If God is all-knowing, then certainly he knows your needs, your failures and weaknesses, when you want to say thank you, etc. These messages would come from the heart, not from the lips and would obviously be known to a God who knows when a sparrow falls. So why pray?

don't. your right.

Why do you tell you partner you love them when they already know. It is a good way to have a personal relationship with God. Even if he is all-knowing.

Don't pray. Just think.

well put 101

Iaapac that is a great question!!! I don't beleive in prayer as is currently defined, Pray is nothing more than thought control and really if you think about it the only true prayer there is is the prayer of gratitude, basically in line with the religious construct If God is all Knowing anyways and all things there is no lack, all that is, the Alpha the Omega and everything in between you wouldn't need to ask for anything you would say thankyou for all that is. IMO prayer is silly I know that i am loved because i love , Religon has alot of understandings that are in error IMO. Namaste Sheri

Thanks Grizz.

I agree with 101-
on the same note, why ask your kid if they've gotten into the cookie jar when you can see the chocolate around their mouth?

lol to make them feel guilty.

Ha ha. Yes my uncle use to lick the creme out the oreo's and put them back. I couldn't believe he thought he could get away with that. He was always scolded for that. And he continueously did it.

I agree with Yelekiah Prayer and thinking are basically the same thing. Namaste Sheri

I think that prayer is another word for the universe just doing its normal tricks. It brings you what you need, not what you want. It is duplicating which means that sometimes if you think something it will come on TV or show somewhere else. Love is the connection between people, so that is sometimes why they know each other's thoughts or when they might telephone for example.

But when you truly think about it, God is really just the entire populice put together. When you have a prayer answered some person had to work behind the scenes to bring it to you. That person is unaware that they are doing anything magical at all, and I will bet that they won't say that they heard 'God' talking into their ear telling them what to do. It just happens automatically. It is the way the universe works, but some people refer to it's magic as God.

I think 101 got this one. Nice post. =D

true in a way but God works through people. There is a story about Elijah where he is told to wait for God to come. He sees a fire, and earthquake and a hurricane but he knows its not God. Finally he hears a tiny thought urging him to do good and be righteous, that is the voice of God.
And you dont need to prat aloud, just make an effort to think about it

so your saying god is our concience or sub concience at work?, sounds like a clever way to enslave someone if their sub-concience mind is not their own doing, but Gods.

rainbow,

if you look at the success/failure rates of 'prayers', by your model then the entire universe is broken and in need of an overhaul.

prayer may be considered like thought, or like meditation, et al. I would not let the fanciful idea of everything being superconnected take too deep a root in your thoughts though. While there are pathways between everything, they are not all always active. There is not always a connection between A and B, even though the potential for it is always there (and that potential is probablistic).

People tend to go to extremes on this stuff, either imagining a perfect world of pink skys and flying unicorns or a dark desolate world of suffering and termoil. The universe is the dynamic in the middle, folks.

wonder what people would do if they realised any concept of god is just a metaphor for the nature of the universe, hmmmmmmmmmm. I mean they didnt have hubble or super coliders back in the good ole' days, nope siree.

I think the question remains. If a wife knew everything (as many believe they do . . . . just joking) there would be no need to remind her of your love, she would constantly know it. And each time we try to deal with this question by using comparisons, we only minimize an all-knowing God.

The mistake most are making here is the assumption that the point of prayer is asking God for stuff, like a Genie in a bottle.

Prayer is simply talking to God. We talk to God through prayer. He talks to us through His Word (the BIble). Thus a two-way communication is made. Thus relationship is born. You cannot have relationship without communication.

Thus we pray as our primary source of communication with God.

Regards, PA

Prayer success rate: That is why I said the universe brings us what we need not what we want. Two totally different things. Most people pray for what they want.

I agree that prayer could be considered thought or meditation or wishes. But I beg to differ that everything is in fact connected through energy (some call it God).

Who goes to extremes? The universe/God just IS in my opinion.

hey rr, i knew you would reply with the 'needs' vs 'wants'!

I never said how things are connected, just that pathway potentials exist. Perhaps our views are more similar on this than first appeared.

Sorry, you sounded like you have a 'peaches and cream' view of everything. Indeed the universe 'is'. It is a complex system at that too.

Hey Hype. You are right, it is a complex system. We only have the effects not the cause most of the time like answered prayers for example. Religions were created to try to answer some of those questions. Science will take over from there I believe. Then we can finally understand how the universe works. 'God' will no longer work in mysterious ways.

Well, I believe Deity is part of everything, and vice versa. Prayer is concentrated intent. Basically, it is a religious attempt to make a wish come true.

The want/need post that rainbow talked about was a good point in my opinion. Alot of people only pray for what they want and then complain it doesn't come true.

i dont ever pray i do think though but he cant do any thing for you. well u know what i mean he can help you but only in your mind and heart its not like hes gona come down to help you..............shoot sorry got ahead of my self dont say think

[quote name='hyperactive' date='Nov 3 2005, 03:03 AM' post='914093']
rainbow,

if you look at the success/failure rates of 'prayers', by your model then the entire universe is broken and in need of an overhaul.

yea that is tru

"everything is in fact connected through energy (some call it God). "
some losers also call it the force

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And it also says "Ask and ye shall receive." Now how many really believe that?

