I am curious to know if you would be offended, if at church on Sunday your Pastor got up and said a prayer for Church Mice?
I mean he prayed that the mice be strengthened and given the ability to carry out their mousey duties and to eventually render the Church unusable, so that the Parisheners would finally have to pony up the dough to pay for a new Church.
ok I am kidding here is the original post but hey if you are just now reading this thread there have been many twists and turns and I no longer say a prayer over the deceased and yes largely due to many of the points made in this thread. Also NO i would not be offended if anyone of any belief Satanist, TO Catholic said prayers or whipered chants or whatever in my ear that said it was and is an interesting thread but please read about 5-10 of the current posts prior to posting
Now The
ORIGNAL POST
I am curious to know if you would be offended, after death if someone were to say a prayer over you.
I would really like to hear from as many Agnostic or Atheist as possible.
I recently began saying a prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. Many times I do not know if the person had a religious preference or not. I am curious to know if people would be offended if they knew someone was going to pray over them when they die.
here is the prayer
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom![/Quote]
If you're dead, and you're atheist, you won't know anyway, right? At least in your mind. So there's no harm in what WE do. If there's no harm in what we do after you've died, then there's no harm beforehand either. Simple logic. You might get pissed off, but hey, you'll probably get over it - we certainly will (you know, turn the other cheek and all).:kiss Wouldn't some little part of you rather err on the side that their is a higher power, just in case? C'mon, you can tell us. We won't tell your atheist friends.
I recently saw this little tidbit in an email
I would rather live like there is a God and find out there isn't than live like there isn't a God and find out there is!
If I am dead and you are praying you are praying for yourself, I have already met my maker.
Also 'thee' is used by the quakers as well as the mennonites, amish and a few other fundementalist christian beliefs.
Anyone who believes they will care, does not believe in heaven. And if they are agnostic or atheist they won't be around to care either, they'll simply be gone.
i went to catholic school. we say "thy" (similar to "thee") in grace: bless us O Lord, and these thy gifts..". I find it kind of odd anyone would care too much, but thought i would mention it anyway. also in the "Our Father."
I think it is important that faith be contingent upon beleif in the unprovable. Otherwise it would just be fact. Mystery and doubt are required for an honest evaluation of oneself. I feel that many people feel that faith is based on fear while I personally believe that fear is what drives people away from faith, fear of living up to a certain standard in which we treat our fellow man with respect, dignity and basic human kindness.
At the risk of sending this thread back to the front of the line... and possibly beating a dead horse... I have to say, I'm not sure I agree with your logic.
Most persons I know base their faith on love... Love of a God or whatever deity.
And I personally don't think you need faith in a higher power to have love for your fellow human.
I think fear of crazy fanatical believers are what drive some people away from faith... i.e. "holy war"...
Specializes in Happily semi-retired; excited for the whole whammy.
Which I beleive is why more people don't have faith, we live in a world of I want what I want and I want it now. I think it is important that faith be contingent upon beleif in the unprovable. Otherwise it would just be fact. Mystery and doubt are required for an honest evaluation of oneself. I feel that many people feel that faith is based on fear while I personally believe that fear is what drives people away from faith, fear of living up to a certain standard in which we treat our fellow man with respect, dignity and basic human kindness..
I don't agree at all that those without faith fear treating fellow man with respect, dignity and basic human kindness. The only atheist family I knew when I was growing up were also among the nicest. As an adult, I have often thought of all the "Christians" in my hometown, going to church every Sunday and stabbing you in the back the rest of the week. The beyotch I share an office with has a saying clipped on her bulletin board. Something or other about how to raise a brat; one of the tips is not to raise your child with faith so that they have no values. I find that incredibly offensive. Faith and values are not mutually exclusive.
And this is way off the subject... What is "picaresque"? And how is it pronounced? And why Foghorn Leghorn...
Just curious.
(pik-er-rsk,)
adj.
Of or involving clever rogues or adventurers.
Of or relating to a genre of usually satiric prose fiction originating in Spain and depicting in realistic, often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero of low social degree living by his or her wits in a corrupt society
here it is I just sort of see myself as a witty rascal which is why I relate to foghorn. I love to roam the countryside righting wrongs and saving damsels that sort of thing. LOL
I would rather live like there is a God and find out there isn't than live like there isn't a God and find out there is!
that idea was originally put forth by pascal, i believe. he is considered pretty important (i mean, people still read him). i think it was pascal; some famous guy who is now dead who people still talk about in college and all that. (i am getting old, not quite sure if it was pascal). i am a little unclear as to why you think you have foot in mouth disease (above post). if you have it, we all have it, don't we?
i do not even care if this makes people mad. this is my stand: life is hard (or has been for me). i believe God (and Jesus) are the one sure thing-- i can talk to "them" about anything, anything, anything and expect some sort of response. (and no-- the above use of "them" is purely for sentence structure and reflects no complicated beliefs about the trinity or lack thereof). now-- why on earth would i restrict myself from this to please some selfish bastard who does not want me to speak freely to my God? i mean, dur. but at work-- i would not pray out loud, no way. and about faith, people get sick of christians cause they are just so damn self righteous ad infinum ad nauseum. and about logic (someone was worrying about logic) isn't there something way beyond human logic? isn't God's logic often seeming chaos to humans? and isn't (this is so like me) emotion so much more fun than logic anyway (i place lots of value in fun). heck-- life is a mystery. everybody's got their own and i am entitled to mine too.
and besides, isn't prayer an extension of oneself, (on a basic level) really... so someone saying you have to contain yourself in what is really a very private moment, a very private expression (usually)... so that you can respect them... that just seems icky. suppress yourself so you can respect me... i don't know, something about that seems gross, almost (in effect) cultlike. i mean, not talking to God when you want to... it's like thought and emotion control of an inhuman degree. and as far as logic goes (God, i hate people who talk about how logical they are and are proud of it, i think it is psychotic)... well, accepted logic used to be the world was flat. the universe revolved around the earth. disease was caused by "miasmas" that spontaneously generated.... logic is highly overrated.
I am curious to know if you would be offended, after death if someone were to say a prayer over you.
I would really like to hear from as many Agnostic or Atheist as possible.
I recently began saying a prayer over anyone that dies in my presence. Many times I do not know if the person had a religious preference or not. I am curious to know if people would be offended if they knew someone was going to pray over them when they die.
here is the prayer
Dear Lord not our will but yours. Into thine hands we commend the spirit of this peaceful child of God. Prepare a place for him/her Now in Your Heavenly Kingdom!
I am curious to know why you started doing this just recently? Was there something that inspired you?
CCU NRS
1,245 Posts
I recently saw this little tidbit in an email
I would rather live like there is a God and find out there isn't than live like there isn't a God and find out there is!