Psychology, prayer and mathematics
The psychological processes which, as observed by introspection, are active within the praying subject, and the manner of their activity – these are matters as indifferent for the nature of the act of prayer as are a mathematician’s indigestion or his fantasies, while he thinks a problem over, for the noetics of mathematics (i.e. nature of mathematical thought).The act of prayer can be defined only from the meaning of prayer.
– Max Scheler
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October 8, 2011 at 1:56 am
hey chanced upon this blog so i’m just going with my spiritual instincts to write something more personal. (you can take it off if you get offended! i’m totally cool with it!)
how i would see it would be like drawing a parallel to how a lawyer pleads for his case. when a lawyer wants to plead for his case to the judge, he often uses previous case studies found in books(truths) that previous judges have already judge and have given the verdict similar to the kind he is looking for his current case. in the christian society i have often heard my pastor say lines like, “i plead the blood of Jesus over your ____” and supernaturally healing takes place in those occasions. in the same way, when we make ‘pleadings’ via prayer, we have to take scriptures from the bible and proclaim the promises to back our facts with these truths before our prayers can be answered.
prayer is an act of faith, and people often confuse hope with faith, hence prayer is not answered. faith is instant and when praying, one has to use present tense instead of future tense for hoping is future tense but faith is present. you believe you receive immediately. is it not confusing when someone says the Sinner’s prayer they believe they are saved and enter into eternal life from that very point but when it comes to prayer requests(for example, healing) they often hope that it’ll heal in the future? now that is the misconception and if interpreted that way, one will not get his request answered.
October 11, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Hello Calvin, somehow you found your way here! Concerning the nature of prayer which you mentioned, do you think it’s truly still a request since it’s mainly a matter of proclaiming promises? It appears like a reminder of sorts – i.e. “Please keep your word!” What do you think?