Is It Wrong to Be Faithful/Religious in Public?

[Nakosis]

Didn't Jesus advise against public displays of faith anyway?

 

[Kathryn]

curious,
if god knows your heart already, then why ask for these things?

It's called "communication" and like I said, I don't ask for things in prayer, other than wisdom and strength to accept and understand God's will in my life.

I enjoy communicating with God, and when I am still and listen, I am very touched and encouraged by what He reveals to me.

 

[Kathryn]

Nevertheless, it's a common practice. I've known Christians who pray for a good parking spot at the mall.

Well, I can't be responsible for their actions or beliefs. It's all I can do to keep my own life and heart in order.

 

[zenzero]

Friend ChristineES,

Firstly we are only beings, humans at best; it is only a choice one makes to follow a path or way which is also labelled Religion to be in oneness with existence of which we are all parts off.
Following a path is only a choice made by free will and that is private and if one behaves in a particular manner in following his/her path in society [till such behavior is acceptable to the society one lives in] till then it is fine. Likewise one should be tolerant equally to followers of other paths expressing themselves socially and legally.

Love & rgds

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The concept of "time" would be rather pointless when it comes to an entity that is supposed to be without limitations. He could both help the ones who starve and the ones praying for good test results.

Arrgh. I wasn't referring to actual time. "Worth his time" was just referring to the idea that God would consider the request important enough to act on.

And my whole point is that while God could help both, he doesn't help those starving people. Whatever God's scoring system that he uses to decide whether to answer someone's prayer or not, the people who starve to death don't score highly enough to warrant God's help.

Given this, the idea that God might help someone with their test implies that might help... IOW, that their request will outweigh that prayer from a person who starved to death that went unanswered by God.

In which case any form of prayer could be argued to be selfish or wrong.

Any intercessory prayer, yes. Not necessarily prayers of worship, thanksgiving or communion.

And I dont think this is the intention of the people who pray, to claim their test performance is more important then someone elses life or some grand master plan.

It might not be their intention, but it's the implication.

And my point about the hubris wasn't even about this divide between answered and unanswered prayers; even if every prayer was answered, it would still be presumptive to ask God to change his perfect plan just for you.

 

[-Peacemaker-]

Hmm... let's see what the Jee-man thinks.

Matthew 6:5-6

5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Interesting...

I believe Tebow is an evangelist first and foremost. He grew up a missionary. I believe he's so open about his faith in order to get people talking about Jesus. I believe he's trying to be a leader and set an example. Jesus couldn've been more public about his Christianity and who he served. The type of Christianity that some people are demanding is a completely unscriptural one in which faith is reserved solely for one's private life.

 

[Splarnst]

People are annoyed by ostentatious displays of religion and of irreligion.

Praying out loud in a restaurant is as annoying to me as it would be to you if I said, Since there is no God, let's acknowledge the people who grew this food, transported it, and prepared it for us."

 

[waitasec]

It's called "communication" and like I said, I don't ask for things in prayer, other than wisdom and strength to accept and understand God's will in my life.

I enjoy communicating with God, and when I am still and listen, I am very touched and encouraged by what He reveals to me.

is this a way for you to understand your own heart?

 

[Kathryn]

is this a way for you to understand your own heart?

It's a way for me to understand God's will - not my will.

 

[Just Another]

This Tebow talk has got me thinking. Do people think it is wrong for people to be religious/faithful in public. I am a Christians whether I am asleep in bed or walking down the street or grocery shopping. I wear a cross around my neck but that is my only public acknowledgment of my faith- I am a very shy person and I don't talk in public.
But if stating your own faith is wrong, then why isn't it wrong to like a rock group/sports team/celebrity/etc in public? My daughter loves Justin Bieber and doesn't hesitate to say so, even in public. My husband is a Steelers fan, and he wants to put a Steelers stickers on his car.
I am not talking about praying very loudly on a street corner, or in a bar, etc where is can be out of place or distracting. But if someone kneels down and prays silently or very softly, even in public, and that person is not in anyone's way or is not infringing on anyone's rights, why is it wrong? If I suddenly decided I needed to pray in a public library, out of the way in a corner or something, then why would that be a problem? If a man prays when he does well at a football game, why would that bother anyone?
I am not ashamed to be a Christian. If I were a Muslim or a Hindu, I wouldn't be ashamed of that either.

What are some of your thoughts on this?

No it is not wrong to be religious in public. I am not a religious person but my folks are extremely passionate. They pray in public and talk about christianty openly.

Nothing wrong with that as long as youre not pushing it on someone else. Of course thats one of the downsides to most religions, the command to go and convert new souls.

I think most people just want to be left alone. Dont try and sell your theological viewpoints and youll be fine.

 

[Falvlun]

I am wondering if any of you feel guilty for eating. Every time you eat something, someone else doesn't get to eat what you are eating and may starve! If you buy a new car, you care more about driving than you do about using that money to send to famine victims.
You guys need to take stock of what you say. I am deeply hurt by those statements.

I thought Peng is doing fine job explaining things, so I'll try not to repeat things he's already said.

