What should we pray to God?

[Devansh]

What should we pray to God?

[Greg H.]

What should we pray to God?

First yoiu'll have to decide which god you're praying to.

[Phi for All]

What should we pray to God?

 

Praying to cure cancer or disease seems to work sometimes. Praying to regrow a lost limb never does, so that must be wrong, although I don't remember ever reading anything specifically about not healing amputees in any religious documents.

 

Most of the people I know who pray to a god accept whatever the outcome as the work of their god, good or bad. Since they can't really know for sure, I'm not sure why it matters. If they pray for something and it happens, it's God's will, and if it doesn't happen, that's God's will too.

 

I've heard people say just that, that the only true-believer's prayer is for the will of God to be done. Since He's going to be doing that anyway, prayer for it seems superfluous. It's a "whatever happens, happens" argument, and I think that can be dangerous with or without a god involved. It harms our creativity, curiosity, and our passion for exploration when we think everything is going to play out the same way no matter what we do, imo.

[John Cuthber]

What should we pray to God?

should we pray to God?

should we pray?

[Phi for All]

should we pray to God?

 

should we pray?

 

If we remove god(s) from prayer, I think we need a more detailed definition of prayer. Is it supplication, is it worship, is it groveling? If it's not aimed at a deity, is it just wishful thinking? If you earmark your prayer for a specific deity, does it become more than wishful thinking?

 

Perhaps prayer is just supposed to be a way to say, "Thanks for doing all the great things I attribute to You". This seems more personal and less greedy to me. If you're going to use faith instead of hope or trust, you've already determined that reason is not a guiding principle for your belief system, but gratitude seems preferable and more reasonable than supplication or worship, at least to me.

[John Cuthber]

How sure can you be that there are any Gods to remove from prayer?

If you pray to a specific God, but that God doesn't exist, isn't that also wishful thinking?

 

The whole question is poorly specified to an extant that makes it impossible to give a valid answer.

[Phi for All]

How sure can you be that there are any Gods to remove from prayer?

If you pray to a specific God, but that God doesn't exist, isn't that also wishful thinking?

 

The whole question is poorly specified to an extant that makes it impossible to give a valid answer.

 

I think, for the purposes of the OP, we have to allow that god(s) may exist, since what would you be praying to if we didn't? And we probably need to be even more specific about which, since the OP may have been talking about one or more of the Abrahamic religions (but I might be forgetting about other religions that utilize prayer).

[PeterJ]

If you're talking about prayer as the delivery of some sort of Christmas wish-list, then pray for anything you like. Prayer at its most profound is not 'about' anything, but is communion, so the question would not arise. .

[dimreepr]

I would say pray for world peace and an end to poverty but all the god/s seem to be opposed to that idea, for some reason.

[imatfaal]

I would say pray for world peace and an end to poverty but all the god/s seem to be opposed to that idea, for some reason.

 

+1

 

An end to religious violence and internecine intolerance would be nice as well

[John Cuthber]

If you're talking about prayer as the delivery of some sort of Christmas wish-list, then pray for anything you like. Prayer at its most profound is not 'about' anything, but is communion, so the question would not arise. .

Interesting. Are we talking about the same idea here?

"communion

kəˈmjuːnjən/Submit

noun

1.

the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially on a mental or spiritual level."

 

Because I don't think I could be expected to comprehend the intimate ideas of any God and I wouldn't expect Him to need me to kneel and put my hands together before he was well aware of any intimate thoughts and feeling I have.

[PeterJ]

Okay John. You are not being asked to believe that you can comprehend the intimate ideas of any God, or that you need to kneel and put your hands together. You don't have to believe anything at all.

 

The kind of prayer I mentioned is the kind the monk Evagrios is speaking of when he says 'Never try to see a form a shape when praying'. All words and thoughts are forms. It might be worth checking out the Jesus prayer. This is the kind of prayer that Mohammed endorses when he says 'A hours' contemplation is worth a years' worship'. Elsewhere I think he says it's worth more than seven years worship. It can also be called contemplation or meditation.

 

You would not be communicating with another being, you'd be rediscovering yourself.

 

Of course, a lot of prayer in not like this. Many people imagine a God in the sky and pray in all sorts of ways to that. But the idea and meaning of prayer would encompasses a wide range of practices. including many that have nothing to do with Gods and Christmas presents.

[John Cuthber]

The idea of a commune between me and God makes as much sense as one between me and an earthworm.

Re.

"You would not be communicating with another being, you'd be rediscovering yourself."

That's dangerously close to talking to yourself.

 

I am amused by you saying

"this is the kind of prayer that Mohammed endorses when he says 'A hours' contemplation is worth a years' worship'."

without apparently spotting the irony.

 

I think the best commentary I have seen on prayer is from Emo Philips

"When I was a little boy, I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised, the Lord, in his wisdom, doesn't work that way. So I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me."

[Marshalscienceguy]

What should we pray to God?

Some people don't believe in god. So if they don't believe why would they pray?

