(August 4, 2023 at 7:41 am)Ten Wrote: It never occurred to me what I was actually saying when I used to pray for god to influence other people in some way. Whether it was to change someone at work's attitude towards me, make others more able to listen, soften their hearts, etc. No matter how you phrase it...you're asking a supernatural entity to exert their power over the hearts and minds of other people. To enter them. To change them. To make them do something or act a certain way, according to your wish.
Setting aside the very clear connections of prayer to witches summoning demonic familiars and asking them for a boon or service in exchange for a gift or a price paid. But how does praying for god to influence someone else not equal to an expectation of some level of possession by this entity? Otherwise what exactly are you asking the entity to do? How does that figure into the "we're all here to suffer for free will" thing?
I prayed a lot when I was a kid asking god and Mary to change the abuse I was dealing with. My parents were very violent toward one another and toward me. It was scary and I didn't know who to turn to for help. In one way I was asking for god to change my parents and in another I was asking for protection. Of course, my intentions didn't matter as nothing changed for the better...in fact it only got worse.
That was a realization that helped me leave religion behind...prayer didn't work. I was basically wishing.
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” — Confucius
