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View Poll Results: Have you ever prayed before?
Yes
18 66.67%
No
9 33.33%
Voters: 27. You may not vote on this poll

Lab Assistant
#76 Old 3rd Feb 2013 at 10:15 PM Last edited by archamedes : 3rd Feb 2013 at 10:29 PM.
I pray to the Unicorn god of Babylon... True there is no proof he exists and there is no documentation of him existing in any books or on the internet, but as you say believing without seeing. So If i believe hard enough, then he must be real. It all happened one day all these thoughts just came into my head it was as if the gods came to to me to pass on their story, I remember it as clear as anything because it was the same day I saw the chronicles of Narnia and clash of the titans, so Then I will tell my friends about him, explain who he is and his back story, If my friends accept the story, they will tell their freinds then the word will spread and spread, to the point where someone at the end of the line will question the validity of the god, only to be told

"We can't prove he is real, but can you prove he isn't?"

Its kind of like when you tell a lie for so long to so many people, eventually you start to believe yourself that the lie is true, and your mind manifests memories of what happened on that day that never was.
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Mad Poster
#77 Old 3rd Feb 2013 at 10:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by archamedes
True there is no proof he exists and there is no documentation of him existing in any books or on the internet, but as you say believing without seeing. So If i believe hard enough, then he must be real.



That's why it's called faith, otherwise it would be called fact.
Lab Assistant
#78 Old 3rd Feb 2013 at 10:30 PM
Quote: Originally posted by crocobaura
That's why it's called faith, otherwise it would be called fact.


Yeah, not that facts are important, eh?
Banned
#79 Old 3rd Feb 2013 at 10:55 PM
I think Mark Twain put it best - "Faith is believing in that which I know ain't so."
Scholar
#80 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 12:38 AM
1. Have you ever prayed before?
Yes.

2. If not, why not? If so, please proceed to the next questions.

3. To whom did you pray?
A God I once believed in.

4. When and where did you pray?
My room, church, family meetings, etc.

5. How often did you pray?
I used to pray every night.

6. How long did you pray for a praying session?
Not long.

7. Did you time yourself while you prayed?
No.

8. What did you say or think while you prayed?
I mainly asked for protection over my family and other loved ones...

9. What did you do during, before, or after your prayer?
Never really had a ritual like that...

10. With whom did you pray?
Normally nobody.

11. For whom did you pray?
Read #8.

12. Did you engage in intercessory prayer?
Um... What is that?

13. Did you engage in prayer, meditation, yoga, or a tea ceremony?
No.

14. How did you feel when you prayed?
I don't know... I always hoped that it would help.

15. How old were you when you prayed for the first time?
I have no clue.

16. When was the last time you prayed?
Around a year ago.

17. Do you pray regularly or irregularly?
I used to pray regularly, but now that I no longer believe prayer is pointless. lol

18. Do you venerate your ancestors (e.g. honoring your mother and father, bowing to your elders, respecting your elders for wisdom and experience)?
No.

19. If you have anything about prayer, please include this in your discussion.
Prayer: The #1 way to feel like you're doing something to help, when you're really doing nothing.

♫ Keeping this here until EA gives us a proper playable woodwind/brass instrument ♫
For now, though, my decorative Bassoon conversion for TS4. =)
Mad Poster
#81 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 1:37 AM
Quote: Originally posted by archamedes
Yeah, not that facts are important, eh?


Well, if it was fact, then you wouldn't be having such dillemas as does it or does it not exist.
Test Subject
#82 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 2:28 AM
Yes Way Hose
Instructor
#83 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 2:51 AM
1. Have you ever prayed before?

Yep.

3. To whom did you pray?

My cousin; wanted him to quit smoking for fear of his health.

4. When and where did you pray?

At night, in my bedroom.

5. How often did you pray?

Once. After that, I stopped. Didn't see any point in it.

6. How long did you pray for a praying session?

I didn't know there was a specific length of time we had to pray for. O_o I did it for a couple of minutes then went to bed.

7. Did you time yourself while you prayed?

What? No.

8. What did you say or think while you prayed?

I wanted my cousin to get better; I hoped he would stop before it was too late...

9. What did you do during, before, or after your prayer?

Went to sleep.

10. With whom did you pray?

Me, myself and I.

11. For whom did you pray?

My cousin.

12. Did you engage in intercessory prayer?

What?

