Hydroponic3385
Snitches get stitches
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A guy named Jesus blew me once. True story.
A guy named Jesus blew me once. True story.
A guy named Jesus blew me once. True story.
At this point, you and I are pretty much in the same boat.
That's unfortunate, but... just as I wouldn't hold it against an entire race of people because of my experiences in say.. the South; I wouldn't hold it against an entire religion because of my experiences in a particular part of the country -- especially a part that is big on worshiping the Church as an institution rather than actually practicing the religion itself using the Church as a vehicle to do so.
So let's go through these..
Now, with respect to the other two concerns; I'm going to take a contrary viewpoint here.
1) I do not believe priests should be either sexually active or married. I'm actually very much against the idea.
The arguments for an end to clerical celibacy are generally centered around a belief that it would (1) somehow end child abuse, (2) cause more people to become priests.
Addressing both of these arguments for a moment...
I would state that chastity and celibacy does not beget pedophilia. You could not remove me from sexuality and somehow convert me into a pedophile. This belief presupposes that priests exist in some cloistered world where they can't go outside, dressed as a normal individual, and pick up a hooker. It conflates pedophilia with normal sexuality and sexual desire, and assumes that celibacy somehow leads to a mental disorder where a person will predominantly target children - to which, there is no evidence that this is the case at all. By contrast, it is more likely true that people who have a predilection for such things are likely drawn to the Church (or any profession) because of the access it affords them to children in private.
So with that said, I reject the notion that having priests who are sexually active would somehow significantly mitigate child abuse. That just makes no rational sense to me if we accept the premise that the desire to specifically rape children is not something someone just decides to do like getting up and brushing your teeth; but is instead, caused by a more innate and physiological and/or mental disorder.
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One doesn't confess to a priest because he thinks the priest has any right to judge him; he confesses to him so that another man can hear him say, aloud, what he did.
The purpose is to be both cathartic and therapeutic as well as psychologically and spiritually healing.
This, again in the context I used previous, should be looked at the same way as 'confessing' to your psychiatrist. It should not be looked at as confessing to say your mother, or to a further extent, God.
I know this sounds weird given I've just gone on sounding like a classic Catholic apologist; but, my personal beliefs are more rooted in science than in faith.
Imagine a child, an innocent, who is molested, raped, and brutalized repeatedly. She undergoes this form of abuse for the entirety of her childhood and adolescence until it drives her to a quite literal insanity. All this time, she was raised in a devout Christian household, and as a devout Christian, she prayed to God - constantly - to save her...
And He never did.... there was no intervention... there was no literal salvation...
So at what point does "prayer" save? At what point do we either find fault with the child for somehow not being deserving of prayer; or, by contrast, we question the power of prayer itself and decide that maybe this isn't how reality works.
Maybe, just maybe, this .. this idea that you are describing .. simply is not real...?
The problem I see is when people follow blindly even when it's destructive. Or when people feel the need to convince others that their way is the only way.
Anyone who wants to reject it completely, or choose a different tool for their spiritual life, I have no argument with them. Anyone can choose to live life how he/she sees fit, no proselytizing here.
I support the right of all people to embrace any system of belief as long as it doesn't hurt others or bring more misery and suffering to the world.
But if the OP or the guy in the video truly believe that they have the ability to tap into the healing power of a supreme almighty God then why aren't they in a terminal cancer ward somewhere instead of out on the street dealing with relatively minor ailments?
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I get the "go to the hospital" thing from even people who say they believe. The guy in the video(Todd White) may have done that, but I can only speak for me. Let us picture this scenario. If I were to walk into a hospital I would have to find someone in charge who would not tell me to go away. I can not just walk into the terminal cancer ward. If I were to get into a room with someone, asked to pray for them and was rejected my heart would break for them. I am not strong enough to handle it. Also like I have said before, not everyone I have prayed for has been healed. I can tell you that it is true, so why don't you go?
If you know of something that is going to help other people and you see someone else in need, what do you do? I feel the need to help others find the only way.
