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Prayer

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
What's the deal with prayer. Didn't Jesus say prayer should be done in private. So why is prayer so often done in public?

What is the point in prayer anyway?

What do you expect from praying? To curry the favor of God? To explain to God your needs? Something I'd think an all-knowing God ought to already know.

To praise God? Is God insecure and needs to be constantly reassured how great God is?

People pray to...?

IDK, I never understood any purpose behind praying.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't know what Jesus has to say about it, as I don't pray to him, but I enjoy prayer. For me, its akin to talking to an old friend.

That being said, what's the point of anything? I keep cleaning up, but it all keeps getting dirty again.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
It gives you time to communicate with god through the Holy Spirit.
To pour out your problems, receive guidance, comfort and to give thanks for God's gifts.
Prayer is quiet time with God.

I am not sure where public prayer actually helps.
 

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
It gives you time to communicate with god through the Holy Spirit.
To pour out your problems, receive guidance, comfort and to give thanks for God's gifts.
Prayer is quiet time with God.

I am not sure where public prayer actually helps.
As a pagan I might feel the need to say a prayer and I don't really care where I am at. I prefer saying prayers outloud rather then in my head.For a Christian? Maybe for the same reason or to show others what they believe.
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
For Jewish people, prayer is a commandment. My own personal take on it, is that it's a form of tithing one's time and energy.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
As a pagan I might feel the need to say a prayer and I don't really care where I am at. I prefer saying prayers outloud rather then in my head.For a Christian? Maybe for the same reason or to show others what they believe.

Prayer like my faith is between me and God alone.
I have no mind what others might think.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
To me the best form of prayer is service accompanied by the prayer to become better at rendering real service in the world.

Next comes being grateful for life and the beauty in the world. It's a feeling perhaps expressed in words of gratitude and thankfulness. For theists, it's words like "thank you Lord for the gift of life, the beauty of nature" and so forth.

Next comes remembering others with love.

Finally we come to asking/demanding something from God.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
To me the best form of prayer is service accompanied by the prayer to become better at rendering real service in the world.

Next comes being grateful for life and the beauty in the world. It's a feeling perhaps expressed in words of gratitude and thankfulness. For theists, it's words like "thank you Lord for the gift of life, the beauty of nature" and so forth.

Next comes remembering others with love.

Finally we come to asking/demanding something from God.

I try not to ask for anything for myself, God is perfectly aware of my needs.
 

dybmh

דניאל יוסף בן מאיר הירש
Depending on how it's phrased, a prayer out loud in the presence of others can become a vow. Vows can be powerful motivating tools if the individual giving the vow is lacking faith or willpower.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
What's the deal with prayer. Didn't Jesus say prayer should be done in private. So why is prayer so often done in public?

What is the point in prayer anyway?

When I was Catholic, I interpreted prayer as two types: a. communal (public) and b. private.

Communal prayer (Throughout Mass), blessings, and such are made to unite members in christ in his body (member of believers) and by christ (communion) aka. body of christ. Christianity (in my opinion) is communal not individual.

Individual prayer I've noticed and done myself is direct relationship with christ (head of communion/Eucharist), his believers (saints, mother, and father), and the holy spirit (god within them). It's a conviction/devotion and acts somewhat like a confession and internal dialogue with one(s) they love.

Also, I wouldn't take the bible that literally. It's like a parent saying to his child, don't talk to me or even call my name unless you're by yourself. Even if you're at wits in and people are around you, wait till you get home and you're fine.

Nothing wrong with praying in public. I think jesus meant don't be like the Pharisees in their rituals. He assumes that the jews weren't worshiping god because of the rituals. Saying prayer out loud is, I guess, a pride thing that he distastes. While I go by context, many christians don't.

What do you expect from praying? To curry the favor of God? To explain to God your needs? Something I'd think an all-knowing God ought to already know.

To praise God? Is God insecure and needs to be constantly reassured how great God is?

Prayer, in itself, I wouldn't think so. I don't believe that's how prayer works. If you go to your loved ones grave and talk to them as if they were alive, that's considered prayer to many people. You may not believe they are actually alive (some do) but the act of connecting with your loved one regardless if they are physically there or not is the conviction people have with christ and god. That inner dialogue is prayer.

Also, asking your parent if you can have something isn't bad in itself. It's kind of like a parent telling a child don't ask of anything from me since I already know what you want. Basically, the child needs to be mute. Instead, I personally believe it's an interaction. While god isn't the focus of my prayers, in the general sense, that's basically what it is: internal dialogue, reflection, and expression of connection, love, and fulfilment. Whether people "abuse" (if there is such a thing) prayer depends on the religion. I don't believe you can but many christians say you can.


People pray to...?

IDK, I never understood any purpose behind praying.
 

lostwanderingsoul

Well-Known Member
I often wonder why some people repeat the same prayer over and over. Do they think God is hard of hearing? And why repeat a prayer that someone else has written. Talking to God should be like talking to a friend. Say what is on your mind, not something you just say over and over.
 

JustGeorge

Not As Much Fun As I Look
Staff member
Premium Member
I often wonder why some people repeat the same prayer over and over. Do they think God is hard of hearing? And why repeat a prayer that someone else has written. Talking to God should be like talking to a friend. Say what is on your mind, not something you just say over and over.

