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Why Aren't You Praying to End COVID-19?
- Thread starter SalixIncendium
- Start date
Secret Chief
nirvana is samsara
I can of course only speak for myself but it is correct that I am not praying. Strangely presumptious I would also say. But the reasons covid is still here (and therefore cases are still mounting) has nothing to do with prayer.
I have never prayed. It does not feature in my life because it is not efficacious. My little contribution to the pandemic is social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing. Going forwards, the best hope to get the virus under control are vaccines, not prayers. And, long term, IMO, reducing meat consumption.
Secret Chief
nirvana is samsara
He's mentally ill?
I blame it on this lot. 
Sometimes I pray for it to go well medically and financially.
PureX
Veteran Member
Your question is based on a very naive and simplistic conception of what prayer is, what it's for, and how it works. Which is unfortunate, because properly understood, prayer can be a very effective spiritual tool.
Thief
Rogue Theologian
are you trying to be sarcastic?
and insulting the act of praying
If God's omnipotent (and exists), God is aware that COVID-19 exists, and COVID-19 exists, then we can reasonably infer that COVID-19 and its effects are God's will.
There were far better ways to participate in a thread than posting off-topic critiques of the OP.
The following 4 quotes echo my attitude. I'll add two things, The first from Kabir who is considered a Sant (Saint) if not Perfect about superficial asking (prayer):
If saying God gave liberation,
saying candy made your mouth sweet,
saying fire burned your feet,
saying water quenched your thirst,
saying food banished hunger,
the whole world would be free.
The other from St. Teresa of Avila:saying candy made your mouth sweet,
saying fire burned your feet,
saying water quenched your thirst,
saying food banished hunger,
the whole world would be free.
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
We see the whole world gripped by the pandemic, a focus like never before on medical research which will benefit people after COVID has been dealt with and an emphasis on what the Bible terms the second "greatest commandment".
Someone learning a skill such as dance, gymnastics, riding a bicycle and so forth learn lessons and get satisfaction by striving to overcome obstacles to achieve mastery. Could COVID be a gift from God so that humanity as a whole learns and grows?
Wandering Monk
Well-Known Member
For the same reason no one prays to regrow a limb. It's pointless!
Nope.
Unfortunately, many who pray have that same simplistic view.
There’s a quote, actually a lecture from Sadhguru in which he says to take what we think of as bad karma and turn it to our advantage. He said it’s bad karma only if we see it that way. Basically if life throws lemons, freeze them and throw them at something else. If I can find it I’ll post it here or elsewhere.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I know that other Baha'is are praying, but I'm not.
I believe that if God did not allow COVID-19 it never would have happened, so maybe you can do the math.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
No it doesn't, not unless God chooses to answer that prayer, and it is on a case-by-case basis.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
I hope so. Otherwise God is not omnipotent.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
That's sure true.
Trailblazer
Veteran Member
Here is how I believe it works:
“God witnesseth that there is no God but Him, the Gracious, the Best-Beloved. All grace and bounty are His. To whomsoever He will He giveth whatsoever is His wish. He, verily, is the All-Powerful, the Almighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.”
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 73
Of course that means that God only gives what He wishes to who He wishes, so if God does not wish to answer He won't.
Logically speaking, that is in keeping with God's Omnipotence.