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I don't understand why theses atheists spend so much time here making absolute statements like "God does not exist" "No one is listening because there is no God" yet they are the ones that are constantly criticizing God and religious people who believe in something other than their unenlightened ideas. In a way, atheists are more militant than many religious people I have met, similarly they do not seem happy or secure until they turn everybody to think the same way they do, how sad and hypocritical! Actually, most atheists are people that were traumatized or repulsed as children by dysfunctional versions of religion. Please, just because you have unresolved issues from your childhood, stop trying to make people as miserable as you are. It is like the little immature child that will not stop bugging his parents until he gets some attention. Find a good therapist and please grow up! God is great!
I don't understand why theses atheists spend so much time here making absolute statements like "God does not exist" "No one is listening because there is no God" yet they are the ones that are constantly criticizing God and religious people who believe in something other than their unenlightened ideas. In a way, atheists are more militant than many religious people I have met, similarly they do not seem happy or secure until they turn everybody to think the same way they do, how sad and hypocritical! Actually, most atheists are people that were traumatized or repulsed as children by dysfunctional versions of religion. Please, just because you have unresolved issues from your childhood, stop trying to make people as miserable as you are. It is like the little immature child that will not stop bugging his parents until he gets some attention. Find a good therapist and please grow up! God is great!
Oh the warm feelings Christianity gives to all those who don't believe...
It is like the little immature child that will not stop bugging his parents until he gets some attention. Find a good therapist and please grow up! God is great!
The problem is that you could say the same thing about people who believe that God exists and keep shouting this at the top of their lungs. There really is no difference between an atheist and a theist who both are convinced that only they can be right.
First of all you must become sure. The question of whether or not John Doe will do something for you is quite different from the question of whether or not Joe Smith will do it because they are two different people. If the person that you are wishing to talk to (in prayer) is a person, then they are a distinct individual person as every person is. Now the first step in any relationship with a person is to get to know them. The same is the case here. How would you like it if you had a child that only came to you when you needed something. However God does answer prayers. The common image that connects prayer to a relationship with God is the need for a person to gradually place themselves in the hands of God. When you are in someone else's hands, you are close to them, you know them, they guide the course of your life and they can also take care of you. The taking care of you is the answered prayer part. Yet that cannot exist without relationship. Why? because God gives men free will and what that means is that we choose whether or not we will put ourselves in God's hand. God will not violate man's free will by forcing him there. If one is outside of God's hands he cannot care for them because he will not impose himself on them. If something is not mine I have no more right to take it into my posession to do good to it as I have to take it into my posession to do bad to it. Free Will means we choose whether or not we will belong to God and place ourselves in his hands. This is where a relationship with God and effective prayer begins. This is the stance of the God of the Bible...if you mean him, and you MUST mean him if you are going to engage him.
I read a great quote the other day that went something along the lines of "A preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one."
I read a great quote the other day that went something along the lines of "A preoccupation with the next world pretty clearly signals an inability to cope credibly with this one."
Christianity is not about the NEXT world, it is about ANOTHER (and one that bares directly on this one).
I think first and foremost when I see so many people say "he" it is a joke. why is there a supreme being that is a he and where does he reside. God is the feeling of joy,love and peace that comes from within. Needless to say god and every other feeling we have is internal not external. I am a male and when I hear people say he i have to laugh a little. When we pray we are the only ones who have the ability to answer the prayers through effort. If we pray for money we have to try to make money not just wait around for it to come. Prayer is more meditation.
“And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 21:22
Since it comes from the mouth of Jesus, it must be true. But so much of the time, it seems as if what I ask does not come to pass. I know that the problem is not on God's side. He is El Shaddai. So, what am I missing? Perhaps I need to think in Hebrew, not in Greek.
The Greek word here is proseuche. It is a combination of pros (to) and euchomai (to wish). In the New Testament, this combined word almost always means prayer, rather than wish. It is more or less the technical word for prayer to God.
But when we look at which words it translates from the Hebrew Bible, we find that it covers both tephilla and techinnah. A little detective work reveals that techinnah is used only 23 times, 14 of those concering Solomon's temple. This rare word means "to request favor, to ask of God." We could use the English word, supplication, but techinnah is a bit more formal than that. Tephilla is used about 80 times, but even this is fairly rare. Tephilla carries the same nuance as techinnah, that is, it is a pleading prayer to God (for example, Psalm 4:2).
Since there are more than three dozen different words for prayer in Hebrew, these two words barely scratch the surface of the Hebrew view on prayer. Their combined usage is just over 100 times when there are thousands of occurrences of prayer in the Scriptures. But Greek and English are both compressed prayer languages, with just a few words for describing all communication with God.
