Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Monday, November 03, 2003 God's Prayer Policy Asking Jonah Goldberg to host a symposium (of sorts) on prayer is like having a colorblind man to run a workshop on impressionist painting. I hope that's not too harsh, but Jonah simply hasn't much interest in religious belief other than as artifacts of human experience he doesn't quite get. It began with his blog: "I constantly hear about the power of prayer. Often, when I listen to televaneglists, represenatives of the Catholic Church and a host of lay and civil leaders there is a declared or implied view that the more people who pray for something the more likely it is that it will happen....Anyway, so my question is: Why should the number of prayers or praying petitioners matter? Surely God isn't a politician." I was going to talk a little about how some studies on prayer indicate objective results, but this article on prayer research debunks those claims. Which is just as well. There is a notion in all the major religions that some sort of prayer tank needs to be filled before some concern will be met by God. No one knows how many prayers it will take, but spinning enough wheels or saying rosaries will eventually do the trick. When asked to pray for someone or on my own initiative for others (like our soldiers and their families), I say one prayer and that's it. I usually say it immediately. I don't care whether it comes across as especially sincere or not. I mean to express my concern, and leave the rest up to God. I believe in the efficacy of petitionary prayer, but I don't make my faith depend on it. My love of prayer involves what it does to change and alter the Self. Development in prayer is the way in which righteousness grows, where insight and wisdom flourishes. posted by Mark Butterworth | 4:17 PM | |
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