13. Did you engage in prayer, meditation, yoga, or a tea ceremony?

No. If you can't tell by now, I am not that religious.

14. How did you feel when you prayed?

Better, like I got something off my chest.

15. How old were you when you prayed for the first time?

Around the age of twelve.

16. When was the last time you prayed?

Around the age of twleve.

17. Do you pray regularly or irregularly?

I did it once. I'd say that's pretty irregular.

18. Do you venerate your ancestors (e.g. honoring your mother and father, bowing to your elders, respecting your elders for wisdom and experience)?

No. Like I said before, I'm not very religious, although I do have a religion.

19. If you have anything about prayer, please include this in your discussion.

Meh. For some reason the mention of religion in a lot of discussions really bothers me. I'm not a hardcore christian and I'd prefer not to be. I don't read the bible, I don't attend church, I don't pray daily save for saying grace during dinner (which I rarely do anymore.)

Personally, I don't feel you need all those things to believe in a deity or be considered a good person under that deity. As long as you're a good person, that's all that really matters.

So when I see a lot of Christians (or those who consider themselves one) damning people, it really makes me wish I wasn't attached to something that has such a negative stigma towards it.

But this was the religion I grew up with; it would break my family's heart if I decided to not follow any type of religion. If you're atheist, cool, if you're muslim, cool. It's just when people ask about my religious affiliations, I prefer not to be bothered.

...I feel like I went off on a tangent, there.

My male Sims are...Simulicious!
Theorist
#84 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 5:44 PM
1. Have you ever prayed before?
Yes.
2. If not, why not? If so, please proceed to the next questions.
Okidokie.
3. To whom did you pray?
Jehovah, Jesus, mysterious man in the sky, I wasn't sure. Didn't really understand the whole "holy trinity" bit. Also to Santa Claus. My parents are from Taiwan where they didn't have Santa Claus. My mom didn't fully understand the whole Santa Claus thing, but she thought it was fun and cute and wanted us kids to believe in it. She didn't realize the American custom is you write letters to Santa and mail them to the North Pole. She just had us pray to him instead.
4. When and where did you pray?
Before going to bed, or anytime I felt scared.
5. How often did you pray?
At least once daily, if not more often.
6. How long did you pray for a praying session?
Maybe 20-seconds to recite the Lord's Prayer if all was well, or longer if I had a list of fears I wanted to ask Jehovah/Jesus God to ask to prevent.
7. Did you time yourself while you prayed?
Nope.
8. What did you say or think while you prayed?
Our Father who art in heaven... blah blah blah.
9. What did you do during, before, or after your prayer?
Lay in bed awake with insomnia after.
10. With whom did you pray?
Nobody, I prayed alone.
11. For whom did you pray?
Myself mostly, I was scared of everything. I would add a requisite "please don't let anything bad happen to anyone in my family" so that I didn't seem like a selfish bastard to the almighty.
12. Did you engage in intercessory prayer?
Not usually, I was a kid and parents/relatives were all relatively young and healthy at the time. No cousins/relatives/friends were sick or sickly. I was a hypochondriac so I thought I was the sickly one.
13. Did you engage in prayer, meditation, yoga, or a tea ceremony?
Nope.
14. How did you feel when you prayed?
Scared. I was a scaredy kid.
15. How old were you when you prayed for the first time?
Too young to remember. Was raised Christian Baptist.
16. When was the last time you prayed?
Age 13 or 14, probably.
17. Do you pray regularly or irregularly?
Not at all any more.
18. Do you venerate your ancestors (e.g. honoring your mother and father, bowing to your elders, respecting your elders for wisdom and experience)?
I think so.
19. If you have anything about prayer, please include this in your discussion.
Countless sleepless nights as a tween caused me to lay awake thinking about religion, how it could possibly be real, why didn't it fit my knowledge of the scientific origins of the universe, why did it have all the signs of a mythology, what is faith and why do people have it? Eventually, I became agnostic, thinking maybe the Bible was poorly translated, and having to bend and twist my religious views to fit what I know to be true. As I grew older, the bending and twisting of religious beliefs grew tiresome and I decided the Bible is just a book, written by humans with either good imaginations, hallucinations, or ulterior motives to convince others to believe their view of morality. At that point, I considered myself atheist. That was when every single puzzle piece fell into place and I no longer felt confused or bewildered.

Resident wet blanket.
Inventor
#85 Old 4th Feb 2013 at 10:39 PM
1. Have you ever prayed before?
Yes.

