updated 8/04/01
Prayer
The following is one of the most important paragraphs you will ever read!
Prayer is a religious BELIEF. To the Clear Thinker, it is the most illogical and unbelievable belief taught by religion. The concept of prayer goes against all the teachings about all the Gods in all the religions. The teachings in all the holy books tell the believer who God is, what his attributes are and what he does. Yet, the concept of prayer disputes all the other claims made about all the Gods in all the holy books. If the claims made for prayer by the believers are true, then the claims about the attributes of the Gods in the holy books are false.
Now read it again and think about it!
Prayer, according to all religions, is the only means the believer has to initiate communication with his God. Some get on their knees, bow their heads, close their eyes, imagine their God in their minds and beg from him. Some pray by writing their prayer on paper and hiding the paper, or sticking it in a crack of a wall. Others write prayers on the blades of a little windmill, assuming when the wind blows, their prayer will be floated up to God. Others, not trusting to the wind, write their prayer on wheels and turn or spin the wheels themselves - by hand. Some fashion prayers in the form of little beads, put them on a string and finger these beads as they ride, watch television or listen to someone talk to them. Still others slash their bodies, crawl long distances, ring bells or beat drums and call it prayer.
As taught by all the religions, prayer is the only means which believers have to initiate contact with their God. Of course, God is not restricted to such a single line of communication. He can speak in visions, dreams, messages to the head, face to face and in revelations given to someone else which eventually gets to the individual believer. He also has other means of communication like earthquakes, lightning strikes, droughts, disease, storms and many other such wonders, according to the believers in all religions.
PRAYER IS THE HEART AND SOUL OF ALL RELIGIONS
Prayer is the center around which ALL other doctrines, teachings, claims and religious beliefs must circle. Without the concept of prayer, none of the other religious claims can be true, because they all depend on some form of communication to or with God for verification or activation.
For instance, if one wishes to be saved by one of the "plans of salvation", or any of the general Christian plans, he must first confess his sins. How does he do this? He must pray to God or have someone pray to God in his behalf. Next, he must pray to God and ask God to forgive him and accept him into the Body of Christ. Finally, he must pray to God and thank him for his salvation.
Prayer is the central doctrine and concept of ALL religions. Without the concept of prayer, there can be no religion as taught today on this planet. If prayer is not a valid concept, that is, if God neither hears nor pays attention to these prayers, and if he does not answer them, then all religions are fraudulent and false. If prayer is a false concept, then God has NOT requested that we pray. If God did not request prayer, then the holy books (which claim he did make such requests) are telling us a falsehood and those holy books can not be believed or accepted as true, or as coming from any God.
There are those who pray to an intermediary (lesser angel, god or saint) hoping such a prayer will eventually reach God and the prayer will have more impact on God than it would if it merely came from a lowly believer. This brings up some questions. Does God not hear the prayer at the same time the saint hears it? Doesn't God hear a prayer unless it is directed to him personally? Why not? Is there a prayer postal service where prayers are separated, routed and delivered to the intended recipient? Does God get jealous (as the Bible says) if the prayer is directed to a lesser being or saint and not to God? This concept should raise doubt and give pause to believers who think a dead saint or angel can have more influence with God than can a live person. Does Prayer work this way? Have you ever thought about it?
So God is the ultimate hoped for recipient of all prayers according to the religious teachings. How do the religions define their Gods, the recipients of these prayers?
So we look next at the being "God" to whom all prayer is ultimately directed. God is claimed to be all-wise, all-knowing, all-just, all-powerful and all-present. All-wise means God always makes the wisest decisions and takes the wisest action divinely possible. All-just means God never does any unjust action, has any unjust thoughts, nor varies from his OWN just course of action and his OWN wise counsel. All-powerful means he can do anything which is in keeping with his own wisdom and justice. All-present means he is everywhere - at once - at the same time.
(The Gods of all religions are being treated here in the singular since all supreme Gods generally conform to the above description. So believers pray to this all-wise, all-knowing, all-just, all-powerful and all-present God.)
To pray means to ask, to petition, to solicit, to plead or to beg. In other words, to pray is to beg. So those who pray are beggars. They beg from the perfect and good, the wise, knowing, just, powerful, and present One.
The believers lift their voices to this perfect, just God and they beg. They beg for wisdom. They beg for Aunt Mary to get well. They beg for God to run Castro out of Cuba, and they beg for food. They beg for rain or sunshine. They beg for guidance and they beg to be loved by someone. They beg for their enemies to be defeated. They beg for health and for victory in war, or on the sports field. They beg for knowledge and a raise in their pay. They beg protection for themselves and their families. They beg to win the lottery.
That is to say, they beg for:
wisdom without experience and without using Honest Clear Thinking,
wealth without work,
health without good habits,
food without farming,
eternal life without enjoying this one,
happiness without heartache,
love without being lovable,
safety without being cautious,
strength without straining,
victory without being valiant,
forgiveness without restitution,
knowledge without honest studying,
and on endlessly.The purpose of prayer is for the begging believer to get SOMETHING FOR NOTHING from their wise and just God. In fact, the whole idea and attitude of prayer is that the beggar can convince or intrigue God in some way to give the beggar something for nothing, just by begging for it.
