Updated:
03/10/08
Prayer 2
(continued)
Now let us look at prayer
from another angle. It is interesting to note, insurance companies in their
statistical tables do not give any credit to those who pray. The companies know
from past experience so many thirty-year-old people will die, so many
fifty-year-old people will die and so many seventy-year-old people will die.
They know there will be so many accidents, so many casualties, so many suicides
and so much sickness.
If one does not smoke, he
can get cheaper rates from many companies. If one goes to a driving school, he
can get cheaper rates. If one has fire protection built into his home, he can
get cheaper rates. But NO company has cheaper rates for anyone because he prays.
Why not? There is no difference in the accidents, in the deaths, or in the
health of those who pray and those who do not.
I like to watch boxing
sometimes since I lost some bouts in high school and college. Sometimes you can
see the boxer kneel in his corner before the bell sounds for the first round.
Sometimes both boxers kneel. What happens? Does the one who prays always win?
You should never bet on a bout because one prayed and the other did not.
Rather, you should bet on the conditioning and stamina, on the skill and the
past record. Sometimes the prayer wins. Sometimes the non-prayer wins. But the
best boxer with the best skills, conditioning and corner always wins. Prayer
does not help in boxing. It does not help in science. Prayer does not help in economics.
Prayer does not help in medicine unless the sickness is caused by the
gullibility of the mind in the first place.
Not only does prayer not
help it often hinders. If someone truly believes in prayer, he may depend too
much on prayer and not enough on preparation for the event coming up. It is
better to study for an exam than to spend the time in prayer. It is better to
practice at one's sport than to spend the time in prayer. It is better for the
doctor to review the operation procedures before an operation than to spend the
time in prayer. Foreplay will warm your lover and prayer will not. Prayer does
not prepare one for any activity or anything else except possibly for
preaching. My comment here is, most preachers who prepare by praying, do not pray
long enough.
Prayer does not take the
place of medical care. Observe your paper. Almost daily someone is in court
because they withheld medical attention from one of their sick or diseased
children. Not less often, someone is on trial for murder or manslaughter
because their child died from lack of proper care. They trusted in prayer.
Credulity and ignorance marches on, head high and eyes looking to the sky.
You have all read the
stories or seen them on television, the lost at sea stories, or lost in the mountains,
or sealed in a mine cave in. Most of the time, those who are rescued give God
the credit and testify it was their prayers and the prayers of their loved ones
that saved them. Years ago I watched just such a live scene on television after
a mine disaster. While a woman in the near background hovered over her dead
husband, a survivor gave his testimony to how his prayer had saved him. Before
the reporter could remove the microphone, the woman hovering over her dead
husband sobbed out, "We prayed too! We prayed too!" The rest of her
words were cut off by the network censorship. What a pity!
Do the survivors think they
prayed better or harder, or were more favored by God than those who did not
survive? Certainly not IF they stop to think! Surviving in catastrophe
has much to do with safety skills, endurance, physical skills, psychic skills,
ability to think under pressure and being in certain protected places when the
catastrophe strikes.
Some people who are
pronounced as incurable ill, get well, some do not. Some who are not so
seriously sick worsen and die others do not. Some given up for dead, survive,
some do not. Religious people are always quick to let God take credit, not only
for the survivors, but also for the unfortunate who do not survive. They lump
most of the unfortunate under the great and all-inclusive canopy, "God's
Will." (I will be dealing with God's Will later.)
Children are taught (read -
brain washed) to pray almost before they can talk. So let us look at giving
thanks to God as a form of prayer. "God is great, God is good and we thank
him for our food." How about these? "Santa Claus is great, Santa
Claus is good and we thank him for our toys." "The Green Giant is
great, the Green Giant is good and we thank him for our peas."
"Walter Cronkite is great, Walter Cronkite is good and we thank him for
our news." All of this sounds silly doesn't it? So, what is the point?
SILLY, IS THE POINT.
