Updated: 03/10/08
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 deletes and 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
attributes and 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
other attributes of the Gods in the holy books are false.
Is that a bold statement –
or what? Now read it again slowly - 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 a piece of 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, insect invasions, 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 of all the other claims.
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 cannot 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, God, or saint and not to the Jewish or Christian 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?
Thus, God is the ultimate
hoped for recipient of all prayers according to the religious teachings. How do
the Christian religions and others define their God, the recipient of these
prayers? So, we look next at the being "God" to whom all prayer is
ultimately directed.
God is claimed to be
all-knowing, all-wise, all-just, all-powerful and all-present. All-knowing
means God always knows what is the wise and right thing to do. 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 that is in keeping with his
own wisdom and justice. All-present means he is everywhere - at once - at the
same time and knows everything.
(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 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,
success without experience
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, intrigue or blackmail 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 that 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 requests?
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 ALL RELIGIONS!
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, one field goal 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
righteousness 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 or 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 own wisdom, that is, if the
religious believers REALLY BELIEVED God is in charge of the world.
Only the unsane, the self-diluted
and those who wish for something for nothing from the sky are sucked in by the
concept of a begging prayer to a wise and just God.
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.
Copyright: 1989
Updated: 03/20/08
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