Offended by Prayer

[CCU NRS]

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.

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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]

[boulergirl, CNA]

I want to be cremated, too, but my parents insist on having a place to mourn me. So I guess it's off to a box after I'm dead. Had an agnostic friend in college who wants cremation, and to have a tree planted over his ashes, but his folks want him to have a "proper Christian burial".

Since when did rotting in a box become a Christian thing? I figure God is smart enough to bring someone's ashes together during the rapture--why do they have to be intact?

Time to crawl off my soapbox now. Wouldn't mind someone praying over my dead body. After all, I'm DEAD!

[SharonH, RN]

Well first of all, I would be most upset about being DEAD.

But seriously, I agree with the person who said that if you thinks it would make a difference then please do so silently. I am a Christian also and I know that God hears silent prayer, I don't know why so many Christians try to pretend like he doesn't. But I really don't want you praying over me, dead or alive.

[Q.]

While not agnostic or atheist (but Christian and Protestant), I would not be offended by any follower of Islam, Buddha, Wicca, or any other religion who chose to talk to their deity for me...as long as that person loved me and/or had my best interests at heart. Someone who didn't like me during life...that I'd have a problem with.

Agreed. I couldn't be offended when someone is simply offering up their version of help or grace or blessing to me. It's an act of good will. I am not going to be offended simply because the person didn't keep up with society's religious whims.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I would not be offended by someone saying a prayer over me. It seems to me to be a gentle and kind-hearted thing to do that helps the person caring for me.

There are many times that I say a silent prayer over folks I'm caring for. Not praying them into heaven, just praying for peace for them. One lady I knew well in the community had a massive stroke and was struggling for days to breath and as I cared for her I prayed for a peaceful end. I'm not sure why that would be offensive.

Merricat . . .I have a problem too with imagining myself, this body, dead and people washing me. I would also have a problem donating my body to science for the same reason. I too want to be cremated although I used to think that ghoulish - until I became a nurse and saw what dead bodies look like.

steph

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I think people who use the King James version of the bible like the sound of the thee's and thou's . .. it is lovely poetry. They probably grew up saying it and habits are hard to change and why change them anyway?

steph

[fotografe]

I could not be offended, as others have pointed out, as I am dead. It is more a comfort measure for you, and since you gave me care, I would certainly not deny you a means of closure so that you can go about your business of caring for others. Now, if you wanted to pray with/around me when i was still alive, then I would probably want to throw you out on your behind.

As long as you do it in private, pray away.

[hypnotic_nurse]

My kids, parents, and everyone who loves me alreadys knows that they will cremate me or I will come back and haunt them. Then they'll smuggle the ashes to Canada and sprinkle at least a bit of me around Lake Louise (the most beautiful place I've ever been).

Seriously, I read a book at an early age (Beau Geste) in which one of the characters is given a Viking funeral...and I was fascinated. If it were legal or possible, I'd just have someone load me in a rowboat wearing whatever it was I was wearing when I died, put a pile of my favorite books in with me, slosh the gasoline on and set me alight and shove me out to the middle of some lake. But just plain old cremation will have to do (but hopefully they'll remember to send Alice in Wonderland with me).

Okay, seriously off topic here but the whole cremation thing just sparked me. :)

[CCU NRS]

Hey Thanks for all the replies! I do say this prayer silently and do not ask anyone else to join in or anything like that. I simply feel as someone mentione that no matter what you call it there is a higher power, I use Universal consciousness personally, in prayer God and Heaven are at least concepts that everyone are aware of and if there is a soul present when I say this prayer I would expcet that they understand the spirit in which this prayer is offered by using these commmonly known expressions. I am not overly religious but have experienced a feeling of lingering souls in room of the deceased and began to feel that perhaps a small prayer would ease them from this plane of existance to the next. I do beleive in souls afterlife and reincarnation, but that is a whole other topic.

[CCU NRS]

My kids, parents, and everyone who loves me alreadys knows that they will cremate me or I will come back and haunt them. Then they'll smuggle the ashes to Canada and sprinkle at least a bit of me around Lake Louise (the most beautiful place I've ever been).

Seriously, I read a book at an early age (Beau Geste) in which one of the characters is given a Viking funeral...and I was fascinated. If it were legal or possible, I'd just have someone load me in a rowboat wearing whatever it was I was wearing when I died, put a pile of my favorite books in with me, slosh the gasoline on and set me alight and shove me out to the middle of some lake. But just plain old cremation will have to do (but hopefully they'll remember to send Alice in Wonderland with me).

Okay, seriously off topic here but the whole cremation thing just sparked me. :)

I am sure a lawyer could find a way to get the proper permits and everything to give you the Viking Funeral, it may be very costly but hey after you're dead you won't need your money anymore any way.

[CCU NRS]

Oh Mate!! If you prayed over me I would rise up and haunt you!!:roll:

Actually I would be upset. I chose to live my life without the traditional christian belifs and to have that observed even if meant kindly would smack of hypocrisy and whatever else I am I have promised the maker of life that I will not be a hypocrit.

This one really confuses me. You believe in a maker of life, but would be offended if someone prayed to that maker? Is it just the name I use? Would it be as offensive if the prayer were..

I commend the spirit of this peaceful child to the Maker/Creator/Mother, please give this soul safe harbor in the final resting place.

[hypnotic_nurse]

I am sure a lawyer could find a way to get the proper permits and everything to give you the Viking Funeral, it may be very costly but hey after you're dead you won't need your money anymore any way.

:rotfl: I can just imagine how that would go over here in the midwest! Just thinking about it makes me laugh!

[LPNtoBSNstudent, BSN, RN]

I guess I am wondering what the purpose of the prayer would be. Please do not pray for *me*.

I believe that prayer fits a persons own needs and is *for* the person doing the praying, to find comfort in some way...so if that is the purpose, then I say go for it.