• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Prayers and Calling on the God Card

calamity

calamity

Privileged
Supporting Member
DP Veteran
Monthly Donator
Joined
Feb 12, 2013
Messages
160,900
Reaction score
57,844
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Centrist
Some people pray over everything. My mom does that. Others never pray at all. I'm sort of one of those people in the middle. I rarely pray, but when the chips are down, and all other options have been exhausted, repeating a good prayer certainly can change the mindset and lead to finding a new solution.

I've played that card maybe five times. Always with a decent amount of success. Three of those times actually led to a highly improbable outcome. So, it's certainly something I would lean on again, if needed.

And, all this gets me thinking. If the ship is sinking, would you pray as she goes down, or would you spend every last breath trying to stay afloat? Me, I'd give it all I had to float. But, while doing that, I might be praying for another boat.
 
I don't pray at all. I try to visualize things I want to accomplish, and I hope for things to work out. But I don't pray that something will happen in the traditional sense of prayer.
 
devildavid said:
I don't pray at all. I try to visualize things I want to accomplish, and I hope for things to work out. But I don't pray that something will happen in the traditional sense of prayer.
Click to expand...

Kinda sounds like a prayer, devildad. Self-reflection.
 
I used to pray. But I don't anymore. However, I have tried to cut deals with God, usually clutching a toilet bowl after a night of tequila shots and bad intentions.
 
ZKsgkqIm.jpg

The Ruling Class (1972)

Lady Claire Gurney: How do you know you're God?

Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, 14th Earl of Gurney: Simple. When I pray to Him, I find I am talking to myself.
 
calamity said:
...And, all this gets me thinking. If the ship is sinking, would you pray as she goes down, or would you spend every last breath trying to stay afloat? Me, I'd give it all I had to float. But, while doing that, I might be praying for another boat.
Click to expand...

"Sometime around 2.10 a.m. as the Titanic began settling more quickly into the icy North Altantic, the sounds of ragtime, familiar dance tunes and popular waltzes that had floated reassuringly across her decks suddenly stopped as Bandmaster Wallace Hartley tapped his bow against his violin. Hartley and his musicians, all wearing their lifebelts now, were standing back at the base of the second funnel, on the roof of the First Class Lounge, where they had been playing for the better part of an hour. There were a few moments of silence, then the solemn strains of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" began drifting across the water. It was with a perhaps unintended irony that Hartley chose a hymn that pleaded for the mercy of the Almighty, as the ultimate material conceit of the Edwardian Age, the ship that "God Himself couldn't sink," foundered beneath his feet. As the band played, the slant of the deck grew steeper, while from within the hull came a rapidly increasing number of thuds, bangs and crashes as interior furnishings broke loose, walls and partitions collapsed--the Titanic was only moments from breaking apart."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEfqj9pDAI

 
Angel said:
"Sometime around 2.10 a.m. as the Titanic began settling more quickly into the icy North Altantic, the sounds of ragtime, familiar dance tunes and popular waltzes that had floated reassuringly across her decks suddenly stopped as Bandmaster Wallace Hartley tapped his bow against his violin. Hartley and his musicians, all wearing their lifebelts now, were standing back at the base of the second funnel, on the roof of the First Class Lounge, where they had been playing for the better part of an hour. There were a few moments of silence, then the solemn strains of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee" began drifting across the water. It was with a perhaps unintended irony that Hartley chose a hymn that pleaded for the mercy of the Almighty, as the ultimate material conceit of the Edwardian Age, the ship that "God Himself couldn't sink," foundered beneath his feet. As the band played, the slant of the deck grew steeper, while from within the hull came a rapidly increasing number of thuds, bangs and crashes as interior furnishings broke loose, walls and partitions collapsed--the Titanic was only moments from breaking apart."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCEfqj9pDAI

Click to expand...

Clearly, this is a time for prayer.
 
devildavid said:
I don't pray at all. I try to visualize things I want to accomplish, and I hope for things to work out. But I don't pray that something will happen in the traditional sense of prayer.
Click to expand...
I never pray for a result. I pray as a chanting meditation, basically a repeating loop of some mantra. It puts my mind at ease. Amazingly well, I might add.
 
can2man said:
I used to pray. But I don't anymore. However, I have tried to cut deals with God, usually clutching a toilet bowl after a night of tequila shots and bad intentions.
Click to expand...

I gave that up years ago, once it occurred to me that I would just do it all over again when I felt better anyway.
 
Prayer is an intentional meditation on the mystery of existence in an attitude of rapport with Divinity, and as such channels the universal metaphysical bond implicit in the earliest religious experience of mankind into the exigencies of present circumstances. Whatever the intention, whether of gratitude or appeal or guidance, the essential element is rapport and its meaning is hope.
 
Angel said:
Prayer is an intentional meditation on the mystery of existence in an attitude of rapport with Divinity, and as such channels the universal metaphysical bond implicit in the earliest religious experience of mankind into the exigencies of present circumstances. Whatever the intention, whether of gratitude or appeal or guidance, the essential element is rapport and its meaning is hope.
Click to expand...

I'll buy that, for the most part.
 
Angel said:
Prayer is an intentional meditation on the mystery of existence in an attitude of rapport with Divinity, and as such channels the universal metaphysical bond implicit in the earliest religious experience of mankind into the exigencies of present circumstances. Whatever the intention, whether of gratitude or appeal or guidance, the essential element is rapport and its meaning is hope.
Click to expand...

