Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dale Headley on November 11, 2012 at 1:45pm

NO!!!  Because it would be a waste of time better spent on doing something positive.  For an atheist, praying is the same thing as giving up.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley on November 11, 2012 at 9:38pm

Sure.. I've called on every thing that might help.    It is something to do when you've done everything else and still feel helpless.   I think positive thinking is more helpful than negative thinking..and if there's even a micron's chance of positive thoughts affecting the world then I'm certainly going to project those thoughts like a beacon from my brain.

I certainly enter pleas into the air for friends and loved ones who I can't help in any other way.  Its a way of showing my support and love for them to 'wish them to get better'.. to 'send positive energy their way'.. even 'prayers for their recovery'..even though my prayers aren't directed towards any god.

 

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Permalink Reply by Diane on November 12, 2012 at 8:24am

I have lost someone I love and no, I never prayed.  Part of it was that I knew he was going to die no matter what anybody did.  I did try to direct my thoughts and actions in a way that would be comforting to me.  I thought of him and his atheism and how he would not be suffering any more when he died.  

I have also the experience of seeing my child on a ventilator in the ICU.  I did not know what was going to happen.  Still I did not seek God.  I just simply don't believe there is one.  I tried to have the presence of mind to be able to let go of her if that's what happened.  It didn't, but I don't think my actions had anything to do with it.    

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Permalink Reply by James Cox on November 12, 2012 at 7:34pm

I have attempted over the years, to center myself,  'while in the storm'. But this has nothing to do with 'god'. I am only trying to find that next moment of strenght to continue, and keep my head linked to compassion and hope. Most bad experiences do not last, from my memory. Some things one must past through, power over the situation seems rather limited... 

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Permalink Reply by Ron V on November 13, 2012 at 12:16am

No

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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on November 13, 2012 at 3:05am

No. Thus far I have been able to come to terms without prayer. It does not readily occur to me to pray in such situations.

I support the idea of prayer or hope as a meditative practice, but I do hold concerns that some use it as an attempt to evade reality altogether. It seems like that would be more devastating in the long run, but perhaps I just don't get it. Outside of the cases where people opt for prayer in place of taking their children in for proper medical treatment for curable conditions, it's not my place to tell other people how to cope.

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 12:24pm

Then too, there's always Chester --

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 2:51pm

I'm honestly sorry, Blaine, but at the same time, you know that if there's a joke in there, I gotta go for it --

Maybe you should have prayed to him, for him.

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 7:20pm

I hope she isn't expected to sit on the floor and beg for table scraps!

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 8:08pm

That CAN'T be an improvement!

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 8:36pm

I'LL be the judge of that! Mail me some --

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on November 13, 2012 at 9:44pm

Brad Pitt?

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