Poll How Often Do You Pray?

[8888]

Sometimes when in dire need. Or sometimes compulsively at random times due to OCD. I was abused by a priest (why I have PTSD) so religion is not something that comes easy to me.

 

[Changing4Best]

@8888 So sorry that happened to you, it unfortunately happened to many children. I was appalled by it when I first heard that it had happened.

 

[8888]

@8888 So sorry that happened to you, it unfortunately happened to many children....

Thank you!

 

[Deleted member 34424]

I'm an atheist so I don't pray.

 

[EmmaOwl]

I am completely unnerved by prayer. I think so many horrible things have been done in the name of religion, it frightens me. - This is not anything against religion - I think whatever anyone chooses to believe is absolutely valid - to me, religion is a very personal sense that I have thought about quite a lot over the years.

I grew up in the 1980's while it was still okay for people to go around asking little children, "What religion are you, sweetheart?"

Always blunt, I said "Nothing."

Which generally shut them up! ;) I didn't mean to disconcert them. To me, it was the most simple explanation of the way I was raised.

I think whatever people choose to believe is fine. One side of my family is genetically Italian, and the Catholicism followed, but I ended up with a Jewish/Southern Baptist mother (! true!) and I was basically raised as an atheist or at least an agnostic.

I do not intend to offend anyone who offers prayers to me, but I try to say something along the lines of, "There are many who are worse off than I am. Please pray for them."

I'll admit, once in a while I find it sort of rough. Sometimes I feel that I'm missing out on something that could serve as a true purpose in my overwhelmingly-empty life. I try to believe in a sense of goodness and helping others as a more immediate and tangible sense, in my own life. I'm on disability but if I cannot work or return to school again, one of my main goals is to find meaningful ways that I can help others.

It's an interesting question; thanks for starting the thread.

 

[Gs172003]

I pray every single morning and of course say grace.

I pray for healing. Frankly if it wasn't for my faith, I wouldn't be around.

 

[EmmaOwl]

One more thing about religion... I wasn't raised to be completely ignorant of it - after all, many religions are tied in somewhat with history. Most people I knew were either some type of Christian or else Jewish. We had a children's bible, and my brother liked the stories as much as any children's books, but so many of them upset me that my parents put them aside. I cried the first time I saw a crucifix and it still creeps me out, and when I realized that a plain cross symbolizes a crucifix, I found that image disturbing too.

I wouldn't expect people to go around crying all the time... I was certainly hyper-sensitive.. but it still seems a little odd to me. These images are so common, they lose the meaning. You're looking at a person being tortured. I can't handle it.

These are images of Christianity. I had many Jewish friends and, in general, found those rituals much more comforting. But I've never been affiliated with any type of church or religious organization. I like to send people best wishes, for people to know that I am thinking of them, and I think that is my own personal equivalent to what most people consider to be prayer.

 

[EmmaOwl]

Why does God let so many children go through rape, abuse, torture.

I get stuck here also.

 

[Changing4Best]

I think one of the most important things to me about church is making friends. I pray for them, when I hear of something that is troubling them. Our church has prayer lists that are inserted in the Sunday Bulletin that is handed out every Sunday at church. We also get emails or phone calls during the week to pray for folks who need it. I pray when I am asked to do so and when I am moved to do so by the Holy Spirit. Also, I have a prayer list of my own that I have divided up into 6 days. I pray Monday through Saturday, Sunday I pray the church's list. That works pretty well for me and I hope for others.

Sometimes I do ask for things for myself too. However, I am not always the first person on my pray list.

 

[Enaila]

I pray frequently, but usually I just keep myself open to where the Spirit guides me. It was a pleading nightly prayer which helped me know when and how to safely leave my marriage....yes, I admit I was praying for a big sign I couldn't miss. It came during mass when my friend asked if my husband (of another faith) had access to my keys to the church center I cleaned. One thing led to another and he was arrested for felony theft from the church.

I believe things happen for a reason. We have free will and there is evil in the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed Morgan Freeman's series Finding God, which was on t v. He interviewed and some with people from all faiths as well as getting the view of scientist on the soul. They showed the different CAT scans of an atheist asked to meditate and if possible think about concept of God. They compared it to CAT scan of person meditating on God. The differences were amazing.

I found it beautiful so many people believed in a higher being who may have different names, but guided them along paths in their faith for the common good. We are all so much more alike than we are different.

I have witnessed many miracles such as a friend regaining her sight, finding my way to my aunt's in a winter storm by following the streetlights. (Aunt puzzled by th is as no lights out in her rural areas), Being at the right place and time to assist a distraught lady.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I prayed every min of every day, until I didnt.

 

[Deleted member 36516]

@SheilaKathy, hello!
I am an atheist, but I don't care what the others believe ...In the end, we are all alike and we're all human beings.