Unpray:
: to withdraw or rescind (a prayer) (Collins English Dictionary definition).
Apparently, until the early 1700s, the word 'unpray' was in common usage but has since dropped out of fashion. - Is this an indication that modern-day Christians never take back a prayer? Would such a thing be possible? Would it be sacrilegious?
@ghost-of-a-duke saidThere are those today renouncing their baptism. Saying never mind to God doesn’t seem like that big a deal; however, breaking a promise to God is.
Unpray:
: to withdraw or rescind (a prayer) (Collins English Dictionary definition).
Apparently, until the early 1700s, the word 'unpray' was in common usage but has since dropped out of fashion. - Is this an indication that modern-day Christians never take back a prayer? Would such a thing be possible? Would it be sacrilegious?
@ghost-of-a-duke saidPeople sometimes pray for themselves and later realize they've been selfish. It's a statement of the human condition.
Say you pray to win the lottery and then regret making the prayer. Is it possible to 'unpray' and retract it?
Does God do refunds?
I wouldn't call it "retracting" a prayer, so much as "modifying" it.
Also, a prayer is not some monolithic "thing" with rules and such. Just talk to God. Bring your doubt to him, your regret, even your thoughts, share with him your awareness. The words mean little to God anyway, one should not be concerned that one is not "getting through to him", or "saying the right words", or explaining yourself sufficiently. God sees on the heart, not on outward things. He knows what you want before you speak it. But the sharing, the sincerity, the admitting, these bring us closer to God.
@kellyjay saidWhat an interesting notion. So, someone loses their faith and no longer believes their baptism meant what they used to think it meant?
There are those today renouncing their baptism.
Why would they "renounce" it?
Sounds a bit like 'virtue signalling' of a rather odd atheist hand-waving kind.
My baptism meant what it meant, so to speak, for several decades. I no longer believe that. But what does "renouncing" that baptism change or achieve that saying "I no longer believe that" doesn't?
Sounds rather narcissistic, on the face of it, no?
However, having said that, if it were a gesture that gave closure to someone who was, say, abused by religious figures or people in their church at an earlier stage in their lives, and this contributed to a loss of faith that was all bound up with feelings of revulsion and bitterness about how one was treated, then I suppose it might be understandable.
@suzianne saidAn answer I was sort of expecting (and understand). But then one has to ask, why does the word 'unpray' exist and why was it in common usage up until the 17th century?
People sometimes pray for themselves and later realize they've been selfish. It's a statement of the human condition.
I wouldn't call it "retracting" a prayer, so much as "modifying" it.
Also, a prayer is not some monolithic "thing" with rules and such. Just talk to God. Bring your doubt to him, your regret, even your thoughts, share with him your awareness. The wo ...[text shortened]... t before you speak it. But the sharing, the sincerity, the admitting, these bring us closer to God.
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@ghost-of-a-duke saidA heck of a lot of things (and words) were in common usage in the 1600's that we would find bizarre today. And vice-versa. And the Church of today is not the Church of the 1600's either. Prayer may have been considered somewhat 'institutionalized' then.
An answer I was sort of expecting (and understand). But then one has to ask, why does the word 'unpray' exist and why was it in common usage up until the 17th century?
I would never in a zillion years use the word 'unpray' meaning 'to take back a prayer'. I do not think such a thing is necessary. I can't imagine praying in such a manner as to make me wish to 'take it back'.