We’re continuing the series on god, prayers and prosperity. Last post I told you that I don’t believe in god, but I do believe in the power of prayer. And I do believe that it is possible the prayers of Sloopy, his wife, and their friends and family could have helped cause her recovery.
I have no way of knowing for sure that prayer works. But I do know that if we break everything down to its essence, everything is energy. Or more specifically, energy vibrations. We also know energy can be attracted or repelled. Thoughts are things and possess energy.
So could Sloopy, his wife, and all their friends and family praying together attract or repel certain energies and influence the molecules in her body to cause a healing to take place?
It’s possible. There’s nothing really in science to disprove it. Peter asked if we could attribute this to infinite intelligence or cosmic consciousness. I believe that is certainly possible too. You already know I’m a fervent believer in the power of thought, the power of mind. And I do believe minds thinking together create a mastermind and could conceivably create a unique energy field.
So while I don’t believe in some omnipotent, omniscient, all-knowing entity, I frequently pray and hold a vision of hope, healing and higher good for others facing tragedy or misfortune of some kind. I would like to believe that the mental energy I send out can blend with the prayers of others and influence good in some way. I’m not arrogant enough to state that what I believe is a “fact,” or denigrate those who believe different than I do. I simply find that while I cannot believe in organized religion and consider myself a rational being, I can believe in the potential energy of prayer without sacrificing logic or rationality.
I pray that my prayers and the prayers of others really work.
My idealistic idea of a prosperous world would be one where spiritual people prayed together and religion didn’t exist. I think I’ll pick up with that idea on the next post. In the meantime, I’d love to see your thoughts below.
-RG
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I say that the power of meditation and prayer is proven to be powerful and have an effect. Many years ago a test was done in Washington DC, when 3,000 people around the world came to pray and meditate to see if that could bring down crime rate (in the highest city in the US) in the summer and, at least, that year there was a drop of over 23%. The story of Hoponopono is another powerful story of how player can impact people.
Randy have you ever looked at the testimonies of NDE survivors? it might be a game changer for you. Heres a link to a neuro surgeons personal account:
Yes I have studied and seen a few of them. Hadn't seen this until now. I do think changing the discussion from evidence and facts to conventional wisdom does the study a disservice.
Dearest Randy, I have been trying to work all this God stuff out since I was 5 (now 53), I was raised a catholic and according to their doctrine I should have been struck by a bolt of lightening (too much shagging in Thailand) years ago... but Iam still here! and I am with you on the cosmic santa claus theory.... In my experience you reach a point in life where by you accept there is something greater than us guiding and nuturing us or you don't... I chose to accept and my life is better for it.... In my experience it is about developing relationship with this intelligence, ie dialogue, reading the signs, listening to the voice inside you, and when I do things turn out well. I am a podiatrist of all things and have treated thousands of people, two of my patients, who don't know each other, have both almost died, they both were going up a tunnel, and both experienced a glorious white light full of peace and calm, they both returned to life which is how I know their story.... I have another spriitual client who stood by her dieing husband, who had been talking to his dead mother a week before his death which was signified by a puff of smoke ( like a cloud, she said) at the end of his bed. I have another ex-alcoholic client, who is now a healer, I questioned him on his healing abilities and remarked he was only a channel of this great energy, he also mentioned not only do we have responsibilty for our fellow man/woman, but we also have a collective responsibilty... he has studied budhism... SO there is something going on, call it whatever you like... but I think as always the answers are within.. I am my own religion... but I do live by spiritual law as learnt from you! Love and Best Wishes as always Graham UK
One of my favorite "Prayer Stories" concerns a woman named Sarah Edwards, wife of the famous Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards. He was best known perhaps for his sermon that every early American schoolchild had read: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He told his audience:
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present. . . .
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you.
And, for the unregenerate, he continued:
When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you . . . ; there shall be no moderation or mercy.15
I cannot help but wonder how such excesses struck the hearts and minds of tender people everywhere and of Edwards’ own devout and loving wife in particular. It so happened that on one occasion when Edwards was out of town, another local preacher came to visit Sarah and her children. He offered to have a prayer with the family, and she agreed. Afterward, she recorded in her journal that while the Reverend Peter Reynolds was offering his prayer, she found herself feeling “an earnest desire that, in calling on God, he should say, Father.” She asked herself, “Can I now at this time, with the confidence of a child, and without the least misgiving of heart, call God my Father?”