The point is this. Where are
all the deserved thanks for the nursery that raised the seeds for the farmer
to plant? Where are the thanks for the farmer and all of his helpers who made
the food possible? And how about the tractor people, and the pickers, and the
fertilizer people, and the truckers, and the wholesale warehouse, and the bank
that loaned the farmer the money to buy the seed and labor? What about thanks
for the storeowner and the workers in it, and what about daddy who paid for it?
And don't forget mama who cooked it with loving hands.
God has stolen a
large amount of thanks and credit
from others who
deserve it.
God must be
embarrassed by such false credits.
Stop Embarrassing
God!
Isn't it about time that we
begin to thank those around us for their contribution to our happiness and
welfare? God must be shame-faced with such an injustice of heaping praise upon
him when other good people deserve that praise.
An old, old story
illustrates this point. The minister was getting on to the farmer for bragging
so much about what a great farmer he was and what great things he had achieved
with the land he earlier purchased. "You must give God credit,” the
minister told the farmer. The reply was classic. "Preacher, you should
have seen the terrible mess this farm was in when God had it all by
himself."
History has never verified a
single action, a single row of corn planted, a single family fed, a single boat
built, a single suit of clothing made, a single bird fed, nor has anything else
been certified as accomplished by the religious Bible God.
Why then, would people wish
to brain wash their children into believing myths and lies? My thoughts on the
matter are that there is no place for these types of begging prayers in the
lives of intelligent people. Children should not be taught to pray to a Santa
Claus in the sky who is ready to bail them out of their troubles. Instead, they
should be taught, man is responsible for his own mistakes. They should not be
taught someone in the sky will suffer in their place and forgive them for their
mistakes. They should be taught to learn from their mistakes.
Prayer teaches laziness,
injustice and irresponsibility. It places the highest value on gullibility and
ignorance. Prayer places a something for nothing attitude in a child's
mind. Above all, prayer gives false hopes and false expectations. Prayer is a
sin! Prayer is a sin against ourselves, against our families and against our
community. And if there is a JUST God, then prayer is a sin against God. (I
have a few kind words to say about prayer at the end of this section.)
Prayer is an attempt to
escape reality. It is an attempt to lose oneself in a make-believe world.
Prayer is an attempt to set one's responsibility aside and let
"George" do it. Prayer is giving up. It is sticking one's head in the
sand. At best, prayer is an exercise in futility. At its worse, prayer steals
away the ability of the mind to think honestly and logically and makes mental
slaves out of men. Prayer is the seedbed of gambling and religion. Prayer is
the hope of getting SOMETHING FOR NOTHING. (See click on at end of this
article.)
Think of the posture of
prayer. The eyes must be closed. The head must be bowed and if you do it right,
you get on your knees. This is the position of the slave or captive. This is
the position that all dictators and religious leaders wish their followers to
assume. Man is not a captive or slave! At least he is not if he does not wish
to be. Is the captive position what you really wish to teach your children? And
there are now those who would like to see prayer made mandatory in our public
schools. And who are these wonderful people who would foster this shame upon
us? They are:
The arrogant (I am always right).
The dictatorial (You must do as I say).
The tyrannical (Or, you will be punished).
For shame!
Prayer is like trying to lift
yourself off the ground by tugging on your shoe strings. It is a little
exercise but nothing good will ever come of it.
The prayer most prayed by
Christians down through the ages is called the Lord's Prayer. It was
commissioned by Jesus (so the Bible says). I will quote a portion of it here.
Our father who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
This prayer has been prayed
billions of times by Christians as well as by the Persians for over three
thousand years. This prayer was an old Mithraic prayer hundreds of years before
the time of Jesus and the early church. Before that, it was an Egyptian prayer.
Why then has the kingdom not come? Does it take God three or four thousand
years to answer a prayer? Men have been begging God all of that time for him to
send his kingdom. There has probably not been a single day in all these
thousands of years when some believers did not pray this prayer on earth.
If God would answer any
prayer, he should have answered this one. It is claimed Jesus ordered believers
to pray this prayer. Has God answered this prayer? My newspaper, my TV, my
computer and my observations show that God has not answered this prayer.
