Posted on 11/18/2001 4:35:27 PM PST by victim soul
Prayer is a private thing , and it is purely for show and attention that a person prays in public. Church is essentially a public demonstration of your faith. If 2 little girls want to pray, they can do it at home or at church.
Listen to yourself. Quite dictatorial, aren't you?
The prayers of a righteous man accomplisheth much. And I do believe we have lots of prayers going out. There seems to be lots of prayer warriors in FR, too.
If the ACLU gets involved here, it runs the risk of being labelled "RACIST".
I'll say again also that you are mangling the concept of separation of church and state. There is nothing here that establishes an official state religion.
I am looking at a tree outside my window. How about you pray that it moves a few feet to the right. When that fails, I will get a shovel and dig it up and move it. That should prove two things:
1.) nothing fails like prayer 2.) God helps those who help themselves
I am fully aware that God is not Santa Clause or the good fairy, waiting out there to fulfill your every wish and command. Not all sick people are healed and not every prayer is answered as we desire it to be. Everyone who has ever lived before us are dead, no faith was strong enough to keep mortals alive and healthy forever. Death awaits all flesh. But I have had prayers answered and loved ones spared, and my own existance extended as well, against all odds.
God is in charge-his will will be done regardless of desires to the contrary, but time and eternity will show that he knows best, and if we obey his will we will, after all is said and done, and done comprehend the wisdom of his actions.
Lee was my Teaching Pastor for 6 years. He is a very good man and 'did a good work in me'.
That being said, he is also somewhat of a lightweight when it comes to convincing someone who doesn't already suspect God's existence. I would recommend the Bible as a source material. If that doesn't do it, then nothing man-made will.
As for myself now, the Church has injured my spirit and I will never be the same. My vote is for private prayer and study and leaving the organizations alone.
The argument is not based on a Constitutional imperative. Religions are numerous, contradictory, diverse and largely false. They are also ostensibly concerned with the supernatural. This implies two things; believers can make all manner of outrageous claims to special instructions from God which men outside of the faith are not privy to; and, more importantly, they can justify the extermination or conversion of nonbelievers. While it is presently true that most Christian religions in the U.S. are relatively benign it is the intolerant fundamentalist faiths that will aggressively dominate the secular institutions at the grass roots level.
Once this door is opened it is only a matter of time before the group with the most extreme and aggressive followers is in charge and anyone who doesn't toe the line will find themselves in a hell of these zealots' making. It is this possibility, however remote, that must be minimized by the simple expedient of keeping any form of religion from being sanctioned by an attachment to government institutions.
If God's will will be done regardless of desires to the contrary, what is the point of prayer? By your reasoning, God wanted 6,000 US citizens to be killed on September 11. Saying that it was an evil thing therefore is blasphemy against God's will...
I guess I will never understand Christians. And I was one...
I have also heard Christians say that atheists only become atheist because of some bad event in their lives which they blame on God and thus turn against him.
It seems you can have it both ways...
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