Photo of teenage boy praying over homeless man in Baltimore goes viral

SummerMadness

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Photo of teenage boy praying over homeless man in Baltimore goes viral

A teenager praying over a homeless man in Baltimore has gotten national attention after a photo of the incident went viral last week.

Eric Gaines, a police officer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, was standing at a bus stop on Saratoga and Paca Street on the afternoon of March 1, when a teenage boy, around the age of 15 or 16, stopped to pray over a homeless man.
 

MasterRich

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Here is the photo

bal-teenage-boy-praying-over-homeless-man-in-baltimore-goes-viral-20160308
 
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Tallguy88

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That prayer sure does seem likely to help that homeless man in a tangible way. :)
15 year olds don't tent to have money or other tangible assets to give as charity. But they certainly can pray.
 
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Nithavela

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15 year olds don't tent to have money or other tangible assets to give as charity. But they certainly can pray.
And the prayer certainly does nothing except bring this child his 15 minutes of fame.
 
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Tallguy88

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And the prayer certainly does nothing except bring this child his 15 minutes of fame.
Please don't propagate this atheist nonsense on a Christian website. "The fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much. James 5:16"

Besides, how do you know he doesn't volunteer at a homeless shelter or donate his allowance to help poor people? This kid also didn't know he was being filmed, so you can't say he was doing it for attention.
 
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The Cadet

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Please don't propagate this atheist nonsense on a Christian website. "The fervent prayers of the righteous availeth much. James 5:16"
Then why is it that every scientific study of prayer has failed to show any effect?
 
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Tallguy88

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Then why is it that every scientific study of prayer has failed to show any effect?
This isn't a General Apologetics thread. We have a forum for that if you wish to have that discussion.
 
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Tallguy88

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Ultimately, what harm was done by this boy praying for the homeless man? Maybe it didn't help, but it didn't hurt either. He did perhaps the best thing he was capable of doing, considering he is too young to have a job. Yet people are tearing him up over it. But no one would have batted an eye if he had just ignored the fellow and kept on walking.
 
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MasterRich

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I hope he was praying for someone to bring this man some food or get him to a shelter.

I'm sure he was, let's hope he does get off the street and someone gives him shelter/food etc.

Please don't propagate this atheist nonsense on a Christian website.

Don't worry about it, best not to get dragged into it or get provoked. It's best to ignore comments like that rather than respond.
 
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The Cadet

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Ultimately, what harm was done by this boy praying for the homeless man?
None. But it just bothers me when somehow praying is held up as some grand act or gesture. It's not. It's the easiest thing in the world to do, by any objective criteria does not have any measurable effect. You know what this boy did? The full extent of his actions? He made himself look good and scored easy brownie points. Which, by the way, is explicitly forbidden in the bible. It's in Matthew 6:

But hey, it's not like this is a real problem. It's not like our politicians notice that this is an easy way to glorify oneself and offer prayers instead of meaningful steps toward a solution.

Oh... Wait...
 
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Sistrin

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Then why is it that every scientific study of prayer has failed to show any effect?

How can you even ask a question like that? Prayer is an act of and a matter of faith. Science can no more address that issue than it can disprove the existence of God. But go ahead, preach that a bear fell in a lake and whales evolved.

None. But it just bothers me when somehow praying is held up as some grand act or gesture. It's not.

It is much more effective and noble gesture than atheist scorn.
 
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Sistrin

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staff edit

The term "Christian nonsense" would be tame in comparison to most of what has been posted here over time by atheist concerning Christians. Consequently the term "atheist nonsense" is equally tame. However I understand how sensitive and easily offended atheist tend to be. How the simple act of seeing a copy of the Ten Commandments or a Manger Scene can reduce them to piles of quivering jelly. Not saying you are such, just that it is the general rule.

But there was no hypocrisy evident in the post in question.
 
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The Cadet

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How can you even ask a question like that? Prayer is an act of and a matter of faith. Science can no more address that issue than it can disprove the existence of God.
Look, if prayer works, if prayer has some detectable (that is, we could tell that it's there; if it's not detectable, it's fundamentally indistinguishable from something that doesn't exist) impact on reality, we can measure that impact. Say, by testing if having people pray for the victim of an illness improves their chances of recovery. We've done these tests. Here's a great example.

This isn't about faith. This isn't about apologetics. People are positing that faith has an objective, active role to play in reality. That's not a faith claim! That's a fact claim! That's something we can examine, whether or not religious doctrine claims that it works.
 
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GoldenBoy89

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How the simple act of seeing a copy of the Ten Commandments or a Manger Scene can reduce them to piles of quivering jelly. Not saying you are such, just that it is the general rule.
Yeah, or red paper cups from a national coffee shop...
 
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