A sincere question about prayer for any kinds of Christians out there...

by somebodylovesme 22 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Country Girl

  From:

  http://www.edgarcayce.org/ps/prayertxtpg.htm

  "An amazing study published in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine showed how prayer could help even those who did not know they were being prayed for. The study was conducted at Columbia University in New York City on women having difficultly becoming pregnant. They found that even though the women did not know they were being prayed for, 50% of the prayed-for group became pregnant as opposed to only 26% of the control group that was not prayed for.

  Larry Dossey, a well-known doctor in Dallas and author of several books on prayer, says that prayer's power lies in one's thoughts and intentions. This type of prayer is amenable to study because, once emitted, it should cause its intended effects. He explains that as humanity becomes more aware of the universal mind, which is a "non-local mind" that is infinite and immortal, in which we all have our existence, then healing will be more common and "we could become a kinder, gentler culture." Any prayerful intention and thought from one local-mind to another has an impact upon that other because we are connected. Nonlocal mind leads to what he calls "the Golden Rule of Era III of medicine and healing: 'Do good unto others because they are you!' Why? Because nonlocal mind is unlimited and boundless, which means that minds can't be walled off from each other. In some sense, at some level, we are each other."

  Edgar Cayce's readings would certainly agree with this view. There is one collective mind out of which we are all projections; local minds, to use Dossey's terms. But we can easily move into the nonlocal mind of the Whole, the Universal, and from there we are all one and can affect one another positively, or for that matter, negatively as well. As we saw in the article on Mind, every thought makes an impression upon this collective mind, an impression that Cayce was able to read long after the thought had been created. Prayer for others makes just such an impression. One of my friends shared how he believes that prayers are like gifts set upon a shelf, which the other person can open any time. Cayce once had a vision of a room filled with gift packages stacked to the ceiling. When he got a reading on this imagery, he was told that these were things that people stopped praying for. Their prayers had created them, but before they could be delivered, the prayers ended, and here they sat. Prayer is creative power. Patience and trust are the UPS and FedEx of prayer gifts."

  CG
• 

  drwtsn32

  God isn't useless, trust me, he's been quite active in my life...but like I said before, this free will bit is a real bitch.

  Ok, I think that God's refusal to mess with a person's "free will" is the best explanation for why he doesn't stop man-made atrocities. But what about "natural" events like the recent Iranian earthquake? Why wouldn't a loving God somehow prevent that from happening?
• 

  bebu

  Ok, I think that God's refusal to mess with a person's "free will" is the best explanation for why he doesn't stop man-made atrocities. But what about "natural" events like the recent Iranian earthquake? Why wouldn't a loving God somehow prevent that from happening?

  Here is a small offer of an explanation... There is no "One-size-fits-all" explanation!

  Usually we gain understanding years, decades, or even centuries later. And each kind of tragedy, in different places to different people, brings unique results. Sometimes on a surface level there are macro-lessons for humanity, where we learn thru tragedy how to prevent or react in ways that reduce casualties.

  Oddly earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic explosions, floods, and the like are not inherently evil of themselves; sometimes they help the environment. They are dreadfully inconvenient to us at best and create situations of unspeakable sorrow for those who suffer thru them at worst. They also create unusual opportunities for heorism, selflessness, and compassion from others. We would only imagine that we knew what love really was, when actually we had never been faced with real choices. Sometimes rescuers succeed; sometimes they fail. We are never given guarantees about results. But that is why one's character is defined (or revealed) by whatever kind of evil or disaster.

  When the Israelites were tormented by serpents, God did not remove the snakes or prevent them from biting; he provided a unique cure. Both good and evil folks were bitten, and probably all bitten more than just once thru the years. My total expectation would be that God do away with the snakes NOW. I rather want God to settle all His accounts every Friday night, and not leave things so open-ended. But God has ignored my reasoning, and everyone else's reasoning as well, and silently allows for natural disasters and accidents.

  So again, it comes back to the challenge that God really knows a bit more than we do about any given situation. He knows the exact body count that will occur for each disaster; and what the long-term results will be for individuals, communities, and history at large. What we are lacking is that big picture, which only God sees. The center piece that utlimately reveals His over-all intent is the cross; Jesus shared something he never had to share--except and unless God is good after all. That is, the purist reality of God's character and intent is revealed right in the middle of Christ's anguish for us.

  The message I think I see is that each tragedy is actually an opportunity or prod for eventual redemption and transformation for those who struggle with learning to really love.

  I will add here that prayer is quite humbling, especially in circumstances like these. I have certainly been cured of my illusion that God is my little "trained monkey". God is good, but no one tames Him--certainly not me. He works tirelessly for our good, despite our earnest pleas for something less. We shouldn't be surprised if God confuses us. He is eternal; we've only been around a few paltry decades. Our wisdom is so finite.

  I don't claim--no one could ever claim--to know all reasons why. But I can say that, interestingly, suffering has not halted the growth of the church (that is, not denominations but the number of people who put their trust in Him for salvation) but has grown it in depth and numbers. What looks best and reasonable to us is in God's view not the best way.

  Faith in God is a hard thing sometimes, but perhaps that's why miracles occur thru it...

  bebu

  My honest apologies for a much longer post than intended. I hoped to keep more to the thread subject, actually...