2. If not, why not? If so, please proceed to the next questions.
3. To whom did you pray?

You know, that one, God.

4. When and where did you pray?
I was around 9/10. I was in bed at home.

5. How often did you pray?
Only that once. Although my Nan (who raised me) was religious, she never imposed her beliefs on me. In fact, when I was older, I was surprised when my I asked and found out my Nan believed in god...

6. How long did you pray for a praying session?
As long as it took to say what I was saying...

7. Did you time yourself while you prayed?
Ummm... No... Was I supposed to?

8. What did you say or think while you prayed?
I prayed for my Mum to stop doing Heroine forever, and be happy. Needless to say, 10 years later and she's still at it...

9. What did you do during, before, or after your prayer?
I put my hands together, close your eyes and whispered "dear God, blah blah blah, amen".

10. With whom did you pray?
On my own. I felt kind of stupid (despite my young age) but I thought "what could it hurt"?

11. For whom did you pray?
My Mum.

12. Did you engage in intercessory prayer?
I don't know what that means...

13. Did you engage in prayer, meditation, yoga, or a tea ceremony?
It was just a prayer.

14. How did you feel when you prayed?
Nothing really. I didn't really think it would work, I hoped it would but I wasn't holding my breath...

15. How old were you when you prayed for the first time?
Like 9 or 10. First and last time.

16. When was the last time you prayed?
Over 10 years ago.

17. Do you pray regularly or irregularly?
I don't.

18. Do you venerate your ancestors (e.g. honoring your mother and father, bowing to your elders, respecting your elders for wisdom and experience)?
Yes and No. I only respect people who have done something to deserve it, so for example I respect my Nan, but I don't respect my Granddad.

19. If you have anything about prayer, please include this in your discussion.
Not really, I don't want to start any arguments.
Banned
Original Poster
#86 Old 9th Feb 2013 at 7:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by VerDeTerre
I still don't get this. Your choice of words remains consistent to whatever your underlying belief is. You see it as difficult to give unconditional love. You say "struggle". Again, I feel very sorry for you if your experience so far has led you to believe that loving unconditionally is something someone has to make a conscious decision to do instead of just coming by it naturally. From my experience, that sort of stretch happens outside of families, not in them.


I think there is a misunderstanding between you and me.

I think you interpreted my claims as saying that it would be difficult to give unconditional love to a family member. As a matter of fact, if you have read carefully, I have written this:

Quote:
I think it's wonderful that a family still loves each other regardless of beliefs. As a matter of fact, I do believe in unconditional love (agape), even though sometimes it may seem too hard or unwise to give.


The concept is agape. The thing with agape is that it's not just any form of unconditional love. It's a specific form of unconditional love, rooted in Christian theology, calling Christians to give love because the Christian believes that God loves everyone. The love is supposed to reciprocal in that God loves everyone, so the Christian is called to love everyone, regardless of where they come from or who they are (including people who are unrelated to the person or have done wrong to that person). This is the type of love that I mentioned and was thinking, which you simplistically reduced it to a nonreligious context used for any type of unconditional love, such as the "love" found in kin selection.

For example, hugbug993 rudely barged into my thread, supporting the notion that science and religion were not compatible for each other. First of all, that notion resembles the Conflict Theory, which has been long discredited by most academic historians of science. Second of all, hugbug993's first post in my thread had nothing to do with religious/spiritual experiences. She probably just got ticked off with the "religious" aspect and treated "religion" as if it were a bad word or something. Suffice is to say, a Christian response would be to just forgive her of her mistakes and let it go. To me, that's agape, a godly type of love.

Hopefully, you will understand this and take back of the things you have said to me, as it seems that you base your conclusion on a misunderstanding of AGAPE.
transmogrified
retired moderator
#87 Old 9th Feb 2013 at 8:09 PM Last edited by mangaroo : 9th Feb 2013 at 8:31 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by CrèmedelaCrème
For example, hugbug993 rudely barged into my thread, supporting the notion that science and religion were not compatible for each other.


The next time you feel the urge to discuss religion, please recognize that people are not being rude by holding opinions you disagree with. It is, however, rude to attack them by calling them rude for participating in a discussion you initiated. There is no thread on this forum where you can limit responses to just what you want to hear.

Three strikes in off-topic discussion. If you want to talk about the nature of religious belief, please head to the debate threads. Edit: or join a like-minded social group.
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