(August 11, 2013 at 3:15 pm)Esquilax Wrote:

(August 11, 2013 at 2:44 pm)BadWriterSparty Wrote: You mean to tell me that Tolkien wrote Gandalf as an allegory to Jesus, just like C. S. Lewis wrote Aslan as the fictional embodiment of Christ, and how Ender's Game is a SCI-Fi retelling of Mormon history?

What were you saying about homework again, Locke?

Wouldn't it be awfully funny if Tolkien's allegory wasn't actually Jesus at all, and he was just referencing Aslan the whole time?

Losing faith in the word of Tolkien is hardly funny.

Blasphemer!

It has already been said, but I will sum it up anyway.

Prayer is the medium in which we ask God to make His will for our life, our own will. It is us asking God to change our wants to what He wants for us. In short it is the free giving of our will and the adoption of "His will be done, on earth (in the prayer's life) as it is in Heaven."

You're trying this again, Drich? You think the results are going to be any different than last time? Good luck.

(August 11, 2013 at 7:03 pm)Drich Wrote: It has already been said, but I will sum it up anyway.

Prayer is the medium in which we ask God to make His will for our life, our own will. It is us asking God to change our wants to what He wants for us. In short it is the free giving of our will and the adoption of "His will be done, on earth (in the prayer's life) as it is in Heaven."

Called it. 9 pages ago.

(August 11, 2013 at 7:03 pm)Drich Wrote: It has already been said, but I will sum it up anyway.

Prayer is the medium in which we ask God to make His will for our life, our own will. It is us asking God to change our wants to what He wants for us. In short it is the free giving of our will and the adoption of "His will be done, on earth (in the prayer's life) as it is in Heaven."

I'll translate that for the intelligent people:

Prayer is the lazy, elitist way in which fucktards ask themselves for permission to do the must mundane of activities in their lives. It's them trying to convince themselves that the most insignificant of coincidences are messages from a wizard who will never love them the way he loves himself. In short, it is a leftover of primitive man, and if they aren't praying to one douche bag, they're simply praying to another.




This picture of the "holy spirit" should help clarify:

Y'know, sometimes it seems weird to me that christians take prayer in stride. I mean, actually think about what they're doing: beseeching the all-powerful creator of the universe for innocuous bullshit, apologizing for the slightest thing all the while.

... Is there any possible way that that's not the biggest overreaction- for anything- ever?

(August 11, 2013 at 2:16 pm)Esquilax Wrote:

Quote:#Doyourhomeworkbeforereplyingandstopcuzyoulookdumbtrollingmearoundtheforums

Weren't you the one claiming that the bible has never been wrong in another thread? Glass houses and stones, man. Your floor must be covered in glass.

And then, after numerous people including myself provided evidence for the complete opposite of his statement, he had a hissy fit and said none of us wanted to look at facts and we wanted to cling on to what we think is true.

It's good stuff, honestly. Reminds me why I keep coming back here.

Prayer is a complicated coping mechanism. However, fortunately we can summarize it up to other similar psychological phenomena. Prayer is basically the same mechanism we use to cope with either uncontrollable circumstances or personal flaws, and need for companionship. When the human brain is faced with uncontrollable circumstance, it will attempt to cope. The human mind has evolved to make sense of things outside of chaos. Prayer is a simple means to cope with this uncertainty. When the mind can rationalize that the situation is in control in some way shape or from. It will allow the mind to emotionally cope with the consequences.

Concerning personal flaws, it is a means that the mind can overcome personal traits. So in the perception of the individual he or she can overcome said flaws, which otherwise in their point of view seem insurmountable. Basically prayer enables them to feel that they have something greater than their problem and allows them to mentally overcome. Again it is a simple mechanism to cope with something otherwise would emotionally harm the body. Finally, dealing with need for companionship, the idea that a being that is perfect and knows you more than anyone else is very comforting. Not to mention the feeling that that person is always there to talk to. This gives security to the person emotions and enable them to vent on the fly. The evidence of this is rather simple, notice how “god” is always what the person needs? God according to theists knows their thoughts, personality and struggles. However, you know another person that knows these things? The person themselves, I theorize that prayer when it comes to companionship need is the same mechanism a person uses then they talk with themselves to either make a decision or self-reflect on a personal or external decision or conflict.

I am in no way shape or form a psychologist, I merely speaking from 23 years of being immersed in the church and personal research or my father’s instruction. I am pretty sure it goes deeper than what I state above and I am sure I missed other explanations. However, based on my own observations it seems prayer follows closely to those points I presented above.

Assuming atheism for a moment....I pose a question:

Does the atheist determine what is meaningful for the Christian and vice versa. ..

Or...

Does each individual determine what is meaningful to them?

Shouldn't that be "does the individual imagine what is meaningful to them?