10 Mar 12
Originally posted by FMFWell, there are forms of prayer that do not involve petitioning anything external to you but focus on 'unknowing' and so are remarkably similar to certain forms of meditation. Your God-assumptions are somewhat modern and Western in bias.
Yes, sure. But it doesn't involve petitioning for anything. It is not an attempt to communicate with 'someone' or 'something' external to me. So I wouldn't describe it as prayer.
10 Mar 12
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Originally posted by Bosse de NageI don't have any "God assumptions" that I am aware of - unless you can show me that I do - but I have no doubt my "religion assumptions" are very influenced by the ones I have had first hand experience/contact with.
Your God-assumptions are somewhat modern and Western in bias.
10 Mar 12
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI just see it as a lexicographical matter. Prayer = communication and/or petition and/or worship. I see no benefit to be had from fudging or diluting the meaning of this useful word. A somewhat prescriptive detour from my normal descriptive approach to such things, perhaps. 🙂
Take it up with the Eastern Church ... the RCC would support your view.
10 Mar 12
Originally posted by galveston75So God now turns his back on the Jewish people?
Actually God no longer calls the Jews his people. They did not accept Jesus who is God's son as the Messiah and was actually behind his death he no longer deals, protects or blesses them.
This theology sounds very bizzare to me. After all, Jesus laid down his life, they did not take it from him.
10 Mar 12
Originally posted by Bosse de NageIt seems rather interesting to me to think that evil can exist if there be a God, but only a certain amount is acceptable. Whether it be one person or 6 million, the fact remains that hell exists here on earth for many. I guess it all dwindles down to the age old question, how can evil exist if there be an all powerful and all knowing benevolent God?
'According to theology'. To unpack the assumptions that phrase implies, you'd need recourse to a library of books as numerous as the victims of the Holocaust.
10 Mar 12
Originally posted by VoidSpiritits a pity for you that both scriptural and historical evidence refutes these claims, oh well.
there are no facts that you listed. the facts are that the covenant made with isaac was eternal. that means it won't change and refer to someone else in the future. it's not a spiritual thing. it's a physical covenant; the descendants of isaac will be god's people and he their god.
christ/paul or whoever in the new testament changing things ...[text shortened]... physical descendants; and finally that you are completely wrong.
but thanks for trying.
11 Mar 12
Originally posted by FMFYeah whatever. Different religious communities apply the word differently, yet you see fit to legislate the meaning because it's 'useful' to you.
I just see it as a lexicographical matter. Prayer = communication and/or petition and/or worship. I see no benefit to be had from fudging or diluting the meaning of this useful word. A somewhat prescriptive detour from my normal descriptive approach to such things, perhaps. 🙂
11 Mar 12
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Originally posted by Bosse de NageWell isn't the difference between "prayer" and "meditation" useful for you too?
Yeah whatever. Different religious communities apply the word differently, yet you see fit to legislate the meaning because it's 'useful' to you.
Different religious communities apply the word differently...
English speaking communities or people translating their religious practices into English? "Prayer" and "meditation" are conventional words found in English dictionaries.
11 Mar 12
Originally posted by FMFYou may as well ask what was God's purpose in bringing about the Babylonian Exile?
Why didn't the prayers of Jews save them from the Holocaust?
According to theology, what could God's purpose have been in allowing his purportedly 'Chosen people' to suffer the partially successful attempt to exterminate them in the mid-C20th?
Same, same. The Jews have a long history of turning their faces from God at the worst possible time.
11 Mar 12
Originally posted by SuzianneYou mean you think they were not praying to be delivered from the Holocaust because they were turning their faces from God, or their prayers were futile because they had a long history of turning their faces from God?
The Jews have a long history of turning their faces from God at the worst possible time.