I believe that is more for the conditioning of their own brains, not that they want to repetitively bother God with the same statements/requests said over and over again.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
I often wonder why some people repeat the same prayer over and over. Do they think God is hard of hearing? And why repeat a prayer that someone else has written. Talking to God should be like talking to a friend. Say what is on your mind, not something you just say over and over.

It's meditative. I used to do it when praying Hail Mary. Instead of running through the beads willy-nilly, each bead and phrase we may pause, contemplate it's meaning, and keep going to the next bead.

It may sound repetitive but with each "I love you" said, it compounds the meaning on itself. Compound interest. It's less about the repetitiveness and more on the connection of the words and significance in which each same phrase is said.

If a parent told their child don't say I love you again, that child may feel hurt. If that child really loves their parent, even when their (rather) parent knows this, they still want to show appreciation for him or her by saying they love their parent.

I'm not sure why the interval of repetitiveness matters to god, but maybe it's more about that than using the same phrase I love you all the time?
 

Windwalker

Veteran Member
Premium Member
What's the deal with prayer. Didn't Jesus say prayer should be done in private. So why is prayer so often done in public?
Typically public prayers are ceremonial. That or there is a figure leading others in a group prayer. I don't believe that was what Jesus was criticizing when he said to prayer privately. I believe there is background to exactly who or what practice he was referring to that has be researched somewhere, but I doubt it had to do with criticizing public ritual practices, like the priest saying a prayer of blessing upon the people.

I do like thought what he says about this. He is saying in essence, don't do your religion for ego. Don't let your devotions to God, be about public acknowledgement, or making an impression upon others so that they'll help you boost your own ego. That is in fact a very real problem in a spiritual path. The ego likes to make it about the ego itself, keeping you from actually following that spiritual path - which requires surrendering the ego.

So that's how I hear his injunction, said here in metaphor about "praying in public". It's not just prayer, but anything you do on your spiritual path that gets distorted into being about the ego. It's a good metaphor as an object lesson. These myths speak to aspects of our own personalities we all share. Teachers recognize those traps, and so through myth in this case, they communicate those in these stories, such as "be not as those who stand and pray in public to be seen of them."

What is the point in prayer anyway?

What do you expect from praying? To curry the favor of God? To explain to God your needs? Something I'd think an all-knowing God ought to already know.
There is a lot of complex things in here that could be addressed, but I'd take six posts to cover them all. I'll just try to keep it on the question "What is the point in prayer"?

The point of prayer to me, is not that it is about supplicating for some need. That is part of it for many people at a certain stage of learning about the interior worlds of themselves through myths. Those are powerful lessons in beginning to open us symbolically in the unconscious mind and the spiritual self hiding in there. They are in a real sense, psychological/spiritual (psycho-spiritual) tools.

What prayer has become for me in my later years from what it was in my youth, is more about a connection with Reality, which means the Big Reality, that encomposses everthing altogether, all aspects of existence and beyond. That happens at deeper levels within us. That touches the essential being of our very existence in this reality. Touching into that, has a deeply transformative power in our lives, leading to greater peace and connection with ourselves and our place in this vast universe.

It's reaching out and touching the face of God, and being part of that Light itself on our deepest levels. Our connection with Infinity, which is within every cell of our bodies and everything. Prayer is stepping out of yourself.

I like the way I just said that. Prayer is stepping outside of yourself, into the Unknown, opening that which that Unknown within us.

To praise God? Is God insecure and needs to be constantly reassured how great God is?

People pray to...?

IDK, I never understood any purpose behind praying.
It's not about God's ego. God doesn't have an ego. I have an ego. If you pray to the egoless, you open to egolessness in yourself, or the true Self in Hindu terms. So prayer to God is really a prayer not to a person, but to Divinity, which exists beyond 'persons' where there is only Oneness.

The purpose then for the prayer is to open you to the Divine within. It's the same thing in all religions, under the very masks of language and symbols being used. It's all about Awakening to that true Reality. Prayer is to teach us there is something more than just this apparent world we see and believe in as reality, but it's not.

You could say prayer is a form of breath, teaching us about God.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
I pray to the gods to show respect and form a relationship with them.

If I may ask, what do you get out of a relationship with these gods?

An acknowledgement of your importance maybe?
A conversation lacking the normal judgement that commonly comes from fellow humans?

For better or worse, I no longer care about these things, or something I missed?

People feel a need for this relationship I no longer feel.

You have a need, you have a need. Not sure this is something we decide.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
A sense of purpose for starters. I also feel more connected to the earth and life itself.

Yeah, I liked druidism. There was a mystical quality which I can no longer suspend disbelief to get into anymore. :(

I suppose I get into technology now, to become master of the bits. :D
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
What's the deal with prayer. Didn't Jesus say prayer should be done in private
YES

So why is prayer so often done in public?
They don't pay heed to Jesus' advice

What is the point in prayer anyway?
Depends

What do you expect from praying?
I learned not to expect too much, and I am grateful for all the answers granted and the peace of mind granted

To curry the favor of God?
No

To explain to God your needs?
No

To explain to God your needs? Something I'd think an all-knowing God ought to already know.
Of course

To praise God?
Why not?

Is God insecure and needs to be constantly reassured how great God is?
Of course not

People pray to...?
Depends

IDK, I never understood any purpose behind praying.
Okay. Maybe praying is not meant for you

I do understand the purpose behind praying.
 
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