Prayer works like you having a conversation with the God of the universe. So it could be just like any other conversation where you talk about your day. I say I struggle with this because every time I pray for healing I expect them to be healed. This has not been my experience but I know that God is a healer(that is his character). So even though I prayed for someone to be healed today and they were not I will continue to do so because God wants people to be healed.How do you believe prayer works?
How can we tell that something that occurs happens due to prayer and not random chance or other more explainable forces?
That is possible. It is not for me to figure out. I pray and God does the rest.Do you believe that a god chooses to grant certain prayers for certain people at certain times and ignores other prayers at other times for reasons unbeknowst to us? How does he choose?
Do you believe that a terminal illness can be cured solely through prayer without any additional treatment
Do you believe that in @gourimoko's proposed situation, prayer COULD have stopped sexual abuse from happening in a single situation. Such as, if the girl said a prayer before the attacker was attacking her, is it possible god would choose to grant it and prevent the rape from happening? How would he do it? WHY didn't he?
Will god grant prayers for non-Christians? What about really hateful people? Jews? Muslim?
Can you pray for someone else and have the prayer granted for them without them knowing?
Where do you keep going for two years at a time?
I don't think there is only one way. I found what works for me. I help people find what works for them.
Plus, I've learned a lot from other people's spiritual paths. In particular, there's a lot to be learned from Buddhism. One of my favorite books is Jesus and Buddha as Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh.
I may be more Unitarian Universalist philosophically. But the practice of that religion felt lacking in spirituality for me. It felt more like a class in world religions.
Prayer works like you having a conversation with the God of the universe. So it could be just like any other conversation where you talk about your day. I say I struggle with this because every time I pray for healing I expect them to be healed. This has not been my experience but I know that God is a healer(that is his character). So even though I prayed for someone to be healed today and they were not I will continue to do so because God wants people to be healed.
I would test it. I hope you would do the same and I encourage you to do so.
Todd White( the guy in the video) said he prayed for like a thousand people before he saw someone healed. Now he sees people healed all the time. I know that I have not prayed for even 500(that is probably more than double the true number) and know I have seen over 100 people healed. I do not know what you do with that kind of data.
In the video three people were healed. That does not appear to be random to me. What do you propose the more explainable force is? I pray in the name of Jesus and people get healed. I can not think of one. If the God of the universe says to pray for the sick, I do, and they get healed; that seems logical to me. It is all about your worldview. If you do not believe in God then you have to start trying to explain it in another way. From that prospective there has to be another explanation because God does not exist in your world.
That is possible. It is not for me to figure out. I pray and God does the rest.
I prayed for a certain person one week and nothing happened. I then prayed for the same person, for the same thing, the same way and he was healed. I do not get it.
Yes.
There is a reason I do not answer these questions because I do not know. I am not God. God could intervene anyway he chooses, but I also know that he chooses to let us have free will which allows evil in this world.
Yes. He wants to have a relationship with everyone.
Knowing that you prayed or knowing that it was granted? Either way the answer is yes.
These last two years I started seeking God with my whole heart. God changed me. Previously I was on here like crazy even during the safaris hitting the refresh button. I feel in love with God more than everything else. I did watch the finals but it was more of a "I can not believe Cleveland is about to win a title" than caring like I once did. I am trying to become more like Christ everyday. You could ask me questions like, how do you do that? I would answer I do not know how it works. I know that it is through a relationship with him. How it works exactly. I have no clue. God does it but he will not force it upon you.
Following a list of rules is religion. For example: Read your bible.
Years ago I did read my bible but not in a relationship with God. This is a religious activity.
Now I read my bible with a relationship with God. How I went from one to the other. I think it is when I gave my life to God and he gave me the Holy Spirit.
Jesus claimed to be God, rose from the dead, and said that he is the way. All who put their trust in him will also be raised from the dead and live forever. Buddha did not claim to be God and did not raise from the dead. To me it makes more sense to listen to the guy who rose from the dead.