In consequence of this reflection, she recorded, “I felt a strong desire to be alone with God,” and withdrew to her chamber. In the moments that followed, she continued:
The presence of God was so near, and so real, that I seemed scarcely conscious of any thing else. God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, seemed as distinct persons, both manifesting their inconceivable loveliness, and mildness, and gentleness, and their great and immutable love to me. . . .The peace and happiness, which I hereupon felt, was altogether inexpressible. - Sarah Edwards, in Works of President Edwards,
Prosperity TV
I say that the power of meditation and prayer is proven to be powerful and have an effect. Many years ago a test was done in Washington DC, when 3,000 people around the world came to pray and meditate to see if that could bring down crime rate (in the highest city in the US) in the summer and, at least, that year there was a drop of over 23%. The story of Hoponopono is another powerful story of how player can impact people.
Randy have you ever looked at the testimonies of NDE survivors? it might be a game changer for you. Heres a link to a neuro surgeons personal account:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbkgj5J91hE
Yes I have studied and seen a few of them. Hadn't seen this until now. I do think changing the discussion from evidence and facts to conventional wisdom does the study a disservice.
Dearest Randy, I have been trying to work all this God stuff out since I was 5 (now 53), I was raised a catholic and according to their doctrine I should have been struck by a bolt of lightening (too much shagging in Thailand) years ago... but Iam still here! and I am with you on the cosmic santa claus theory.... In my experience you reach a point in life where by you accept there is something greater than us guiding and nuturing us or you don't... I chose to accept and my life is better for it.... In my experience it is about developing relationship with this intelligence, ie dialogue, reading the signs, listening to the voice inside you, and when I do things turn out well. I am a podiatrist of all things and have treated thousands of people, two of my patients, who don't know each other, have both almost died, they both were going up a tunnel, and both experienced a glorious white light full of peace and calm, they both returned to life which is how I know their story.... I have another spriitual client who stood by her dieing husband, who had been talking to his dead mother a week before his death which was signified by a puff of smoke ( like a cloud, she said) at the end of his bed. I have another ex-alcoholic client, who is now a healer, I questioned him on his healing abilities and remarked he was only a channel of this great energy, he also mentioned not only do we have responsibilty for our fellow man/woman, but we also have a collective responsibilty... he has studied budhism... SO there is something going on, call it whatever you like... but I think as always the answers are within.. I am my own religion... but I do live by spiritual law as learnt from you! Love and Best Wishes as always Graham UK
One of my favorite "Prayer Stories" concerns a woman named Sarah Edwards, wife of the famous Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards. He was best known perhaps for his sermon that every early American schoolchild had read: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He told his audience:
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present. . . .
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you.
And, for the unregenerate, he continued:
When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you . . . ; there shall be no moderation or mercy.15
I cannot help but wonder how such excesses struck the hearts and minds of tender people everywhere and of Edwards’ own devout and loving wife in particular. It so happened that on one occasion when Edwards was out of town, another local preacher came to visit Sarah and her children. He offered to have a prayer with the family, and she agreed. Afterward, she recorded in her journal that while the Reverend Peter Reynolds was offering his prayer, she found herself feeling “an earnest desire that, in calling on God, he should say, Father.” She asked herself, “Can I now at this time, with the confidence of a child, and without the least misgiving of heart, call God my Father?”
In consequence of this reflection, she recorded, “I felt a strong desire to be alone with God,” and withdrew to her chamber. In the moments that followed, she continued:
The presence of God was so near, and so real, that I seemed scarcely conscious of any thing else. God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, seemed as distinct persons, both manifesting their inconceivable loveliness, and mildness, and gentleness, and their great and immutable love to me. . . .The peace and happiness, which I hereupon felt, was altogether inexpressible. - Sarah Edwards, in Works of President Edwards,