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I think it funny when players pray before a football game and then give credit to got if they win. As my son put it when seeing this "God cares about this game? If there is a god isn't their much more important things that he should pay attention to?"
This is an often misunderstood situation.
God does not care about the outcome of a game because he doesn't take sides like that
The players who pray beforehand are asking Him for strength to do their best and to play to the best of their abilities.
After a win when you hear a player give God "all the glory", he is merely humbling himself by thanking God for how well he performed - showing that he recognizes all he is able to do is thanks to the talents and gifts God has given him.
Just saying. A lot of dear friends are praying for me right now. They say they are, I say thank you. It's about the same thing as a less religious person like myself just telling someone they are in my thoughts. Sometimes there's not a lot else to be done. I consider their intent in what they say, and I love my friends, but people are fools to believe in this stuff they way they do.
I pray for others & I always see the results I have asked for. It must be so terribly lonely for someone who won't even acknowledge their creator. How totally lost and hopeless - what a horrible way to go through life.
Then why don't you make a world-wide tour of Childrens' Hospitals and have your god cure all of the children there of leukemia and other cancers and other diseases? Unless, of course, you have other things to use your spiritual capital on. Yes, I'm calling your bluff. I await to hear the news on the national news.
Okay..basically, what happens in this life on earth is but a tiny portion of our existence.
What is to come later when we are in our new immortal bodies with God in heaven will make all we have been through here seem very small and insignificant.
There is a whole "bigger picture" of what is to come that many of us can't even begin to imagine, but once we are free of these earthly bounds and bodies the picture will be much clearer to us too.
God does not care about the outcome of a game because he doesn't take sides like that
The players who pray beforehand are asking Him for strength to do their best and to play to the best of their abilities.
After a win when you hear a player give God "all the glory", he is merely humbling himself by thanking God for how well he performed - showing that he recognizes all he is able to do is thanks to the talents and gifts God has given him.
While my father was slowly suffering and withering away from life, they prayed. They never actually helped with anything.
I did all the grunt work and watched him die. Holding his head up to eat, changing his adult diapers, soothing his pain, paying for medicine, lending an ear, trying to keep his dignity. But, my siblings who were religious let me know they took time out of their day to pray for him. That was nice of them. They also asked others in church to pray for him, even though they didn't know him. It didn't really help him or me any, but I'm sure they felt a hell of a lot better that they did their part.
A perfect, and sad, example of what I was talking about.
Your example (and I've seen it repeated with friends) is what makes me want to shake the Bible-thumpers and those who are so quick to condemn non-believers to hell and say THIS is what we are supposed to be doing! THIS is the person who is showing us love. THIS is the person we can learn from.
Good for you, Poppy.
(I'd rather have you next to me in time of need than 1,000 believers who sit in church. Honest truth.)
Okay..basically, what happens in this life on earth is but a tiny portion of our existence.
What is to come later when we are in our new immortal bodies with God in heaven will make all we have been through here seem very small and insignificant.
There is a whole "bigger picture" of what is to come that many of us can't even begin to imagine, but once we are free of these earthly bounds and bodies the picture will be much clearer to us too.
As carnal creatures living in a carnal world . . . the above angst and disgust over the lack of "intervention" in the carnal outcomes is a powerful argument against prayer and the existence of God. I have always had difficulty accepting the "red in tooth and claw" nature of carnal existence wherein the physically weakest and youngest are victims of carnivores. The existence of disease and tragedy are indisputable. We are plagued by our spiritual capacity to comprehend the tragedies of this carnal life . . . AS tragedies. The other creatures do not seem to . . .as best we can determine. It is our possession of this spiritual perspective that makes this life so problematic.
Our spiritual perspective and capabilities are WHY it is important for us to learn how to "overcome and endure" whatever comes our way. Prayer is for that purpose and that purpose alone . . . NOT to alter the carnal realities.
Christ abides with us within our consciousness to aid us in "overcoming and enduring" this carnal world . . . as He DID . . . so that we will mature spiritually enough to be reborn as Spirit upon our physical death.
It is the mistaken thinking that everything is the result of God's Will that causes most of the angst.
God is a Living God. Life requires that certain processes occur JUST to sustain and maintain the EXISTENCE of that life . . . that have NOTHING to do with the WILL of the possessor of that life. Life requires reproduction. When the Life is Spirit . . . the reproduction is spiritual . . . NOT carnal. It is problematic that the spiritual reproduction must occur in a carnal environment . . . but that is how the reality of life and our existence is established, period. We see within our own short carnal lives that there are many processes our carnal bodies mandate to produce our Spirit (consciousness) and our Will has little to no control over them.
So, if only faith is required, why are you not Buddhist, or Hindu, or any of the other thousands of religions. They all have faith.
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