I see what you are getting at here, and yes, we are all guilty of being selfish to a certain extent. However, there is a difference here between your examples above and the prayer-to-God issue. There are lots of logistic problems in getting my food and my money to famine victims. Most of it probably won't even end up there at all. God doesn't have logistic problems.

And yet he still doesn't do it, even though he has an unlimited supply. So, the comparison is like me having an unlimited supply of food with an excellent relationship with UPS, and still refusing to give to the starving people, even though people are begging me to do so. But, the fat and unstarving people around me still publicly ask for candy bars, which they believe I sometimes dispense to them. Doesn't that look a bit insensitive and bit selfish on the part of the candy-bar takers? And furthermore, doesn't that just make me look like a firstclass jerk?

I am just saying things how I see them. It's not about hurting your feelings or calling you personally selfish. It's the perception that all these Tebow-like actions create. And if Christians don't want that perception, maybe they need to take stock of their actions.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Also, I think that Christine's right about something: I *could* do more good in the world. I do sometimes make selfish choices. Sometimes, my actions do cause needless suffering. I'm not perfect.

And while these are all things I think I need to work on, they don't create any logical inconsistency: there's nothing paradoxical about an imperfect human acting imperfectly.

OTOH, the way that many believers approach prayer suggests an imperfect God. And when those same believers maintain that their God is perfect, they have set up a logical contradiction in their beliefs.

 

[yourhopeboundheart]

The true test would be to see how often Mr. Tebow gives thanks to his god in that manner when he's not on camera. If every time he cops a two for one at the grocery store he puts his knee to the ground, or if he finds the remote in the first place he looks he makes the same gesture, then i'm pretty cool with him doing that on TV. if that's you, that's you.

as far as other, non-famous, people praying in public i have my doubts about that too. working in a restaurant i see a lot of families bow their heads and pray before their meal (which is a particularly confusing concept for me), and it often makes me wonder if they waited to be in public to thank god for the food (that he didn't cook or pay for) or if it simply didn't occur to them to be thankful until the food actually hit the table. also, christian prayers have been so designed to be the most concealable act in all of history. you could be looking someone dead in the face while they are sitting completely still and not notice that they are talking to a celestial being - why some people make it more obvious than that is the sketchy part for me.

intercessory prayers do often seem kinda silly to me, but i can't knock people who use them. i certainly would if i thought anyone would do anything about them. even the best 'intercessory' prayer i can think of seems weird; "thy will be done". i just think if there was an omnipotent and all knowing being in the universe who had a plan that stretched beyond space and time - i dont think you'd have to give it the go-ahead to play it out, and i dont know if i would have the stones to tell it to change said plan either. if you want to talk to the guy, just talk to him. at least be polite enough to ask him how the universe is going, how his son's been, and maybe even what HE might want from YOU. and if i might be so bold as to offer advice to those of you who talk to the big guy - if i were the praying kind, i'd probably do more thanking than asking, you usually get better results that way.

 

[Falvlun]

The true test would be to see how often Mr. Tebow gives thanks to his god in that manner when he's not on camera. If every time he cops a two for one at the grocery store he puts his knee to the ground, or if he finds the remote in the first place he looks he makes the same gesture, then i'm pretty cool with him doing that on TV. if that's you, that's you.

:biglaugh: Although in Tebow's defense, I'm sure Aaron Rodgers doesn't do his imaginary-championship-belt move when he's found a bag of Oreos he forgot about in the cabinet. Besides the "thanking-god" connotations, that has become Tebow's celebratory "move". All the greats have one.

 

[Falvlun]

Not that Tebow is one of the greats yet, mind you.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

:biglaugh: Although in Tebow's defense, I'm sure Aaron Rodgers doesn't do his imaginary-championship-belt move when he's found a bag of Oreos he forgot about in the cabinet.

You mean the discount double-take?

 

[yourhopeboundheart]

:biglaugh: Although in Tebow's defense, I'm sure Aaron Rodgers doesn't do his imaginary-championship-belt move when he's found a bag of Oreos he forgot about in the cabinet. Besides the "thanking-god" connotations, that has become Tebow's celebratory "move". All the greats have one.

i have read, however, that The Rock has been known to ask his kids if they can smell what he's cooking just before dinner time.

 

[Falvlun]

You mean the discount double-take?

A sign of a good ad campaign: That is nearly what I called it when I made that post. But I resisted!

 

[ChristineES]

People do see prayer differently than I do. I see it as a conversation with God- not as a Christmas list, asking for a bunch of items. It is my way and a lot of other Christians way to talk to God or just communicating with God. There is silence in prayers, too, to "listen" to God, so to speak. If you truly think that I and other Christians go around praying "God please give me that candy bar" or "God, please give me that really close parking spot" all the time, then you truly don't understand what we believe prayer to be. I believe that God likes for His people to talk to Him- or Jesus would have never told us to pray in the first place.
It can be said to be similar to meditation, at times, too.

 

[ChristineES]

Oh, and yes, Jesus did talk about avoiding long, out-loud flowery prayer, for people just "showing off". It should be a private speech. As for Tebow, he doesn't seem to pray out loud, all though he does kneel down in public, but he prays silently. Not perfect, by any means, but who is perfect?