Could it be, that if there is a God, he shuts out all the evidence of man's
stupidity and gullibility? Could it be that God is too wise, too just and to
honest to pay attention to the dreary request and begging of these
self-deluded, gullible, believing people? That is a real possibility.
Have those who are
undernourished and starving not prayed to God to send food. And have they not
continued to starve and die? If the prayer Jesus taught us to pray carries no
weight with God, what weight can we give our own selfish concoctions that we
daily speed off toward the Almighty and the Celestial Realm?
Jesus is reported to have
said, 'Ask and it will be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall
be opened unto you: for everyone that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh,
findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
I ask this simple question.
Do you believe that - as it is taught in our religions? Do you really believe
anyone in his sane mind could possibly believe that statement made in the Bible
and attributed to Jesus? Do you believe a person can simply ask God for health,
wealth, happiness or anything else and he will receive it? That is, he will
receive it as a result of his prayer and the supernatural intervention of God,
thus causing the disruption of the natural order of the universe? I doubt any
sane person can believe it. A sane person knows better.
Somebody (no one knows who)
wrote that God himself said we should ask him for what we want and if we have
enough faith, he will give it to us. GOD DIDN'T SAY THAT! God is too wise
to say that. God is too just to say that. As a matter of fact, a just
God could never have even thought it. Somebody fibbed about God.
Somebody was confused about what constitutes God's wisdom, morality and
justice. However, an unjust god or spirit might say that. If that
is the case, then the religions and believers MIGHT be controlled by an unjust
power. Think carefully about that.
Has anyone stopped to think
logically about the concept of prayer?
We see an all-just God
simply could not answer any prayer, which was not his own original JUST
plan. In addition, we see that any attempt to get God to act differently than
he originally planned to act, is an attempt to blackmail, bribe or tempt God.
Any attempt to change God's mind is to insult and belittle him and proves the
beggar does not trust his God to do what is right, what is just, and what is
best.
Also, anyone who says he can
change God's mind is a fraud and liar. Anyone who says YOU can change God's
mind is telling an untruth and is not worthy of being accepted as truthful.
Besides, would you really wish to worship a God whose mind could be changed
back and forth from his perfect wisdom and justice and be made to do what some
selfish, lazy, begging Tom, Dick or Jane asked him to do? If you are honest, I
think not.
If you have been a religious
beggar, isn't it time to stop belittling and insulting your God? Let him know
you trust him. Stop asking him to give you something for nothing! If you are
religious, why not trust your God to do what is right and just? Stop trying to
run the world for him.
Prayer is a deceptive
superstition that says a person can get something for nothing if he will just
beg long enough and hard enough. Prayer is an exercise in non-thinking. Prayer,
as presented to us in the Bible, is an exercise in slavery-hood. Prayer is a
lie. But worst of all, Prayer belittles the Almighty God. Almighty God is not
an errand boy, nor does he wait on a consensus of public opinion before he acts
to carry out HIS plan.
As I said in the first
paragraph of this paper: Prayer is a religious BELIEF. To the Clear Thinker, it
is the most illogical and unbelievable belief taught by religion. The concept
of a begging prayer to a just and good God goes against all the teachings about
all the Gods in all the religions. The teachings in 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 claims made about all the Gods in all the holy
books.
If the claims for prayer are
true, then all the claims about the attributes of the Gods in the holy
books are false.
Pick one!
Let me use a metaphor here
to illustrate the use of gullibility to control people. “Let’s Pretend” that
the Devil is a reality and is at war with God, as the Bible declares. This may
also help us decide which God it was that wrote the Bible. What would this
false or evil God tell us about his plans to take over the earth and the people
in it? What strategy would he use? Much of that strategy is mapped out in the
Old Testament and in the New Testament. I have collected these plans, prophecies
and claims together from the Bible and formed them into this very real
possibility (if the Bible is telling us the truth). Listen to the evils God’s plan.