Well a wife who is all knowing still likes to hear I love you even if she knows it. And if a man loves her they will recive pleasure from telling her that they love her.

Wow! I said "Just joking." It was just something I couldn't resist. I'm sorry. Even so, the reactions and needs of an all-knowing wife cannot be compared to an all-knowing God who knows what you will think or feel.

ANd like hearing it in return too

Regards, PA.

PS - Love ya babe

Damn! I hope that was for 101!

Oh crap Iaapac. I meant to write a after the all knowing wife. My bad.

OH PA wubbies you too.

Wubbies? Wubbies? Is that something like honey buns or snookums?

I guess it is like I love you.

But I wub you.

Or wubbies you.

It is precious.

Thanks for the translation . . . .

Personally, I wike wearning about new wanguage forms. Love becomes wub, that means that l becomes w and ve becomes b. Interesting. Wet's try, however, to hab wess passion because I get envious. Good wuck and behab yourself.

So do you not pray and why not?

Praying is a good thing. Even if say we pray for a good day or reassurance from God. It is the fact that one lays over their day or whatever and places it in God's hands. I pray for Mackenzie when she is sick. I also take her to the doctor and apply medicine to her boo boos. When she gets hurt ( a scrape) she automatically comes to me for a kiss and hug and asks me to pray for it. So I do. It allows a person to be reassured. The problems are no longer yours but Gods.

praying is good for the soul....it makes people feel better to tell their sins that they have committed in prayers. It's not like you pray to god and tell him you WANT to win the lottery, thats just nonsense....

No, I do not pray. It is like your daughter . . . . she does not need to come and ask you to take care of her when she is hurt. You know it and you respond. That is my relationship with my god. I respect that he knows better than I what I need and that eliminates the necessity to ask for things. At the same time, I think he can read my heart and know my fears or gratitude. Maybe no one else would agree with this but it works for us . . . . God and me.

Yes it is automatic. God does know. But maybe in your mind you seriously do think and it is like silent prays, crys from the heart. I believe everyone prays just in different forms.

I pray both silent and aloud. It is a good way to show the person ( a child ) that you love God and he is worthy of appreciattion and consideration. It helps our children understand God and how to have a personal relationship.

In children's church our kids learn to sing aloud to God and praise him by lifting their hands. It is something they learn at a young age.

But all people do differently.

I come from a penecostal church and I took my friend and she was like OMG that man just fell out on the ground. And she kept asking why do yall sing like that and pray like this? It is different with different people.

Each persons' personality (spiritual) is different.

I find it strange that if we want to know, for example, about the Mayan civilization, we go to archaeological sites and dig until we discover clues that create historic truths. We do that in all fields of study. In mathematics we take equations and retrace them backward until we encounter their source. Science studies our universe by going in reverse. But we do not do that with God. There are countless of ancient writings speaking of him even in the Sumerian times when he was referred to as "El" and it was prohibited to speak his name aloud.

In religion, we do things in reverse. The original characterization of God is now diluted by New Testament writings that have little or no historic basis. We find social adaptations erasing mandates reportedly originating from God. We have reduced the more than 100 commandments to only ten and then we say that within our relationships, we know Him.

Why pray? Well, what if the god or gods you believe are NOT omnipotent and all-seeing? They'd need you to pray to reach them. As for the Christian God, well, let's just say that magical rituals tend to hang over in the human consciousness. It's a habit, and a ritual to bind a religious community together.

Agreed. Praying is the evolutionary step from sacrificing sheep and watching the smoke go upward to heaven.

If God knows the subconcious mind of the human, does God know of the humans' concious effort to know Gods higher thinking in the super-concious mind? The super-concious mind in concious/sub-concious thinking together in a meditative state. If you were to understand the connection, the 'Delta-super-sense' in the superconcious mind.

I understand you ask the question of praying, I myself don't pray anymore. I used to a while back. I did some investigative research in this concious-ness relationship basis in this God/Human shiznit.

*Delta- @ The Trinity*

Personally, I pray to talk to God. In order to help any relationship grow, there needs to be communication. I want to be closer to God and praying to Him is one way I feel more in tune with what He wants for my life.

Good luck ?

Ah, but does your partner really know? Love isn't always "forever", you know. In any event, many times saying, "I love you," is likely to be feedback, or to elicit feedback, showing that you are still in tune with each other. I see no reason why any all-knowing "God" would ever need such feedback, but I sure do see where humans do. .

An all-knowing god would know that I'm going to pray and what I am going to pray about. Sounds like an exercise in futility to me. And as far as communication goes, it's pretty much one-way these days. I haven't seen any burning bushes or heard voices telling me to go up on Mt. Sinai.

Well said

I said something much the same a couple of pages back and it was ignored since people want to think there's some spiritual/religious reason beyond wanting talk to God.

Hopefully, you are not ignored either.

Regards, PA