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May 28, 2008
When Did Prayer Become Dirty?
I will be the first person to tell you that I am not perfect. I do stupid things and words fly out of my mouth before I think about what I am saying. Growing over the years, and having a very calm, composed spouse, I am a better person than I was. Watching him and often taking his lead, has made me make better decisions and handle calamities in ways that I wouldn’t have before I met him.
Even through my imperfections, I am not ashamed to use the words pray or prayer and to tell you that I pray. I pray constantly; all day long at different times. I can have a person’s name come to mind for no reason at all and I will pray for them.
A few weeks ago, a lady’s name came to my mind. I had not heard her name mentioned in a while, but I took her name coming to me as a sort of signal that I needed to pray for her. So, I did. To my knowledge she is perfectly okay, but it didn’t hurt for me to say a little prayer for her.
It bothers me that the word pray seems to be almost a dirty word on some blogs. People like to use the word thoughts instead of pray.
Keep me in your thoughts.
I will keep him in my thoughts.
Energy seems to be another word that’s becoming more and more popular.
I will send good energy your way.
In the past, I have asked for prayer for certain people. That is exactly what I would like; prayer. No offense, but I don’t need your thoughts. What good are your thoughts? I need you to pray.
I thought unless you were atheist, you prayed to something, someone.
Christians pray to God.
Buddhists pray to the Buddha within themselves.
Muslims pray to Allah.
I could go on and on. My point is this; why not say, I am praying for so-and-so or will you pray for so-and-so? Why say, I will keep her in my thoughts? Just because you are thinking about someone does not mean you care for their well being and you want the Lord (be it mine or yours) to bless them.
I don’t expect to get a response from the people who actually refuse to use the word prayer. They are also the ones who would think this would cause some sort of controversy and are always politically correct. Sometimes trying to be politically correct will get you no where.
Let me set one thing straight. I love hearing how other people live and how they feel - their deep thoughts. If you give an opinion on this blog, you will not be ostracized. I will not allow malicious comments against me or another person. If this happens, the comment will be deleted.
I really want to know; what do you have against using the word prayer or what do you think other people have against using the word prayer?
Posted by tami at May 28, 2008 12:41 PM
Comments
Like you I pray several times through out the day. If I am out driving and I see an accident or a ambulance races by me I say a pray for that person & their families. If we are out in a restaurant we bow are heads and pray before we eat. It is something that I have done since I was little. We have had several people walk up to us and say that it is good to see families still praying at the dinner table. I am not ashamed to pray in private or public. I am not ashamed to tell people I will pray for them and I am not ashamed to ask for prayers. Prayer is a might powerful thing.
Posted by: chastity at May 28, 2008 12:59 PM
I believe in the power of prayer but I also believe in the law of attraction/power of positive thinking. I guess I've got a topic for a new blog post here, but my point is that, based on life experiences, I chose to use prayer and positive thinking/thoughts in different situations.
And I swear, I didn't mean to delete your post! :)
Posted by: Bree at May 28, 2008 7:45 PM
I don't use the word prayer because I'm an atheist, so "thoughts" feels much more appropriate.
The word does make me feel slightly uncomfortable though, partly because I've come across too many fundamentalist evangelicals who use the word as a thinly veiled self-righteous way to try and convert people or say "look at me, I'm so holy"... "don't worry dear, I'll *pray* for you" (not including you in this category AT ALL! It's a really narrow category, but as an ex-evangelical Christian it's unfortunately a model I'm very familiar with). I also find it uncomfortable as I'm in the UK where we don't have separation of church and state and its a constant bone of contention for me that christianity is taught in schools as fact rather than just "some people believe".
HOWEVER, it does NOT bother me when people use the word in their blogs - their space, their domain, none of my business. I can always skim read/skip overly religious posts that don't interest me.
I do feel slightly uncomfortable when people say they'll pray for me, partly because of the above reason, and partly because I feel they're wasting their time, but then it's just their way of thinking about me so fair enough. More my problem than theirs.
Sorry - have ended up writing a really lengthy comment!
Posted by: Pewari at May 29, 2008 3:44 AM
Frankly I use Prayer, and after what I have been through lately I couldn't imagine how to get through with out it. I think that if someone is allowed to say they are thinking good "thughts" my way because it makes them feel good in their religion (even though I disagree wiht said religion, or lack their of) that as an evengelical christain I shoudl be allowed to say I am praying for the same person. If our freedom protects religions such as budist, muslim, and athiest, then it shoudl protect christiainty as well.
Posted by: ellice at May 29, 2008 6:43 AM
I find that I am in a total muddle about religion - having lived in a family that were in previous generations vicars and deans etc; then my mother's generation were practising members of the church, except for my mother at the end of her life, and I fell out of going to church because I had experiences from 'religious' people that horrified me. (They were so unchristian I could not believe what I was experiencing.) I think I still believe in something spiritual in this world, I haven't got a clue what it is, and I speak to this power, yes even call it God at times! But I know that I have lost my support for the Church as I know it in this country. (I cannot say that the small experience I had of Buddhism in Ladakh impressed me either.) I feel uncomfortable when people ascribe the weather etc and such daily things to God's will, but I have no problems with people praying during the day - I talk to my spirit frequently, and that is not just in moments of need, it is also in moments of appreciation of natural things as well as asking for help for others. I find it interesting that some people talk about prayer, I don't find it offensive or judge them negatively, in fact it is a positive point that you think about matters enough to pray about them. Many don't even get to the thinking part. There you go - another lengthy comment!!
Posted by: Miss L at May 29, 2008 7:00 AM
Ah, man. You busted me. I am guilty of this, mostly because I don't want to ostracize people who are not believers. If I know someone is a believer, I will use the word prayer. Otherwise, I don't, although I really am praying for them. I should always use the word prayer though, if for no other reason, to be a witness to them of my faith.
Posted by: Tammy at May 29, 2008 11:43 AM