Prayer

[Capt. Morgan]

Guess I should start by saying that I am agnostic and can't remember that last time that prayer or religin has held any draw for me. But I just found put that a friend f mine is preparing for a potentially life threatening surgery. For reasons that I have no explanation for I felt compelled to pray for her and I did. Just feels weird to me and was wondering if anyone here had some insight.

[joytron]

[quote name='Capt. Morgan' date='05 May 2010 - 10:09 PM' timestamp='1273122553' post='466896']
Guess I should start by saying that I am agnostic and can't remember that last time that prayer or religin has held any draw for me. But I just found put that a friend f mine is preparing for a potentially life threatening surgery. For reasons that I have no explanation for I felt compelled to pray for her and I did. Just feels weird to me and was wondering if anyone here had some insight.
[/quote]

I think it is a way of accepting that which is out of your control but still showing that you care

[Venger]

God has placed an instinct in us to communicate with him. whether you believe in him or not your gut tells you he is real. Call it your conscience if you want. That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd. You were compelled to pray because it is in your nature to do so. Just because you don't believe in something has no bearing on if it is real or not. I can disbelieve the moon or gravity but that doesn't make either any less a reality.
Ray

[The_Caterpillar]

I will keep your friend in my prayers.

I'm trying to live a life more in line with my beliefs (I'm a Christian who doesn't always do the best job of living that), and prayer is one of the places where I often find myself at a loss honestly; we can never really "know" if our prayers are being heard, which is where the Faith part comes in, and it is something I struggle with. Particularly when things that seem so incredibly unfair, like the illness of good people that are friends, come into the life equation.

I know you're an Agnostic, and I respect that and am in no way, shape, or form trying to preach to or evangelize to you. Just know that struggles and confusion on the nature of God and prayer and its efficacy are something that even those who are Christian deal with at times.

I sincerely hope your friend is on the mend, and I will keep them in my prayers. Hope this helps, both you and your friend.

[Tyler]

Well it makes sense if you're turly agnostic. Think about the word in its Greek roots, a-prexfix means without, gnosis means knowledge, so essentially without knowledge. It doesn't mean you're without belief in God, you're just unsure of what you believe.

[mustafabey]

I truly believe in the power of prayer. Its worked for me numerous times. Someone once told me "Prayer is talking to god, meditation is listening to god" So I reckon ya need to do both. Doesn't really matter how you conceptualize god or even acknowledge is existance. Don't know how it works. Prayer is send out vibes,maybe, little electrical charged vibes, goes out into cosmos and can influence whats going on. Doesn't work well for selfish prayer "Please let me win the lottery" Doesnt work well with contracts which what alot of organized religion does. "Please god let me win the lottery and I'll start going to church again" So say that prayer, ya got nothin to lose.

[Arcane]

[quote name='Venger' date='06 May 2010 - 02:42 AM' timestamp='1273149725' post='466939']
That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd.
[/quote]
i thought that was my mom...

[Venger]

[quote name='Arcane' date='31 May 2010 - 12:10 AM' timestamp='1275279015' post='470005']
[quote name='Venger' date='06 May 2010 - 02:42 AM' timestamp='1273149725' post='466939']
That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd.
[/quote]
i thought that was my mom...
[/quote]

no she was the one that told you to clean your room and eat your veg.
Ray

[porksandwich9113]

[quote name='Venger' date='06 May 2010 - 07:42 AM' timestamp='1273149725' post='466939']
That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd.
[/quote]

It's more like Intelligence if you ask me.
I don't "kill the guy pissing me off" because it would be incredibly stupid and would have negative consequences.
Even the cavemen were smart enough to say, hey, maybe we shouldn't kill our neighbors.

[ZAGO]

Peace be with you.

but ive for the longest time have held prayer as a form of "stress relief"
people pray to resign the stresses of life to someone/something else. when people say god is in control they are more likely to have less stress because they simply dont worry about it and the stress does not physical manifest.
Prayer is a psychological mechanism to remove burdens from your life.

If you dont pray will there really be any ill effects due to you knot praying?
Its obvious that you REALLY care for your friend but is the outcome a direct result of your prayer?

