When you are ready to speak to the true lord and savior God of the universe Jesus Christ, how do you do it? Do you go on your knees? Do you stand with your hands in the air? Do you do lay down, and close your eyes? How do you express yourself to someone so great as Jesus himself?
You're not supposed to pray to Prophets. You can send your salutations and greetings to them (The Prophets are not dead - Though they have physically passed away), you can implement their teachings in your life, you can pray to be with them in the hereafter, you can pray for their respective communities. When sending your salutations and greetings to Prophets, it is best to do so standing up (out of respect), you should wear clean clothes, do it in a clean place, put some scent on too.
Communication can occur in almost any position so it would seem to me that how you pray seems entirely irrelevant, surely it is what you say that should have importance. However, everytime I did pray I always had a niggle in the back of my mind that I was being stupid talking to something I did not know was there. That niggle obviously grew to where it seems very clear to me that praying is indeed entirely stupid.
I've actually witnessed a family praying before eating food at MacDonalds. I wonder if eating at MacDonalds is like being under fire while sitting in a foxhole. Now if God is up there then I don't think He really gives a shit how you pray. Is it defined in the Bibble? Is there a Kama Sutra for prayer positions? Somebody show me a prayer manual.
God who can see the inner attitude does not need to see an outer symbolic show of an attitude. Often outer shows are used in an attempt to impress others anyway. I usually do most of my praying in front of the computer screen sitting down. But i also do it lying down in bed just before i go to sleep. You can pray anywhere and it any position as long as your attitude is right before God. In plain English. In the same way i am talking to you. I know and God knows that i am a created being and that He is not just superior to me but on another level, so all attempts i make at praise will always fail to do justice to how awesome God is. So it is best just to express yourself as openly and as honestly and as plainly as you can and know that God understands why you are talking to Him. God can cut through our limited expressions to the core of our intent. All Praise The Ancient Of Days
How should you pray according to the Bible? "4 Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head. 5But every woman who has her head uncovered while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved. 6For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head." (1 Corinthians 11:4-6) It clearly depends on if you are male or female. If you are a male you must pray without a head covering or you disgrace your head (Christ). If you are a female you must pray with a head covering or you disgrace your head (Possibly either your father or your husband). It is all about hats and either short or long hair! I know real churches that still teach this very thing! You "must" do this or you will disobey God! Don’t blame me!
While right and honest words can help you find the feeling place, the universe (God) does not really hear the words themselves, it is responding completely to your thoughts and the feelings you send out. So you have always been an atheist. If you think God is not there, he will not be there, but if you believe, he will be there.
Jesus was a prophet? Jesus didn't exist? Jesus was a prophet who didn't exist? I wish you guys would make up your minds as to what you don't believe. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Most prayer is personal. You can pray to God however you like whenever you like. You can be in bed, on the bus or even sitting on the loo! Remember He can see you all the time, even at your worst so why should He require you to do something special to talk to Him? The letter to the Corinthain church is to sort out the mess they had got themselves into in their public ('church') worship. It appears from the tail end of the letter that the services were total anarchy and more like a Bacchanalian orgy than a service to worship God. '19Regarding this next item, I'm not at all pleased. I am getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side instead of your best! First, I get this report on your divisiveness, competing with and criticizing each other. I'm reluctant to believe it, but there it is. The best that can be said for it is that the testing process will bring truth into the open and confirm it. 20-22And then I find that you bring your divisions to worship—you come together, and instead of eating the Lord's Supper, you bring in a lot of food from the outside and make pigs of yourselves. Some are left out, and go home hungry. Others have to be carried out, too drunk to walk. I can't believe it! Don't you have your own homes to eat and drink in? Why would you stoop to desecrating God's church? Why would you actually shame God's poor? I never would have believed you would stoop to this. And I'm not going to stand by and say nothing.' It also appears likely that unconverted wives were attending with their christian convert husbands and disrupting proceedings by challenging what their husbands were saying. Paul is attempting to get some order into this. The Message version (as usual) makes the sense rather easier to understand, 'It pleases me that you continue to remember and honor me by keeping up the traditions of the faith I taught you. All actual authority stems from Christ. 3-9In a marriage relationship, there is authority from Christ to husband, and from husband to wife. The authority of Christ is the authority of God. Any man who speaks with God or about God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of Christ, dishonors Christ. In the same way, a wife who speaks with God in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband, dishonors her husband. Worse, she dishonors herself—an ugly sight, like a woman with her head shaved. This is basically the origin of these customs we have of women wearing head coverings in worship, while men take their hats off. By these symbolic acts, men and women, who far too often butt heads with each other, submit their "heads" to the Head: God. 10-12Don't, by the way, read too much into the differences here between men and women. Neither man nor woman can go it alone or claim priority. Man was created first, as a beautiful shining reflection of God—that is true. But the head on a woman's body clearly outshines in beauty the head of her "head," her husband. The first woman came from man, true—but ever since then, every man comes from a woman! And since virtually everything comes from God anyway, let's quit going through these "who's first" routines.' So this is about the custom of worship of that church at that time. Many western churches have of course gone to the other extreme where the service is almost like some form of religious 'library' where no sound can be made unless authorised and every one has to behave in a certain accepted way and follow an absolutely rigid formula. If that's what you want fine, but many of us find that less than inspiring and go for a freer form of worship. To now get hung up on whether you should or should not wear hats is to go towards the Pharisee like concept of worshipping God by rules and there is absolutely no doubt of what Jesus thought of that! regards, Gordon.
If you read the scripture pretaining to the head coverings with the guidance of the Holy Spirit you will come to see that Paul was not calling for woman to be forced to have a head covering. Corinthians 11 2 Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved. 6For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. 10For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. 11Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. 12For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God. 13Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? 15But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. 16But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. See what happens when you read things in context. The scripture is making clear that a woman should have a head covering while praying and reveals that God has given woman long hair as a head covering. And that the Churches of God have no such custom of head coverings. So a woman with long hair is acceptable in praying without a head covering. Because she already has a head covering. All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Why should it matter if the woman has long hair or short hair? If you believe in God and wish to pray, what should matter is the intent that is in your heart and mind. Not nonsense regarding hair length written into scripture. Then again ,this no doubt was "infallible" direction given to some man from God( in fantasy land) and in reality more man written garbage reflecting the ignorance of the day.
I pray by casting curses to the heavens. My God seeks a challenge and wants His children to surpass His greatness. Your God might be different. He might want to hold dominion over you, for eternity, asking you for your loyalty and worship; forever to remain his underling. Your God might require of you to beg and plead and ask for forgiveness for sins He defines. He might want you to remain a groveling, imbecile, forever frightened and dependant on His mercy. My God is Olympian. Yours…a petty, narcissistic, vindictive, sadistic, politician.
Well, my God is different from yours, but not in petty, narcissistic, vindictive, sadistic, or politic ways. God's love in Scripture is described as the basis of all its other forms: "As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in My love" (John 15:9). A few verses later, Christ proclaims, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you My friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you" (v. 15). And in regards to the "underling" status you seem to attribute to a Christian idea of God, remember that those that trust in Him are described as "children of God: and if children, then heirs: heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together" (Romans 8:17). As for sin, I don't understand why one would be so irritated with having the toxins of life delineated for them. It's like an instruction manual for living--avoid these things, and live better. "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace" (v. 6). I don't understand how His children could "surpass His greatness," since it is by God's power that they continue to exist (Acts 17:28).
And a bald woman? Can your god handle that? "Oh no, she's bald! I'm too good to listen to her" Why would anyone need to cover their head whether that be with hair, wig or tea-cosy hat? god's averse to bald patches?
It's a question of showing genuine respect and matter of propriety and reverance (cf. the third commandment) - not about the appearance of it. The advice on appearances is from Paul's side, and he sees it as contextual. That's why he says in 11:13 "Judge among yourselves." The "head covering" was like the hijab - it doesn't translate into a "hat". Since prayer is communication, it usually followed the same conventions of communicating with any other superior. If people had to address the King on their knees (or fall flat on their face), naturally believers would do that when they addressed God, their King. Think of the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego before Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 3). Because they didn't recognize his gods, they would not "fall down" before them. And in Daniel 6:10, Daniel goes on his knees when he prays to God. Some also close their eyes to avoid distractions. Habit became tradition, and tradition became religion - as if that's how it should be done. There are other examples of this happening to believers eager to "please God", often even in churches that make a point of shedding what they call the "traditions of men". Few people hold their palms together anymore to pray, although this was also deemed the "proper" way for long: "Interestingly, the physical position for Christian prayer that is thought of as typical today -- kneeling, with hands clasped -- originates from the commendation ceremony. Before this time, European Christians prayed in the orans, which is the Latin, or "praying" position that people had used in antiquity: standing, with hands outstretched, a gesture still used today in many Christian rituals." - Wikipedia: Commendation_ceremonyThe reason why something is done a certain way is invariably because it's the way a certain attitude or action is expressed at the time. The way you pray to God will in many ways be a reflection of how you view your relationship with Him. Sometimes it's King and a servant, sometimes friend and confidante, sometimes Father and son. Whatever your attitude, the external appearance is just the physical expression of what you're doing mentally. Prayer is between you and God. As Jesus explained it (Matt. 6:5-6), prayer isn't meant to be a visible thing. It's first and foremost a private communication with an unseen God. But when it is not private - like in the church - it's social aspects should remain respectful (however such respect may be shown), because it is subject to public scrutiny. The principle is that nobody should present an opportunity for God to be slandered because of your indiscretions.
Good point! I guess a woman who has lost all of her hair because of chemo treatments can't even pray for her own healing of cancer. Great!!! The sick were usually regarded as unclean and kept away from God's presence in the Old Testament as well. Now it all makes sense! Not! :bugeye:
Dude, you should've gone up to them while they were praying, grabbed much of thier food as possible, and ran off while yelling something obscene. That would have been hilarious. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And on the topic of McDonalds...did you know that they will actually let you walk through the drive-thru? It's crazy weird.
