There are ultimately only two prayers, Please and Thank you.
4 comments:
Anonymous
said...
And only the latter is appreciated by the Lord (the first one assumes us to know what's best (forms of bribery come to mind ... as in "if You do this for me, I promise to ..." - actually insulting God and relegating His will to that of a trained monkey god to serve our needs) Cheers, and let us pray ;)
have to agree with gwynnie on this one, where #1 is much like the exclamation "God is great" and "Abba Father, hallowed be Thy Name" - a statement of awe about Who He is, without regard for thanks toward his Creation (which includes anything we'd express appreciation for apart from God Himself). And #2's being contrite is not a form of asking that He do something we wish have happen, rather asking for absolution for evil acts we know to have committed against His will. Thanks for that more complete breakout - the fourth being the one I wrestle with as being masked egoism (which is the opposite of "Thy will be done"). Jacques Maritain summed up prayer as "God talk" - of making Him our personal best friend (and Father) every day - with the aspects of #1 - 3 fitting in nicely. Cheers.
4 comments:
And only the latter is appreciated by the Lord (the first one assumes us to know what's best (forms of bribery come to mind ... as in "if You do this for me, I promise to ..." - actually insulting God and relegating His will to that of a trained monkey god to serve our needs)
Cheers, and let us pray ;)
Four:
1-I love you God
2-I'm sorry for the things I did wrong
3-Thanks
4-Please
I have seen the A.C.T.S. form of prayer, but thought I could distill it further, counting Adoration as a Thank you and Confession as a Please.
have to agree with gwynnie on this one, where #1 is much like the exclamation "God is great" and "Abba Father, hallowed be Thy Name" - a statement of awe about Who He is, without regard for thanks toward his Creation (which includes anything we'd express appreciation for apart from God Himself). And #2's being contrite is not a form of asking that He do something we wish have happen, rather asking for absolution for evil acts we know to have committed against His will. Thanks for that more complete breakout - the fourth being the one I wrestle with as being masked egoism (which is the opposite of "Thy will be done"). Jacques Maritain summed up prayer as "God talk" - of making Him our personal best friend (and Father) every day - with the aspects of #1 - 3 fitting in nicely. Cheers.
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