Prayer and Magic
June 16, 2013 by Bill
In a study of religion and anthropology among primal peoples you find that many believed in “magic.” Magic is defined as belief that supernatural forces can be controlled, influenced and manipulated by executing a ritualistic formula, either physical or verbal. We still today, in a more fashionable way, utilize superstition, prayer wheels, magic, sacrifices and elaborate doxologies to induce God to favor our requests, grant our wishes and perform miracles upon demand.
Minister, rabbi and priest are expected to offer prayers on behalf of the desires of their congregations. Does this not make God a divine magician? And does this not make the minister or priest a magician’s apprentice, if this is your view of prayer and how to influence God?
How many times have I been asked, as every minister, “Pray for my husband, he is so ill.” I say, “Certainly I will,” and I do. But I think, can my prayer mean anything as compared with the depth and sincereity of a prayer the wife could articulate. What kind of a God would heed me when he had the eloquence and the passion, the need and the pourings of the heart, mind and soul of this wife who loves her ill husband so?
God has even been associated with “winning” and “success.” If you know God (and Jesus) you win, and if not, you lose. Or in other words, God plays favorites. It is Roger Staubach yelling to a Jesus Fair crowd in Dallas, “I’m telling you that loving Jesus is just like a football game, you work to put yourself in scoring position. Loving Jesus puts you in a scoring position.”
But then we were left hanging as to whether loving Jesus was going to be worth a three-point field goal, a six-point touchdown with a noe- or two-point conversion, or what? To illustrate the absurdity futher, let us imagine that the football team of John Doe State College is praying for victory 24 hours a day over their forthcoming game with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They are never going to beat the Steelers, even if the entire team of the Steelers are devout atheists. And suppose God actually heard a prayer from both sides to “do one’s best,” an took an active part in answering that prayer. More…
Biblical Stupidity and Politicians
June 9, 2013 by Bill
The current version of the Farm Bill as approved by the House, is both cruel and immoral with illiterate members quoting the bible, and quoting totally out of context. A New York Times heading of an article on this subject was Welfare for the Wealthy.
What fools the politicians make of themselves with biblical ignorance while trying to use that bible for justification. Among them is Congressman Stephen Fincher, a Republican of Tennessee, who quotes the bible while cutting food stamps for the poor.
Politcians who quote the bible… wow, what fun… what comedy… what a farce…
Hey boy, God said: “you shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband: (Lev. 21;7). Well, there went Reagan, Dole, Gingrich, Buchanan and all those other Republican big shots who have broken God’s law and married divorced women, and still today in 2013.
Next, look at Leviticus 20:10: “if a man commits adultery, both the adulterer and adulteress shall be put to death.” There goes everyone in Washington, almost, and the Pentagon and Sacramento, all going to hell. My gawd, what a show…
You remember Nancy Reagan. She loved astrologers. Lev. 19:31 tells her what God thinks about that: “Do not turn to mediums, or seek them out, to be defiled by them.” Oh Nancy, how could you? More…
Can Prayer Requests Change God’s Will?
June 2, 2013 by Bill
I would like to ask, “Can something called God’s will really be changed by requests from the earth?” And, if so, “What kind of a capricious, chaotic universe would this be?”
The Encyclopedia Britannica says that belief in an unchangeable God or unchangeable force is to be found in all of the higher religions.
Jesus is credited with saying that God makes his rain fall on the just and the unjust alike, the sun to shine on the just and the unjust alike.
What kind of chaos would it be if the eternal will, the eternal God, the eternal design could be changed from time to time as this design was subjected to millions of people in a barrage of requests to make things different?
It is incomprehensible to me how such thought can be entertained. It is the type of thinking done by Eddie Rickenbacker and crew, as expressed after their rescue from an ocean raft in the South Pacific. They uttered desperate prayers for rescue and, when a ship did finally appear, full credit was given God. More…
