Warning: BLASPHEMOUS POST. If you have issues with your religious convictions please don’t read, if you have no issues read at your own peril. If you wish to have issues, by all means read!
Have you ever walked into those SME-like private hospitals where at 7.30am the nurses and cleaners, cooks and doctors gather to sing praises and pray profusely for the good lord to enrich, multiply and “bless” the works of their hands? I would have told you more if I could understand the various gibberish like tongues in which they are wont to speak. Sorry, can’t help you there. In fact, you may be able to help me if you have the gift of interpretation. I actually seriously think that some Christians get competitive during group prayers. You see, there’s a language of new generation prayer (and I don’t mean speaking in tongues here), there is a register which only the initiated can pull off without biting off the tips of their tongues. Those who are fledglings in this art resort to spouting gibberish tongues which, by the way, is also an art, but then, I digress. Maybe some other post…
So I was wondering about those prayer sessions, what exactly does this kind of prayer mean, Ehn?!, seeing that the works of their hands are dispensing medication to people who are ill. Another almost clichéd situation would be the coffin maker who prays for business every morning. How about at work? The dog eat dog situation we all face, now check this: imagine there’s this guy who’s been “Deputy Whatever” for years, sometimes “Acting Whatever” when the Big Kahuna travels or is on vacation but is unceremoniously stripped of all power when Kahuna comes back. Now, it is clear Kahuna is going nowhere in the nearest future, see, Kahuna is still young, nowhere near retirement , so elimination by retirement is out of the question. Kahuna is not likely to get a new job anytime soon what with the recession and everything. Is it mere coincidence then that “Mr. Deputy” prays much more vigorously in church on Sunday for divine elevation just when there is “gist” from a “reliable source” in HR that there may be job losses in their company. Pourqoir? Pray tell.
All these make me wonder, how does the good lord keep it all straight and fair? Selfish prayers are difficult to answer I suppose. Does he go on a ‘drop ‘em’ spree as soon as his beloved son, the coffin maker, cries to the heavens about being broke! Or does he feed the coffin maker the bad nuts, those who’ve never bothered to cry to the high heavens over… well… over anything? Or an even better scenario, what if he just allows the evil one get ‘em while he does his bit by directing the steps of the dead man’s relatives to this particular coffin maker?
Have you ever walked into those SME-like private hospitals where at 7.30am the nurses and cleaners, cooks and doctors gather to sing praises and pray profusely for the good lord to enrich, multiply and “bless” the works of their hands? I would have told you more if I could understand the various gibberish like tongues in which they are wont to speak. Sorry, can’t help you there. In fact, you may be able to help me if you have the gift of interpretation. I actually seriously think that some Christians get competitive during group prayers. You see, there’s a language of new generation prayer (and I don’t mean speaking in tongues here), there is a register which only the initiated can pull off without biting off the tips of their tongues. Those who are fledglings in this art resort to spouting gibberish tongues which, by the way, is also an art, but then, I digress. Maybe some other post…
So I was wondering about those prayer sessions, what exactly does this kind of prayer mean, Ehn?!, seeing that the works of their hands are dispensing medication to people who are ill. Another almost clichéd situation would be the coffin maker who prays for business every morning. How about at work? The dog eat dog situation we all face, now check this: imagine there’s this guy who’s been “Deputy Whatever” for years, sometimes “Acting Whatever” when the Big Kahuna travels or is on vacation but is unceremoniously stripped of all power when Kahuna comes back. Now, it is clear Kahuna is going nowhere in the nearest future, see, Kahuna is still young, nowhere near retirement , so elimination by retirement is out of the question. Kahuna is not likely to get a new job anytime soon what with the recession and everything. Is it mere coincidence then that “Mr. Deputy” prays much more vigorously in church on Sunday for divine elevation just when there is “gist” from a “reliable source” in HR that there may be job losses in their company. Pourqoir? Pray tell.
All these make me wonder, how does the good lord keep it all straight and fair? Selfish prayers are difficult to answer I suppose. Does he go on a ‘drop ‘em’ spree as soon as his beloved son, the coffin maker, cries to the heavens about being broke! Or does he feed the coffin maker the bad nuts, those who’ve never bothered to cry to the high heavens over… well… over anything? Or an even better scenario, what if he just allows the evil one get ‘em while he does his bit by directing the steps of the dead man’s relatives to this particular coffin maker?
I really don’t know how it’s supposed to work when people say selfish prayers with no thoughts as to who might have to be stripped in order to enrich them…
Disclaimer:
This post is the direct consequence of lack of sleep for three nights straight. If you have any unfavourable comments kindly address it to “PT’s insomnia” thanks.
Disclaimer:
This post is the direct consequence of lack of sleep for three nights straight. If you have any unfavourable comments kindly address it to “PT’s insomnia” thanks.
