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Stands to reason Man is closer to an aomeba than Man is to God. What can Man ask of God that God, being infinite, hasn't already considered - any more, and actually less than what an aomeba can ask of a man for which there is a large but finite difference?
So, God apparently didn't seem to hear the prayers of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, so why does anyone think that God will really grant you the new job you were hoping to get? REALLY? Shouldn't people just say that they were hoping to get the new job rather than try and use God to grant their requests?
I feel strongly that prayers for our loved ones who are residing in the spirit world may indeed benefit from our prayers, but that's about it. I also feel very strongly that everything happens for a reason, therefore we shouldn't try and mess things up; as if we could, by praying for our outcomes to be all positive and lovely. We cannot grow without problems and disasters in our life and recognizing them as stepping stones to a better, more wiser version of ourselves.
So my prayer to myself is that I would be able to accept everything that happens to me, both positive and negative as gifts given to me by the universe for my soul growth. The end.
So, God apparently didn't seem to hear the prayers of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, so why does anyone think that God will really grant you the new job you were hoping to get? REALLY? Shouldn't people just say that they were hoping to get the new job rather than try and use God to grant their requests?
Your perspective is very interesting and very normal for someone who is secular.
In your view, the answer to a prayer must be earthly and worldly. In your view, the answer to the prayers of a a Jewish concentration camp prisoner, must be an improvement in physical conditions. And maybe some of it is. Maybe many of those Jewish concentration camp prisoners prayed for an end to their daily suffering. Being gassed by Nazis may not be the only way to end their suffering, but that would be one way God could answer their prayers.
I mean, I have never begrudged being early to go to Heaven, so if God knocked me off at one year old and I went straight to Heaven without all of the earthly crap I have had to endure (along with the good), it would have been JUST FINE WITH ME.
But that brings us back to your view that answered prayers have to enhance worldly physical conditions.
What if Jews in the concentration camps simply prayed for the strength and peace to endure the evil they faced until the day of judgement and salvation? Maybe they weren't praying for freedom but for something more valuable and a precursor to the next life.
Secular people will never understand the devout religious mind. They only think in physical and worldly terms. Like when an pro athlete prays. Secular people think athletes pray to win and kick their oponents' butts, while athletes are really much more likely to pray to not be nervious and simply maximize their own performance from all of the coaching, training, and practicing they put into it.
Athletes don't have a prayer like, "Dear God please hand us the win today" or, "Dear God, please let the opposing quarterback tear his ACL."
Your perspective is very interesting and very normal for someone who is secular.
In your view, the answer to a prayer must be earthly and worldly. In your view, the answer to the prayers of a a Jewish concentration camp prisoner, must be an improvement in physical conditions. And maybe some of it is. Maybe many of those Jewish concentration camp prisoners prayed for an end to their daily suffering. Being gassed by Nazis may not be the only way to end their suffering, but that would be one way God could answer their prayers.
...
I'm trying not to say 'may it happen to you'. But it's hard not to.
I feel strongly that prayers for our loved ones who are residing in the spirit world may indeed benefit from our prayers, but that's about it. I also feel very strongly that everything happens for a reason, therefore we shouldn't try and mess things up; as if we could, by praying for our outcomes to be all positive and lovely. We cannot grow without problems and disasters in our life and recognizing them as stepping stones to a better, more wiser version of ourselves.
So my prayer to myself is that I would be able to accept everything that happens to me, both positive and negative as gifts given to me by the universe for my soul growth. The end.
God is not and never was Aladdin's Genie in the Lamp despite our ancestors' wishful thinking and promises recorded in scripture.
I'm trying not to say 'may it happen to you'. But it's hard not to.
Not to mention it overlooks the fact that the Holocaust prompted quite a few survivors to embrace atheism, for reasons that should surprise absolutely no one.
Not to mention it overlooks the fact that the Holocaust prompted quite a few survivors to embrace atheism, for reasons that should surprise absolutely no one.
Yes, if there was any one thing that, to me, screamed 'there is no loving god', it was the Holocaust.
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