Thread: how relevant is religion to your life outside of Dreamviews?

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Well said Wantless. I'm not a Christian and never was, but I always thought the thing to pray for was the strength to persevere, the compassion to understand, and the ability to love. Anyone who prays for money or gifts must have a very cheap idea of their own God. They must see him as a jolly fat man in a red suit.

Jim Morrison: "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer."

Thank you for the kind words. You have grasp the idea of prayer way better than I have. Nice.

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

I didn't see Lucid's post as a tear down- just stating his personal views.

Other than that, I agree with Wantless. You can't (or shouldn't) pray for things which are against God's nature. Things like getting laid, winning at gambling, getting away with something, lol, are no-no's. You'd think that anyhow, but I'm no longer surprised to find out that too many people do ask for such things.
When I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I would ask for things help in finding people wanting to discuss the Bible or have Bible studies; for strength and willpower to make my meetings even when I didn't feel like it; for general guidance and help finding answers when confronted with difficulties; for resolve and strength when faced with temptation.

Prayer shouldn't be used only during emergencies. One of the main purposes of prayer is to help you feel connected to God. That connection helps influence the decisions you make throughout your day to day life (in order to be the sort of person you want to be even if stressed or depressed).

This topic is about how relevant religion is to you outside of dreamviews, what LucidFlanders is doing is stating his thoughts of a particular aspect of someone religion and tearing it down. Rather, than saying "Religion is irrelevant to me outside of dreamviews"(or something along those lines) he just commented on how useless praying was which is completely off topic. I welcome anyone views if it be negative or positive as long as on topic.

For me, religion is [or at least some aspects of it are] relevant in my day-to-day life pretty much all of the time. ...My level of participation in religion as an institution is questionable though, so it'd be hard to put that kinda thing on a 1-10 sorta scale.

I don't necessarily understand the distinction about dv, but i will say that it is probably more relevant to my life than it is to most things i've posted on dv. For various reasons.


And as for prayer,

Originally Posted by LucidFlanders

the whole part of growing as a person would be meaningless if you relied on praying and receiving. Sometimes you just gotta take the bad things in life. Bad experiences, and good ones both help you become a better person, not always asking in faith hoping it works out.

I see this whole part of your response [along with "time will tell you"] as being true. In my opinion, however, anyone relying on praying and receiving is simply doing it wrong.

Zhaylin put it so marvelously that I wanna see it in a quotebox!:

Originally Posted by Zhaylin

"Prayer shouldn't be used only during emergencies. One of the main purposes of prayer is to help you feel connected to God. That connection helps influence the decisions you make throughout your day to day life (in order to be the sort of person you want to be even if stressed or depressed)."

I can only speak for myself of course, but most of the time if i'm praying it's to thank God for things.

It isn't relevant aside from the occasional conversation.

I got in a little debate with an atheist friend of mine because I was making claims about atheists and he was refuting them by defining atheist in a way that enveloped me as well. In other words when I say things like "I'm beyond the need to have beliefs for or against things" it makes me an atheist. I did go through an atheist phase when I was in HS but I wonder, despite not actually, stubbornly believing any religious philosophy, does it still make me an atheist if I practice Prayer, Meditation and the guidelines of religious philosophers... cause I enjoy it? Because I wager they'll have scientifically verifiable results in the future and will not always be limited to people who believe in fairy tales. They benefit me, at least.

But I lied, there is something religious I believe in. Myself. If a secular mind leans against no unjustified idea, then I am not secular because there is one unjustified idea I have absolute faith in. Myself. Whatever conditions manifest before me, my faith in myself is a lantern with which I light the way. I have no reason to believe in myself. Any reason I am given, I throw away. I do not need logic to feel worthy.

Well I have my own personal "religion" which consists of all of my beliefs about God. I don't adhere to any one religion, but I USED to be extremely devout to my own beliefs. I've been slipping this past year since life caught up with me... but I'm starting to head back to my religious ways.

I'm more of an eclectic, and I take the teachings that make the most sense to me from various religions. I apply those into my life as actively as I can under present circumstances.

Well I watch some atheism talk shows, but other than that my atheism doesn't really influence my everyday life. (I'm not saying atheism is a religion.)

But my boyfriend's religion (Catholicism) influences my life, especially while I'm over there.