Just sit!
 
calamity said:
I never pray for a result. I pray as a chanting meditation, basically a repeating loop of some mantra. It puts my mind at ease. Amazingly well, I might add.
Click to expand...

I don't call that prayer. Meditation is not prayer, chants are not prayer.
 
i pray. i go to church sometimes, but mostly i prefer it to be private unless someone has publicly asked for prayers.
 
Prayer is not merely talking or chanting...prayer involves devotion, trust, respect, and a sense of dependence on the one to whom the prayer is directed...the purpose is to convey such ideas as to ask, make a request, petition, entreat, supplicate, plead, beseech, beg, implore favor, seek, inquire of, as well as to praise, thank, and bless...the determining factor to having your prayers heard by God is the heart and what your heart is moving you to do...Psalm 119:145; Lam. 3:41...those who observe God’s commandments and do “the things that are pleasing in his eyes” have the assurance that his “ears” are also open to them...1 John 3:22; Psalm 10:17; Pro. 15:8; 1 Peter 3:12...
 
devildavid said:
I don't call that prayer. Meditation is not prayer, chants are not prayer.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Chants are prayers....in principle. They are an attempt to connect to something abstract, be it a god, the universe, some vibration within, whatever.
 
Angel said:
Padmasana?
Click to expand...

Yes.
I went through a phase in life where I explored Buddhism and in particular - Zen. I went to some retreats and
Sat. Ate vegetables and sat. They discouraged hope, not that hope was evil, just that it took you out of the moment.
I found it wasn't for me but interesting all the same.
 
I've been known to pray from time to time but the movie "Steel Magnolias" tells me that I probably pray the way Ouiser Boudreaux does, even though I'm a man.

Ouiser-Boudreaux.png


What can I say, too many folks in my family who "pray at the drop of a hat".

raf,360x360,075,t,fafafa:ca443f4786.jpg


Shelby - Was she praying?

Truvy - Yes.

Shelby - Why?

Truvy - Got me. Maybe she was praying for Marshall and Drew and Belle. Maybe she was praying for us because we were gossiping. Maybe she was praying because the elastic is shot in her pantyhose. Who knows? She prays at the drop of a hat these days.

Shelby - How long has she been this way?

Truvy - Ever since Mardi Gras. She had her choice of going to a Bible weekend with her Sunday School class or to New Orleans with me and two other sinners. She left that Friday a pleasant, well-adjusted young lady and she returned on Tuesday a Christian.

Shelby - What does her boyfriend say?

Truvy - Sammy's so confused he doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt.
Click to expand...

And we've lost too many "Shelbys" in our family.
 
calamity said:
Some people pray over everything.
Click to expand...

Boy howdy, do I sure know that!
I had a family member run from the room and found them deep in prayer because I said
"God-dangit".
Not even goddammit, I said God-dangit because I didn't want to set them off.
Unfortunately their filter was set to Gosh-Dangit.
I'm sure if I'd said "darn" I'd probably be sent straight to Heck.

It took them twenty minutes, and then I was on the receiving end of a lecture which didn't stop even after I RAN screaming from the room. They followed me all the way down the street.
A friend of mine wanted to go fishing with my family member because he's pretty good at it.
I warned him to NOT say "Oh my God" under ANY circumstances, even if they got a fish hook in their eyeball.

They said it...came back and told me it ruined the fishing trip, and that he started wondering if he could jump out of the boat and swim the 9 miles back to shore.
 
calamity said:
Some people pray over everything. My mom does that. Others never pray at all. I'm sort of one of those people in the middle. I rarely pray, but when the chips are down, and all other options have been exhausted, repeating a good prayer certainly can change the mindset and lead to finding a new solution.

I've played that card maybe five times. Always with a decent amount of success. Three of those times actually led to a highly improbable outcome. So, it's certainly something I would lean on again, if needed.

And, all this gets me thinking. If the ship is sinking, would you pray as she goes down, or would you spend every last breath trying to stay afloat? Me, I'd give it all I had to float. But, while doing that, I might be praying for another boat.
Click to expand...

I am living proof there are atheist in fox holes. This boy never prayed during his 2 Iraqi tours. The urge never came over me to bow down to some creator.
 
Checkerboard Strangler said:
Boy howdy, do I sure know that!
I had a family member run from the room and found them deep in prayer because I said
"God-dangit".
Not even goddammit, I said God-dangit because I didn't want to set them off.
Unfortunately their filter was set to Gosh-Dangit.
I'm sure if I'd said "darn" I'd probably be sent straight to Heck.

It took them twenty minutes, and then I was on the receiving end of a lecture which didn't stop even after I RAN screaming from the room. They followed me all the way down the street.
A friend of mine wanted to go fishing with my family member because he's pretty good at it.
I warned him to NOT say "Oh my God" under ANY circumstances, even if they got a fish hook in their eyeball.

They said it...came back and told me it ruined the fishing trip, and that he started wondering if he could jump out of the boat and swim the 9 miles back to shore.
Click to expand...

I hear ya. I'm a praying atheist. It's like a praying mantis, except I don't eat my mates.
 
yankintx said:
I am living proof there are atheist in fox holes. This boy never prayed during his 2 Iraqi tours. The urge never came over me to bow down to some creator.
Click to expand...

Just means that little war didn't really scare ya. Like I said. I maybe prayed five times. I've been in bad spots a few dozen. I'm very selective in my praying moments.

Hence, I'm batting a 1000.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom