I'm taking the liberty of starting a new thread on this one, taking up a theme which cropped up in the "Homage to Neil" thread as a result of a half throw-away comment I made about my extreme skepticism about the efficacy of prayer.
First, definitions: http://freedictionary.org/?Query=prayer&button=Search For an initial working model I'll take the following Webster [1913] definition, "The act of addressing supplication to a divinity, especially to the true God; the offering of adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving to the Supreme Being." There are a number of aspects here which are - for believers - relatively unproblematic; adoration, confession and thanksgiving. Even from the point of view of a non-believer, I can accept the idea of positive psychological feedback from such action, a kind of inner positive loop which need not be dependent on the actual existence of the deity being prayed to. The issue I want to address here is that of prayer as supplication; asking God for something, requesting God to influence specific outcomes of specific processes. The major Abrahamic monotheistic systems all posit a God who is omnipotent and omniscient and who is involved in an individual personal relationship with all human beings (or, at least, those who profess belief and commitment to him/her). To me, the idea that this God would concretely intervene to change the course of events as a result of a particular request by a believer seems to be riddled with contradictions. Does God change his divine plan as a result of the prayer? If, following the conventional religious models, God loves the believer and directs things for his/her ultimate good, will he/she not do this regardless of whether the believer prays or not? And, while you're thinlking about this, a little musical contribution :-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He4NFXIKQkk Francis --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