“First, I would establish
several diverse religions (so competition would be assured). I would work a few
tricks (miracles) and give sets of moral rules to be followed. These rules,
claims, commandments and promises, would insure the making of Mental Slaves out
of all my followers. I would offer eternal life (which I can't do, but no one
can prove me wrong). I would offer it to those who follow my religions and my
instruction. I would demand total belief in my religions. For those who did not
believe in one of my religions, who honestly doubted and checked up on my
claims, I would promise death (one way or another). That gets rid of Clear
Thinkers because they are a lot of trouble and can foil my plans. I cannot let
the people get too smart, or start thinking. They could resist me.”
“I would give different
teachings to my different religions so no one religion could become dominant.
Wars would be assured and ignorance and superstition would reign. I would
continue to work a few tricks (miracles) from time to time, give prophesies
about my later coming, answer a few prayers here and there and cause some
distress and suffering on earth to prepare my welcome as their Savior.”
“Then,
when the time was right, I would come down with all my followers (angels) from
the sky. I would come in such a manner that everyone would know that I was here
and that I keep my promises. Everyone would declare – He Has Come. I would
accompany this with great fanfare and signs (like stopping earth's electrical
functions for a week). I would take over, declaring myself to be their Savior
or God. I would promise them a thousand years of prosperity and peaceful living
if they do exactly what I say. All earthlings would then become my slaves,
factory workers, farmers and so forth.”
Does this sound impossible? Think again! It is no more
fictional than the claims made by present day Christianity about that other God
who wrote a book. (Of course, we are not sure which God wrote the book.) And
this possibility is just as Rational as the other claims in the Bible.
Maybe you should wonder why
there are two Gods in the Bible, and why the one who wants us to be FREE and
THINK is called the bad guy, and the one who wants us to be slaves and
NOT THINK (to believe) is called the good guy.
If there IS something
out there hearing and answering prayers and running our chores for us (as some
insist), it is NOT the Good and Just God. It could not be a good, or just, or
all-powerful God for the reasons just explored. If it is not the good and just
God, who then is doing this? I want no part of it. Something is very wrong if
ANY of the Bible claims for prayer are true. Maybe there is something out there
that wants YOU and wants to turn you into its mental slave.
ONLY HONEST DOUBT CAN
PROTECT YOU
FROM THESE HARMFUL, FALSE CLAIMS!
I said I had a few good
words to say about prayer, and I do. Prayer (also known as meditation) can be
self-analyzation and self-conversation. It can be a self-searching. It may be
the only time during your day when you can be HONEST with yourself. There is no
substitute for honesty, especially with yourself. Never deceive yourself by
trying to find justification for the wrong things you do. Admit your wrong
doings and shortcomings at least to yourself. If you do that, you WILL become a
better person.
There ARE prayers, which we
can pray which are to our benefit. And if our prayers are never heard by any
power, these prayers ARE heard by the mind and subconscious of the one who
makes them. Having heard our own prayers, we may then be more careful with our
lives. We may even find ourselves answering our own prayers. Try praying some
of these prayers taught to us by Apollonius (Pol of Tyana). Or, make up your
own.
Give me my just due.
May I do only those things, which are good for all men.
Let justice rule my life.
May righteousness rule my thoughts.
Teach me the Good.
Help me shun evil.
Let me possess only what I need.
Let me need nothing.
Withhold from me all that would corrupt my life.
Let my eyes see the good, the just and the honest.
I would like to add five
prayers of my own here. You may wish to make up some of your own prayers.
Think about it!
May I never seek something
for nothing.
If I do, let me never get it.
Grant that I may find a new truth today.
Let me not do to others, what I would not have them do to me.
Let me meet today, a kindred spirit that we may rejoice together.
Prayer, as taught by the old
religions as well as the modern religions, is a harmful lie foisted upon
mankind and kept before us to dull our brains and to make us slaves to the
religious and political powers that be. Prayer also prevents us from learning
from our mistakes.
God
did not invent prayer.
Man
invented the concept of prayer.
The secret to being FREE is
learning to honestly doubt the wild and baseless claims made daily to us by
religion and politics. Prayer will not change God’s mind!
Wouldn't you like to be
FREE?
Updated Prayer Chapter 10 of
Honest Man’s Philosophy
Copyright
July 1999 Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr.
Updated: 03/10/08