Rational BAC

Damaged-----

I wasn't thinking about hours of prayer. Just meant a few seconds. Not a true waste of time at all.
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Aspen-----

Assuming there is one Supreme Being, He shouldn't care who you pray to. If He really was that persnickedy about details, then He is not my kind of God anyway.

"OK Big Guy in the Sky--------I am in deep doo doo right now ---And I sure could use a little help---Thank you in advance"-----------------------Should work about as well as any prayer.

(As you might have noticed, I am one of those very liberal Christians.)

Jinto

I believe that I can respond to both of these at once. Ahem:

"Oh, Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with thou mayest blow thy enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy."

MollyMac

Hmm, I can see your problem, DamagedGoods, but believe me it's not insurmountable. I confess that, although I have been an atheist for over 30 years, I still hold on to my childhood habit of praying and I find I can do this while simultaneously trying to find real solutions. For example, a few years ago my son - then in his early teens and not at all street wise - ran away from home for the weekend to enjoy the massive annual music festival at Glastonbury. I was convinced he wouldn't have enough money, warm clothing, would fall into bad company etc etc and while I was making frantic telephone calls to various people I thought might be able to help, I repeated this fervent mantra: please god let him be all right, please god let him come home safe etc etc.

And guess what? He was all right! He did come home safe! Was I pleasantly surprised! The power of prayer rules, OK!

Rational BAC

Great post Molly. ----

Pretty much what I was talking about. Although you stated it much better than I.

Doesn't really take any time at all---a very short prayer I mean----when you or one of your loved ones is or may be in dire circumstances. Never know what might happen with a short prayer and have nothing to lose by doing it.

thebeave

Rational BAC, the next time you feel the need to pray, try this little experiment. Instead of directing your prayers to the Almighty above, send your prayers to the dirty sock that's been laying in your closet for the last 18 months (e.g. "Oh mighty Sock in the closet, give me strength to deal with this crisis!!" or "Please, Great Sock, make this pain in my ankle go away!" or "Please Mighty Sock, give me a "heads" when I flip this coin, not a "tails". Amen) Do this enough times over a long period of time, and I think you will find a pretty cool outcome. You just might be pleasantly surprised. The dirty sock answers your prayers at about the same frequency as the Great Lord himself! Who would have thought such power could reside in a little piece of cloth... Sock Bless you BAC.

Rational BAC

Thebeav---

Hey-----if a dirty sock works for you, I will not challenge it. I am essentially a pragmatist.

At least you will be thinking a little bit "outside the box" ---outside of our normal, but very primitive sensory perception and outside of our very limited intelligence.

It would probably help though that you hold your nose while you are praying to the dirty sock. Some dirty socks can make you lose your cookies.

PS--

By the way --assume theBeav has to do with the Beaver TV show from ever so long ago. One of my favorite shows ------I always empathized with (Gawd --senior moment--cannot recall his name right now)--------with that suck-up kid who was a real "nasty" inside his callous little heart.

Or I could be wrong. Beav and Beaver also have sexual connotations. If that is what you mean, please tell me so I do not get too far off base with this.

Somebody help me here---what was that kid's name?

DamagedGoods

Like I said, it's more than just a "few seconds," it's a fundamental change of mindset. I just don't think that way any more, because it proved fruitless in the past. Jumping off the shed with a cape didn't allow me to fly when I was a kid, so now I don't consider that to be a valid option when I need to travel to another state.

And as I heard many many times in the Navy: "when you assume, it makes an ass out of u and me." Unless you're going to appeal to holy books - which are not authoritative sources in my view - there's no reason to believe that there is only one SB, or that other not-so-Supreme Beings will not be offended if I pray to one of their cohorts (existent or not).

Abel Stable

In the case of Molly's story, prayer seems to work as a form of personal consolation. However, I don't believe the prayer had anything to do with her son's welfare & safe return.

Rational BAC

Damaged-------

I don't think any Supreme Being that I could believe in would be incensed with anything like that. Jealousy is such a human and seriously inferior emotion. Why would any Supreme Being be like that?

Rational BAC

Probably not.

Maybe yes.

Who knows really? And what does a few seconds of time cost anyone?