say you get [like catch?] holy spirit from reading the magazines. [like the more you read the more you get, yet not yours to use]

Dawn

Matty:

Instead of feeling guilty - just pray and tell him how you feel about him. And ask him to show you the truth about him. Be open and honest - don't be afraid to express your real feelings.

I felt the exact same way for years - why would I want to know this person who is so scarry and just zaps people right and left?!! Someone suggested that I pray to him about it so I started doing that - and I began to realize two things:

1) The JW's focus on his discipline side - which is mostly found in the Old Testament. It's a scare tactic - and why not? They couldn't very well scare you into submission by using a lot of Jesus' actions and words could they? If someone decided to tell your life story and only told them the bad stuff would people like you much either?

2) God is a combination of the Yahweh/Jehovah (old testament) and Jesus (new testament). As parents we are both disciplinarian and loving shepherd - some days our kids see us as mean old farts, other days they want to be with us and love us and we show them cool stuff.

And remember - if God does live outside of our time dimension (which I believe that he does) and we never really die - then death on earth as a punishment may be no more to God (and us ultimately) than being grounded to our room for a day when we were five (seemed like eternity then didn't it?)

Just some of my rambling thoughts - hope they're helpful

Matty

Dawn, thank you for your "rambling thoughts", you’ve really made me think. During this time when I really don’t know what to believe, prayer is something that I have to think about seriously. Recently I have stopped saying personal prayers because I feel as if I’m speaking to no one. In my own mind God had changed completely from a kind of big “Circuit Overseer” to a big “who-knows-what”. It’s like finding out suddenly that you’re really adopted and the parents you thought you were a part of are nothing to do with you and suddenly want nothing to do with you. I have spent all of my life pointlessly praying to the god of the Watchtower society, and now I don’t know who to talk to.

RedhorseWoman

Prayer as a JW used to be very regulated, and I was always careful not to pray for anything that could be considered "improper".

Nowadays I don't pray as frequently, but when I do, it is to discuss things that are concerning me, or to specifically ask for help in a certain area of life....be it material, spiritual, or emotional.

I also find myself giving thanks at odd times when something moves me to do so....be it a beautiful sunset, or a ringside seat at the June ballet of lightning bugs over the pasture in the evening.

ISP

I don't pray.......so that is a change.

ISP

Have your prayers changed?

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