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1. habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.
Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
first let me define sloth
1. habitual disinclination to exertion; indolence; laziness.
now let's look at prayer. prayer is spending an inordinate amount of time, typically on your knees, asking for the intervention of some sort of divine being, in modern society that would most likely be the omnipotent abrahamic deity.
instead of exerting yourself in an attempt to rectify the problem, you just keep asking for an all powerful being to solve your problem for you.
habitual prayer = sloth
now, those of faith who pray, how do you take this?
[edit on 5/20/07 by madnessinmysoul]
Originally posted by jon1
Prayer. I don't see myself as being lazy because most of the prayers that I do are not for me but for other people.
for situations that people are in that are beyond my control.
That's the good thing about being a christian, we have God to help in situations where none beleivers come to the end of the road.
Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
instead of exerting yourself in an attempt to rectify the problem, you just keep asking for an all powerful being to solve your problem for you.
...now, those of faith who pray, how do you take this?
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
You shouldn't pray for favors from God or material things, so your argument is obsolete.
Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
no, my point is still here. praying for... let's say world peace. that's something that isn't material or a personal favor, but it's still lazy. you could go and work for world peace instead... but people don't because it's hard and thankless work.
then there are prayer vigils to end the death penalty, when instead you could write letters and push for legislation. but no, it's thankless work.
praying for strength? instead of giving yourself a kick in the butt to get yourself going you're asking for the intervention of an ALL POWERFUL BEING to give you that kick. that's not just lazy, that's arrogant.
Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
... let's say world peace. that's something that isn't material or a personal favor, but it's still lazy. you could go and work for world peace instead... but people don't because it's hard and thankless work.
then there are prayer vigils to end the death penalty, when instead you could write letters and push for legislation. but no, it's thankless work.
praying for strength? instead of giving yourself a kick in the butt to get yourself going you're asking for the intervention of an ALL POWERFUL BEING to give you that kick. that's not just lazy, that's arrogant.
Originally posted by ben91069
What if many people who pray also take action madness?
You see not everything is possible to do if it is dependent on outside circumstances. What I mean is that take world peace for example. If you work towards it and pray for it, yet the rest of the world wants to fight, then how is it possibly solvable by you?
It is out of your power, thus is why people ask for divine intervention.
Also, what about the things that are impossible, like bringing back a dead child?
With man, this is impossible, with God it will be possible at the end of time.
Most people who pray simply put more hope in God than humans or the world.
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
Well, let's look at some examples of Christians(people who pray) simultaneously working for world peace.
How about the Christian Children's Fund? Do they not create peace throughout 3rd world countries by donating money for education, medical aid, and food for children?
Now I hardly think that's "thankless work."
If there was no physical action taken to abolish the death penalty, then how did you hear about all of the controversy surrounding it?
Pope John Paul II, a man who obviously prays, has voiced his opinion and has written an encyclical about capital punishment.
Its a very good read: Evangelium Vitae
I'm assuming that by strength, you mean physical strength.
The only example that I can think of when people prayed for physical strength are sports. You've probably seen teams doing it before the start of Super Bowls. They huddle around and lower their heads while the coach says a prayer. Now, madnessinmysoul, are you saying that these guys are sloths?
They train their bodies to the limit and have worked their entire lives to become professional players, and yet they still find time to pray.
Like I said, this argument is pretty obsolete.
Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
What a cop out... Resorting to feigning ignorance and claiming "Hey I didn't mean that" when it was obvious you did.
Read your first post, then read my second post, then the pieces of the puzzle should click into place.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
I think madness has a point.
If millions of people pray every day, some of them will be praying at odds with one another. How does "god" choose whose prayers to answer and whose to not?
Statistically speaking, if you spend lots of time praying, occasionally something you've prayed for is going to happen. It's the law of averages.
Doesn't mean your prayers were answered though. Just means that statistically your number came up.
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Do you have a place where I can see these statistics on a graph? Or is this just a belief of yours in the power of prayer?
Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Do you have a place where I can see these statistics on a graph? Or is this just a belief of yours in the power of prayer?
Originally posted by jon1
putting out questions that only someone who is not a christian would ask because he does not know God and he can't understand the way he works.
He thinks he does though.
with the question he has thrown us it is obvious that he thinks prayer does not work and no matter how much we say that it does he will deny it
because he is on a bit of a crusade against christianity.
After two years searching he did not find God.
I think that if he spent as much time looking for the truth as he does on these forums, he would now believe in God.
Personally I think he is still searching and hopeing to find the truth, this is just his way of getting his questions answered with a mix of resentment thrown in.
Madness, I will pray for you,
It does not matter how much you shout and stamp your feet, God is there and allways will be, at least for 2.1 billion of us.