16 more steps:
Welcome back, I missed you - really.
Now, let me start by saying that there is nothing blasphemous about your post. You have not disparaged the names of God (in any faith) or his Son (uniquely Christian), so anyone thinking you have blasphemed should go and do something drastic to themselves.
A similar point of contention I have always had is the world of sports....two opposing teams pray to the same God, each asking that they win the match...sprinters praying that they each win the race...the list goes on and on.
The truth is, there is a very simple principle (I shall quote the Bible as that is my comfort zone) that resolves this issue; yes it creates another...but thats another discussion. The principle is in 1 John 5:14,15 (NWT) "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that, no matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us. Further, if we know he hears us respecting whatever we are asking, we know we are to have the things asked since we have asked them of him."
God is not a prayer answering machine...he actually has a roadmap, a grand plan, his "will" so as to say...and any prayer that does not support, align, enable, interweave (you get the picture) with this said "will" shall simply not fly.
Enjoy your day!
LMAO!
I dont know why but this was reallly actually funny. LOL....
Anyways, I second Enigma!
@Enigma - DUDE! Where have u been?
LIFE (I use that biologically) is inherently selfish. It's the biggest constraint I can see in the Christian (or any other 'selfless') faith.
'Love thy neighbour as thyself'. EXCUSE ME?!? Neighbour best be watching out for his own ass 'cos I got me a destiny to fulfil!
That is a discussion I occassionaly have with my Dadand we laugh about it. The better way for me is just to tell God that which he has willed for me that will not cayse me pain. Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it!
I don't think this post is blasphemous at all...I actually have a similar post on facebook. The premise of prayers& how some get answered while others do not is something I grapple with often. But I believe God is big enough to answer all the questions we have.
PS: I feel you on the sleep tip..I'm running on so little of it right now!
Does lack of sleep make one more intelligent rather than tire one out? What with this lack of sleep?
I am not sure out to respond to this post as I ponder the same way you do, you know...
It's a long post and I trotted this way already sleepy. Would be back, but you gotta know that I came by :)
I too agree with Enigma! God isnt a prayer machine. I believe God has a will for each of our lives. What God likes about prayer, I think, is that we humble ourselves enough to ask Him, and that we trust him enough that if its in his will, he will grant us what he are asking for. However, sometimes, what we want isnt in his will...
@Enigma: well, I am back, I think
@Temite: I think it's funny too.
@Turumarth: At the end of the day it comes down to that!
@Luscious Ron: thanks for stopping by. i wonder at a whole lot of things...
@Healthy diva: I finally got a whole lot of sleep today!
@standy: you are not serious at all.
@Miss Balance: thanks for stopping jare.
@retromus ik: You see, that's what worries me... if this coffin maker suddenly makes a huge profit from his business would that be god's will??????!!!!!!!!
Hey, you really raised serious points pondered upon.
I've always despised selfish prayers. I prefer to pray for others because thats what God would want. The me,myself and I approach has been the way many christians approach prayer...they've forgotten God or Jesus was a 'people' person. He cared for others not himself.
As for the coffin maker issue...lol. I'll come back to maybe answer that. I'm still laffing at the thot.
lol! i thot at the end of the writup i will see something to make someone pronounce 'fatwa' or something like that on you, but sadly you dissappointed me :) anyway, as we say, no yawa. the issue, i believe, is that many people are religious animals or prayer machines. in my own opinion, i believe prayer should be simple and beautiful. i can never understand somebody who wakes me up in the early hours of the morning screaming his/her head off - do they think God is deaf? Mingled with the screams would be the 'prayers in various tongues'. I was talking to a born-again the other day, and he said to me, 'until you can speak in tongues, you can never be really born-again, you will be just on the fringes!' fringes of what? nice one sha!
Long time, how are you doing?
You just know how to hit the right words on the main issue.
PT! Me'thinks much of what passes today for prayer is akin to witchcraft, being selfish and manipulative.
Hearts are not being renewed in our churhes, either, so we pray, not for reconciliation with our "enemies" as Christ taught, for instance, but for their untimely destruction. Not for strength during testing but for vitory at all cost and sanction for sinful shortcuts we take to escape poverty, etc. (witness some of our indicted bank chiefs who were leading members of their congregations)
But, if Enigma is right, why bother praying at all if only that which is predetermined will happen? Prayer, then, is like a comfort teat to a suckling child? The test of true faith would be like Christ said about the birds and the flowers in the wild who have no care in the world. Afterall, there is no evidence that those pray?
Hmmm. I wonder!Perhaps, like you, I fellowship with the blasphemous though proudly Christian!
babe, time don reach for update oh...
How body?
hey! where u at? hope u r ok? give a shout!
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