"So what?" you might say. "It's nice to know all this, but how does it help me understand what Jesus means and why my prayers seem so anemic?"
Here's some help.
Since Jesus isn't speaking Greek, we can't be sure exactly what Hebrew word He really used. All of the vast vocabulary of Hebrew prayer-words gets compressed into this rather formal Greek word, so we don't know precisely what nuances Jesus had in mind. Therefore, we are required to expand our understanding of prayer by doing our best to gain a Hebrew perspective through an investigation of the full range of Hebrew words - and then decide which word best fits the context here.
What we discover is that there are several Hebrew words associated with pleading prayer. All of them rest on the idea of absolute trust in the character of God. My plea is not the basis of God's answer. The fuel for divine intervention is my complete abandonment to Him. Pure prayer of supplication is stripped of any ego concerns.
When I look at the Old Testament context of pleading prayer, I find men and women who cry out to God in desperation. They use Hebrew words that imply agonizing speech, groaning, travail, lives stripped of every other option, and begging with faces to the floor. There is nothing casual about these kinds of prayers. They have life and death intensity.
Do you suppose that our failure to see God's hand comes from the lack of desperate dependence? We think Jesus means "anything you want," but if He is saturated with Old Testament thought, maybe He means "anything you can't survive without." Would that change the way we pray?
at 100 yrs old, one of the customers said to me, god wants us to have nice things, he wants us to ask him for wisdom. God is not a pushy God, He wants you to ask him for things you need( always in jesus name) he wants us to love him, but Gave us the right to choose.The bible will tell you how to overcome all things, We are here for a short time, its like we are in training(will we pass the test?) It speaks in one verse that a day will come** when all will fall to the ground, and their teeth will grind in the presense of God** I am new at this , and the prophosys in the bible are in progress right now. I am scared, cause I am scared to die, But is says if we ask for forgivness of our sins, in Jesus name, He will remember them no more, to be cast out and forgotton.he gave satan power only untill the end, actually Satan was one off Gods beautiful angels, but now comes to steal, kill, and cheat us . He actuallyloves our misery. Sorry I just kept typing, I ask God every morning o use me , speak through me[, and guide me to make good choices. Oh, I could go on all night. I just buried both my mom and dad. God helps me through. They left, and never thought I could live withou them, but since their death, I am growing, and feeling like I will be okay, I know I will.. Always pray in the name of jesus, for he is our messanger, and most all my prayers come, in time, with faith and hope. The ones that dont is because it might mess up the plan, he has for me. God loves the meek, and loves when(as it says in the bible) he wants us to go in a quiet place, like a closet, and just talk like its a friend..he craves that from us..thanks for reading, I am not such aa good typer. Oh he also can give us messages in our dreams** I hope its readable, what would make my pc tripple leters/ nighty night0uote=Miss Blue;2200494]I have said it before on this forum that many people think God is a "sugar daddy" who sits on his throne and hands out whatever his spoiled children ask..He blessed us with the minds we have to figure out and solve problems..Imo we should be spending more time using out tools to solve our problems than whinning that God doesn't listen..We should try thanking God for the blessings we do have, and we have many that we are not aware of.[/quote]
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There really is no difference between an atheist and a theist who both are convinced that only they can be right.
However God does answer prayers. The common image that connects prayer to a relationship with God is the need for a person to gradually place themselves in the hands of God. When you are in someone else's hands, you are close to them, you know them, they guide the course of your life and they can also take care of you. The taking care of you is the answered prayer part. Yet that cannot exist without relationship. Why? because God gives men free will and what that means is that we choose whether or not we will put ourselves in God's hand. God will not violate man's free will by forcing him there. If one is outside of God's hands he cannot care for them because he will not impose himself on them. If something is not mine I have no more right to take it into my posession to do good to it as I have to take it into my posession to do bad to it. Free Will means we choose whether or not we will belong to God and place ourselves in his hands. This is where a relationship with God and effective prayer begins. This is the stance of the God of the Bible...if you mean him, and you MUST mean him if you are going to engage him.
Dispelling confusion...
I hope its readable, what would make my pc tripple leters/ nighty night
0uote=Miss Blue;2200494]I have said it before on this forum that many people think God is a "sugar daddy" who sits on his throne and hands out whatever his spoiled children ask..He blessed us with the minds we have to figure out and solve problems..Imo we should be spending more time using out tools to solve our problems than whinning that God doesn't listen..We should try thanking God for the blessings we do have, and we have many that we are not aware of.[/quote]
