Given the popularity of yesterday’s post, Prayer, Huh (Good God), What Is It Good For?, I wondered whether the subject of prayer might make for an interesting chat here in the This Numinous World subscriber community.
So, do you pray?
Why or why not? How do you pray?
What does it do for you? What does it do for others/the world?
How has your idea of prayer changed over time? What does it look like/sound like/ feel like now?
This is a safe place for the This Numinous World subscriber community (there are about 1,500 of you) to talk to each other and to me directly. All are welcome. Please be brave and kind.
In recent years, I have come to understand the concept of Non-Linear Time, which I believe is called Kairos. Chronos is time on a clock.
Over the last nearly 50 years, my approach to prayer has changed.
Entering Faith in my third year of college, in an Evangelical environment, I was taught that Creator Always answers prayer, sometimes/most of the time, by 'not yet'.
Creator has brought healing into my life, even though I wasn't sure it would happen. I am not able to doubt that which I have seen happen.
I no longer have a litany of prayer--a practice of reciting names from a long list. A result of the Pandemic. I no longer have walks by myself. My neurological system is messed up.
I stopped attending church during the Pandemic [the reality is that I often dozed off on early Sunday mornings]. I think I have spent more time thinking about Creator during the Pandemic, than ever before.
I came to believe in Non-Linear Time after watching the movie "Arrival". The whole movie takes place in Non-Linear Time, but they don't explain that.
I believe that all our pasts, presents and futures have been known by Creator since the beginning of the Universe. Given that Creator has know everything about us, everything we have done or are about to do, it is impossible for us to surprise Creator.
Not surprising Creator, means that our futures are already known. We don’t know how we end. Creator knows. Punishment for ‘sins’ is illogical. The reality is that we do everything according to what we want. Perhaps not on a day to day basis; we live by our choices. Some of the choices were bad.
Jesus did not die on the cross so we could be saved [lots of proof-texts with which to disagree]. Jesus died because He spoke out against the religious authority of the day. He healed people without involving the religious bureaucracy. He fed hungry people virtually out of thin air [the Creator of seeds made bread, bypassing the ovens].
Jesus came to bring Light into the world as the Second Person of the Trinity—all of Creator that would fit in a human form. Jesus either did bring Light into the world, or Jesus failed.
Evangelicals stop at John 3:16 because it serves their purpose. The paragraph ends on verse 21.
19 This is the judgment: The Light has come into the world and the children of men loved the darkness more than The Light, because their works were evil.
Jesus brought Light into the World.
Jesus’ followers, needing some structure similar to the religious environment where they were found, worked at bringing order to that which may not have needed order. The Emperor Constantine, in the Third Century AD, created the Holy Roman Empire.
The Bible was not split into chapters until the 13th century and there were no verse numbers until the 16th century. The verse numbers were added by a printer.
"John 3:16" had no inherent meaning until the 1500s. The sentence was in the Book of John, but that particular sentence is modified by the sentences before and after.
I continue to let myself know [Creator already knows] about people for whom I have concerns.
In recent years, I have come to understand the concept of Non-Linear Time, which I believe is called Kairos. Chronos is time on a clock.
Over the last nearly 50 years, my approach to prayer has changed.
Entering Faith in my third year of college, in an Evangelical environment, I was taught that Creator Always answers prayer, sometimes/most of the time, by 'not yet'.
Creator has brought healing into my life, even though I wasn't sure it would happen. I am not able to doubt that which I have seen happen.
I no longer have a litany of prayer--a practice of reciting names from a long list. A result of the Pandemic. I no longer have walks by myself. My neurological system is messed up.
I stopped attending church during the Pandemic [the reality is that I often dozed off on early Sunday mornings]. I think I have spent more time thinking about Creator during the Pandemic, than ever before.
I came to believe in Non-Linear Time after watching the movie "Arrival". The whole movie takes place in Non-Linear Time, but they don't explain that.
I believe that all our pasts, presents and futures have been known by Creator since the beginning of the Universe. Given that Creator has know everything about us, everything we have done or are about to do, it is impossible for us to surprise Creator.
Not surprising Creator, means that our futures are already known. We don’t know how we end. Creator knows. Punishment for ‘sins’ is illogical. The reality is that we do everything according to what we want. Perhaps not on a day to day basis; we live by our choices. Some of the choices were bad.
Jesus did not die on the cross so we could be saved [lots of proof-texts with which to disagree]. Jesus died because He spoke out against the religious authority of the day. He healed people without involving the religious bureaucracy. He fed hungry people virtually out of thin air [the Creator of seeds made bread, bypassing the ovens].
Jesus came to bring Light into the world as the Second Person of the Trinity—all of Creator that would fit in a human form. Jesus either did bring Light into the world, or Jesus failed.
Evangelicals stop at John 3:16 because it serves their purpose. The paragraph ends on verse 21.
19 This is the judgment: The Light has come into the world and the children of men loved the darkness more than The Light, because their works were evil.
Jesus brought Light into the World.
Jesus’ followers, needing some structure similar to the religious environment where they were found, worked at bringing order to that which may not have needed order. The Emperor Constantine, in the Third Century AD, created the Holy Roman Empire.
The Bible was not split into chapters until the 13th century and there were no verse numbers until the 16th century. The verse numbers were added by a printer.
"John 3:16" had no inherent meaning until the 1500s. The sentence was in the Book of John, but that particular sentence is modified by the sentences before and after.
I continue to let myself know [Creator already knows] about people for whom I have concerns.