 

If there would be anything to pray for it would be that deformed and retarded babies were never born and that all children would be born into families that could afford taking care of them and sincerely wanted them. Now this is not saying I hate children with deformities or these type of developmental problems but everything is so difficult for these people and its often very difficult on their parents having to keep up with the additional costs and care for these children. As well as often bullying from other children which I personally have witnessed and have defended some of these people against. Its so sad watching a group of children picking on a retarded child because he is too retarded to realize that they are mocking them.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Marshalscienceguy

[John Cuthber]

Might it be better to pray for the absence of bullies?

If you get rid of one potential group of victims they will find someone else to bully anyway.

So it seems that the problem is those who disrespect others, rather than those who are not respected.

[PeterJ]

John - Sorry.for boring you. I hadn't realised that you're just messing about here. I think you should make this clear before leading people like me into wasting their time talking to you. I'll move on, as I prefer thoughtful conversations.

[Phi for All]

Perhaps prayer is a reflection on the character of the believer. For someone whose religion is a very personal, individual belief, I would imagine their prayer is also reflective of that. For those who feel the need to spread their religion, prayer probably takes on a more public, inclusive type of communion.

 

The more evangelical religions tend to want everyone to change to suit them; they're usually the ones mucking about in politics, trying to influence legislation on other people's morality. They also seem to be the ones more prone to public prayer, bowing their heads to beseech their god to forgive all the sinners everywhere. I admit to a lot of bias against those who assume they know what's best for everyone else, whether it's about religion or not. I also don't think it's right to legislate morality, or even use religious tenets as a basis for morality.

 

The way PeterJ describes prayer as a contemplative way to learn more about yourself sounds like a much more meaningful approach. It assumes that you can't know what's best for everyone, and that your beliefs are yours alone when it comes right down to it. Most people I know that ascribe to a certain religion have a slightly different perspective on it than everyone else who follows the same religion, so it seems logical that their prayer would reflect those differences.

[John Cuthber]

John - Sorry.for boring you. I hadn't realised that you're just messing about here. I think you should make this clear before leading people like me into wasting their time talking to you. I'll move on, as I prefer thoughtful conversations.

Why do you think I'm just messing about?

Is it so that you can write of criticism of your assertions as "just a joke"?

[Devansh]

As we all know that Supreme Lord, is omniscient (all knowledgeable). Who knows better than Him? So, we all must pray to the almighty,

"Oh, my dear Lord my knowledge is very limited. Your knowledge is absolute. You are the most well wishing friend of every living entity. So, you know better, what is the best thing for me. So, instead of I, asking you for anything with my limited knowledge, I plead to you that please give me the best according to your vision."

[Phi for All]

As we all know that Supreme Lord, is omniscient (all knowledgeable). Who knows better than Him? So, we all must pray to the almighty,

"Oh, my dear Lord my knowledge is very limited. Your knowledge is absolute. You are the most well wishing friend of every living entity. So, you know better, what is the best thing for me. So, instead of I, asking you for anything with my limited knowledge, I plead to you that please give me the best according to your vision."

 

I have a problem with omniscience and omnipotence. It implies that your deity can change any physical laws It chooses. If we allow for that, isn't everything else just a big guess? I mean, if the Supreme Lord could decide to snap His fingers and remove gravity from existence, what does that say about anything we think we know?

 

And knowing EVERYTHING?! How could that possibly work? Did It know the dinosaurs would eventually die out when It created them (or did It know that It would toss an asteroid at the planet that would wipe most of them out)? If It already knows what the outcome is to every action, is It manipulating those actions in a way that removes choice, or does it simply allow whatever is going to happen to happen, and is that really omniscience if nothing is done with the knowledge?

 

But my objections to "omni-anything" aside, this seems like the most reasonable thing to pray for. It's personal, it's not a wish list, and you're just asking for what you assume your deity is going to be doing anyway, i.e., whatever Its will is. If prayer isn't going to be used for personal enlightenment, this is the least objectionable way to pray, imo.

[dimreepr]

As we all know that Supreme Lord, is omniscient (all knowledgeable). Who knows better than Him? So, we all must pray to the almighty,

"Oh, my dear Lord my knowledge is very limited. Your knowledge is absolute. You are the most well wishing friend of every living entity. So, you know better, what is the best thing for me. So, instead of I, asking you for anything with my limited knowledge, I plead to you that please give me the best according to your vision."

 

A deity that could understand everything would very soon realise, what’s the point without control?

 

A deity that could control everything would not understand, what’s the point without understanding?

 

A deity that could control and understand everything wouldn't start.

 

Edit/ exchanged the word knowledge for the more appropriate word understanding.

Edited May 22, 2014 by dimreepr

[John Cuthber]

As we all know that Supreme Lord, is omniscient (all knowledgeable).

Perhaps we should set up a topic in the religion section of this site for people to read before they post anything.

It could include things like

" God isn't omniscient (or omnipotent) because it's logically impossible.

Does He know the question to which he doesn't know that answer?

If He knows it then he knows he doesn't know everything. On the other hand, if he doesn't know it then he doesn't know everything.

 

 

Similarly, can H set himself a task He can't accomplish?

If he can't set it, He's not omnipotent.

If he can't' achieve it then He's not omnipotent.

 

That would get round the problem of people who base their "argument" on grounds that are known to be logically impossible.