If you were God and were all-wise and all-just, would you think it wise or just to give to the beggars what they asked? Would you spoil the lazy who pray in that fashion? Is it a fact or a fiction that God answers these begging prayers?
There is a most logical and necessary question which the Clear Thinker must ask himself - and the religious believer. This question directed to the religious believer who seeks to beg things from the Unknowable Almighty, is this:
CAN PRAYER CHANGE GOD'S MIND?
If prayer does indeed change God's mind, WHAT WAS WRONG WITH GOD'S ORIGINAL JUST AND WISE PLAN OF ACTION? Doesn't God always do what is just and best and right? Doesn't God know what he is doing? If not, do the religious believers worship a God who often does NOT do what is best and right unless believers pray and correct him? Must God be constantly "tempted" through the prayers of the religious believers to forsake his own wisdom and do what they wish him to do? Do the believers hope God will forget his responsibility and pledge to do what is just and right? Does God follow the orders of these less-wise? Is God wishy-washy? Is God an errand boy for the believers?
On the other hand, if God always does what is just and best and right, why do the believers constantly bombard him with selfish request to do otherwise? That is, to do what they wish him to do? Or, to put it another way, why do the religious believers seek to beguile God into doing what is NOT just and best and right? If God listens to the less-wise and selfish requests and obeys the selfish requests of the believers, do the religious not worship a God who makes errors? That is, he goes against his OWN wise counsel and follows the counsel of the misled and selfish religious person. Is this not an error on God's part to answer these thoughtless and selfish request?
If God needs the guidance of the believers to correct his original decision, and if he substitutes the religious request which is deemed better than his, then the believers worship a God who makes errors unless someone prays and corrects him. This is one reason why the religious pray. That is, to correct God's mistaken decisions or activities upon earth, either before he makes the mistakes, or after he makes them.
If there were no other error in the holy books, except prayer, it would be evidence enough that no God had anything to do with the origination or preservation of these holy books.
In the Bible, Jesus and God are reported to insist that believers pray so God may act according to that person's request and advice on how to run the business of this world (and universe). Since when have the wishes of mere man been deemed wiser than the plans of Almighty God who is claimed to have the wisdom to build a universe out of nothing? If there IS a just and wise God, then,
PRAYER IS THE MOST BELITTLING AND
THE GREATEST INSULT TO GOD IN RELIGION!Why is it that the religious believers do not TRUST their God to make wise decisions? Why is it the religious believers think they have enough wisdom to advise God about health, weather, war, politics, food, institutions, marriage and yes, even religion?
WHY DO THE RELIGIOUS BELIEVERS NOT TRUST THEIR GODS?
Does anyone actually expect God to forsake his own wise course of action and substitute the friendly beggar's request? Can friendship be used to bribe God to do something different than his own wise counsel dictates? Can God be blackmailed with good works? Does God take anyone's counsel but his own? Does God run errands for the believers?
Why do believers think that if they pray long enough and hard enough they can worry God into doing their bidding? If there is a God, he is wise and just. He is going to do what HE decides is best and all the begging in the world will not add one extra rain drop, or one ear of corn.
The very ACT of prayer proves, those who pray do not trust their Gods to do what is best, what is right and what is just. They seek to correct their God's mistakes, either before he makes them or after he makes them.
But the teachers of religion claim God does indeed answer prayer. I have another question. Is God really as indecisive and incompetent as the teachers of religion claim? Could God be so insecure and indecisive that he needs your vote on whether to let it rain, or let the Irish fight it out, or Aunt Mary get well? No place in the holy books do I read that God is the president of a democracy. I have never read in the holy books nor in any church literature, that God's actions are to be a consensus of public opinion. Yet the church and the holy books teach, if enough believers pray hard enough and long enough, God will change his mind (called REPENT in the Bible) and do the bidding of the beggars. Is that the truth, or is someone "pulling our leg"?
For a worshiper to make a request of any kind, is to belittle God, berate God's intelligence and set oneself up as able to counsel God on what to do and on what action God should take. This goes for any kind of request including begging for protection, guidance, food or salvation.
God is described as all-knowing, all-seeing, all-mighty and all-wise. He is also described as all-good and all-just. If ANY of this were to be really believed by the religious beggars, there would be absolutely NO request made of God. God would be TRUSTED to run this world in his wisdom, that is, if the religious believers REALLY BELIEVED God is in charge of the world. As I said in the beginning:
Prayer is a religious BELIEF. To the Clear Thinker, it is the most illogical and unbelievable belief taught by religion. The concept of prayer goes against all the teachings about all the Gods in all the religions. The teachings in all the holy books tell the believer who God is, what his attributes are and what he does. Yet, the concept of prayer disputes all the other claims made about all the Gods in all the holy books. If the claims made for prayer by the believers are true, then the claims about the Gods in the holy books are false.
PRAYER PROVES THE RELIGIOUS DO NOT BELIEVE
IN AN ALL-WISE, ALL-JUST AND ALL-GOOD GOD.Continued as: Prayer2