[ClearwaterGuy]

[quote name='Venger' date='06 May 2010 - 08:42 AM' timestamp='1273149725' post='466939']That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd.
[/quote]

I don't know about you but my instincts, conscience, and rationality towards something like murder come from a completely different mindset than whether or not to commit a minor theft. The religious view, to me, oversimplifies the human mind. And even more so, oversimplifies right and wrong.

[porksandwich9113]

[quote name='ClearwaterGuy' date='24 July 2010 - 11:26 PM' timestamp='1280031982' post='476205']
[quote name='Venger' date='06 May 2010 - 08:42 AM' timestamp='1273149725' post='466939']That little voice that tells you not to kill the guy pissing you off or don't steal that cd.
[/quote]

I don't know about you but my instincts, conscience, and rationality towards something like murder come from a completely different mindset than whether or not to commit a minor theft. The religious view, to me, oversimplifies the human mind. And even more so, oversimplifies right and wrong.
[/quote]

Where have you been all my life?

[kyleSD]

if you truly believed in the prayer you made maybe being agnostic isnt right for you, it contradicts your beliefs. Or you could just take it as a generally outcry for some form of religion, unless your prayer was specifically a christian one but that would be weird to specifiy mid prayer. I'm agnostic as well and sometimes I do find it difficult in situations like that because you have no one to turn to but yourself, but the way i think about it is if YOU can't do anything about it, all you can do is hope and be there and be supportive.

[Mikefu]

I believe that within us is an innate need to be connected to that which is beyond us. I believe that "beyond us ness" is the echo of our creator, in whose image we are made, and to whom we were originally to be in commune with. So prayer, whether spontaneous or planned, is our residual connectedness to God and His image crying out for reconnection. So yes, I believe your prayer was heard and that it was impacting, whether on your friends outcome, your personal self, or both.

[mustafabey]

Is it beyond us ness? Or is it within us and everything ness? Of course the face of god is differently viewed by each person. As each snowflake is unique in itself, so then, is everyones view of the face of god. There is no wrong way.

[Capt. Morgan]

[quote name='kyleSD' date='04 August 2010 - 01:25 PM' timestamp='1280946310' post='477705']
if you truly believed in the prayer you made maybe being agnostic isnt right for you, it contradicts your beliefs. Or you could just take it as a generally outcry for some form of religion, unless your prayer was specifically a christian one but that would be weird to specifiy mid prayer. I'm agnostic as well and sometimes I do find it difficult in situations like that because you have no one to turn to but yourself, but the way i think about it is if YOU can't do anything about it, all you can do is hope and be there and be supportive.
[/quote]

Dome good insight. Personally, I'm pretty comfortable with the fact I'm agnostic. I don't know whether there is a god or not and in all honesty I don't really care. The person that I prayed for is extremely religious though. I guess that might have something to do with why I did it. Since the situation was completely out of my control I guess I just wanted to hope there was something out there that would hear me in that situation.

[Kapten Kanel]

It's out of your control but you still feel that you need to do something - you "pray" - because that's what you've learned from the cultural/social construct around you. It gives some satisfaction, that you have tried to do something. This then evolves into MANY MANY different discussions/issues ("praying" is only one "version" of several where hoping/wishfull thinking is the core, what is the difference between a christian/muslim praying, a viking sacrifcing to oden/thor and stone age man just hoping really hard that his son won't die from his infected flesh wound? etc.....).

This post was much longer until i realized i had derailed totally, i came to the conclusion that i need to start a new thread, see - http://www.hookahforum.com/topic/39330-religon-agnosticism-and-atheism/

[DRT]

for me, i believe in a higher power although i do not feel a need to label it as "him", "God", ect. and in my prayers i basically expand on the serenity prayer (God, grant me the serenity to accept the things i cannot change, the courage to change the things i can, and the wisdom to know the difference). the power of surrender is huge for me, when i personally feel like i cannot handle a situation, i let my higher power take over and leave it in his hands. prayer has helped me immeasurably, but i would never try to press that on someone else. it all comes down to what you feel comfortable with and your religious or spiritual beliefs, and yours do not affect mine. you don't have anything to lose by trying, though.