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Exploring Christianity
Can prayer move mountains?
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<blockquote data-quote="Dragons87" data-source="post: 60994645" data-attributes="member: 130601"><p>The thing you missed, I would say, is the whole point of Christianity. Every bit of the faith should, I believe, should be based around the question, "How does this affect my relationship with God through Christ?" An original form of Christianity would always return to this question.</p><p></p><p>Prayer should be seen in that context, not merely a mechanism for fulfilling a Christmas wish list. </p><p></p><p>Some argue, quite powerfully, that prayer can be done away with, if God already knows what we want. Yet Jesus himself, immediately after confirming that God knows what we want, teaches his followers to pray a specific prayer (see Matthew 6:8-13). Isn't that wholly pointless? If we start from the assumption that prayer is something other than trying to get our wishes fulfilled, then Jesus' approach makes sense.</p><p></p><p>A rudimentary analysis of the Lord's prayer may perhaps be as follows:</p><p>Matt 6:9-10 - Worship of God</p><p>Matt 6:11 - Request for sustenance (spiritual as much as physical; see Matt 4:4 for Jesus' discussion of spiritual and physical bread)</p><p>Matt 6:12 - Request for help to love others as oneself</p><p>Matt 6:13 - Request for help to live a holy life</p><p></p><p>At no point in the prayer does Jesus ask anything for himself - what he asks has God and others in mind. It is because he has already confirmed that God knows what we want and will grant what we need to us in good measure - not what we want, but what we need.</p><p></p><p>The biblical view of prayer - or indeed of anything - should be seen in a context set out by the whole book, or books. We must remember that originally the books of the Bible were not subdivided into chapters and verses; they probably didn't even have sub-headings. So the Bible is best read without chapters and verses in mind, but in continuous prose (or poetry, or whatever literary genre is most appropriate). That's the best way to avoid cherry-picking and being led down the wrong path, which many have done with embarrassing consequences.</p><p></p><p>Given that, I would say that the notion that there is a set formula one has to follow in order to have one's prayers answered in the way he/she wants them to be answered is wholly unbiblical. It also hints, unfortunately, at what you've been missing in your walk with God! I used to pray frequently, sometimes with tears, that God would take my homosexuality away, for it is a burden I didn't think I could carry. Obviously I believe that God is powerful enough to change my sexuality in a stroke. Yet his (rather stubborn) refusal to do so made me think another way. I now rejoice in being homosexual, for it is a burden that gives me a unique insight into what it means to be a follower of Christ.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dragons87, post: 60994645, member: 130601"] The thing you missed, I would say, is the whole point of Christianity. Every bit of the faith should, I believe, should be based around the question, "How does this affect my relationship with God through Christ?" An original form of Christianity would always return to this question. Prayer should be seen in that context, not merely a mechanism for fulfilling a Christmas wish list. Some argue, quite powerfully, that prayer can be done away with, if God already knows what we want. Yet Jesus himself, immediately after confirming that God knows what we want, teaches his followers to pray a specific prayer (see Matthew 6:8-13). Isn't that wholly pointless? If we start from the assumption that prayer is something other than trying to get our wishes fulfilled, then Jesus' approach makes sense. A rudimentary analysis of the Lord's prayer may perhaps be as follows: Matt 6:9-10 - Worship of God Matt 6:11 - Request for sustenance (spiritual as much as physical; see Matt 4:4 for Jesus' discussion of spiritual and physical bread) Matt 6:12 - Request for help to love others as oneself Matt 6:13 - Request for help to live a holy life At no point in the prayer does Jesus ask anything for himself - what he asks has God and others in mind. It is because he has already confirmed that God knows what we want and will grant what we need to us in good measure - not what we want, but what we need. The biblical view of prayer - or indeed of anything - should be seen in a context set out by the whole book, or books. We must remember that originally the books of the Bible were not subdivided into chapters and verses; they probably didn't even have sub-headings. So the Bible is best read without chapters and verses in mind, but in continuous prose (or poetry, or whatever literary genre is most appropriate). That's the best way to avoid cherry-picking and being led down the wrong path, which many have done with embarrassing consequences. Given that, I would say that the notion that there is a set formula one has to follow in order to have one's prayers answered in the way he/she wants them to be answered is wholly unbiblical. It also hints, unfortunately, at what you've been missing in your walk with God! I used to pray frequently, sometimes with tears, that God would take my homosexuality away, for it is a burden I didn't think I could carry. Obviously I believe that God is powerful enough to change my sexuality in a stroke. Yet his (rather stubborn) refusal to do so made me think another way. I now rejoice in being homosexual, for it is a burden that gives me a unique insight into what it means to be a follower of Christ. [/QUOTE]
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