Praying for Evil Monsters

Prayer is communication with God. It is union with God and believers say it is two way. God unites with you when you pray and you unite with him. You can pray for others.

 

When terrorists murder innocent people, the ministerial sycophants step smugly into their pulpits and remind the congregation that the terrorists need its prayers. They need its prayers. That is they have a right to be prayed for. Do they? The Church says we do not deserve grace or help from God to live a holy life and we do not deserve to be forgiven our sins. The purpose of praying for them is that God will change their hearts. That he will do whatever it is that will impress them best so that they will change. So if that means making them get away with it, decide to give up terrorism and start a happy family life or turning themselves in so be it. Also, if somebody does something bad, Christianity and Islam would say that they hope the person was insane for the sake of her or his soul which is in danger of everlasting punishment. So praying for them can amounts to several things. One of them is wishing that the terrorists are insane. Clearly then the concern is not really for the evil they have done but for the evil they intend. If they are insane they don’t intend evil properly for they are sick. So it is okay then if the terrorists keep killing people as long as they are insane.

 

Do the terrorists need prayers then to keep them from getting their come-uppance in Hell even if it means wishing that they might lose health and limb in the process? Yes. Praying for them is therefore more important than praying for the innocent victims or their families. If there is a choice, it is the terrorists that should be prayed for.

 

Praying for the terrorists is fanaticism. It is just another quieter form of the exact same fanaticism that impels terrorists to maim and murder. The praying is hypocrisy. It insults the victims. Prayer is indeed a declaration of ones attitude that dogma has value and people do not. Religion makes people so irrational that they might not be able to let themselves see this.

 

People don't mind using prayers and magic to control others as long as they tell themselves it is for the benefit of those people. Religion says God controls us apart from how we use our free will. How can it expect us to believe that it does not hope to control people by praying for them? They are asking God who controls others to control them - period.

 

But religion contradicts that by saying that God causes all things and thus how they will behave. You have free will then because of God and not in spite of him which means there is no getting away from his control. A God who permits you to act is still controlling.

 

Conclusion:

 

The benefits of prayer do not come from prayer at all which is why we should challenge people’s faith in prayer and have no regrets. The benefits are nothing compared to the damage that is done.

 

The WEB

 

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12608c.htm

Catholic Encyclopaedia. This discusses Quietism.

  

BOOKS CONSULTED

 

A CATECHISM OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, CTS, London, 1985

A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, VOL 6, PART II, KANT, Frederick Copleston SJ, Doubleday/Image, New York 1964

AQUINAS, FC Copleston, Penguin Books, London, 1991

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL, Friedrich Nietzsche, Penguin, London, 1990

BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, Association for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, Dublin, 1960

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, Veritas, London, 1995

CHARITY, MEDITATIONS FOR A MONTH, Richard F Clarke SJ, Catholic Truth Society, London, 1973

CHRISTIANITY FOR THE TOUGH-MINDED, Edited by John Warwick Montgomery, Bethany Fellowship, Minnesota, 1973

CRISIS OF MORAL AUTHORITY, Don Cupitt, SCM Press, London, 1995

EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT, VOL 1, Josh McDowell, Alpha, Scripture Press Foundation, Bucks, 1995

ECUMENICAL JIHAD, Peter Kreeft, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1996

THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION, St Alphonsus De Ligouri, Redemptorist Fathers, Brooklyn, 1988

HANDBOOK OF CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS, Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, Monarch, East Sussex, 1995

HONEST TO GOD, John AT Robinson, SCM, London, 1963

HOW DOES GOD LOVE ME? Radio Bible Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1986

IN DEFENCE OF THE FAITH, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 1996

MADAME GUYON, MARTYR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, Phyllis Thompson, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1986

RADIO REPLIES, 1, Frs Rumble & Carty, Radio Replies Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 1938

RADIO REPLIES, 2, Frs Rumble & Carty, Radio Replies Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 1940

RADIO REPLIES, 3, Frs Rumble & Carty, Radio Replies Press, St Paul, Minnesota, 1942

REASON AND BELIEF, Brand Blanschard, George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1974

REASONS FOR HOPE, Ed Jeffrey A Mirus, Christendom College Press, Virginia, 1982

THE BIBLE TELLS US SO, R B Kuiper, The Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1978

THE BRIEF OF ST ANTHONY OF PADUA (Vol 44, No 4)

The Dark Side, How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth, Valerie Tarico, Ph.D, Dea Press, Seattle, 2006

THE GREAT MEANS OF SALVATION AND OF PERFECTION, St Alphonsus De Ligouri, Redemptorist Fathers, Brooklyn, 1988

THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Thomas A Kempis, Translated by Ronald Knox and Michael Oakley, Universe, Burns & Oates, London, 1963

THE LIFE OF ALL LIVING, Fulton J Sheen, Image Books, New York, 1979

THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD, Brother Lawrence, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1981

THE PUZZLE OF GOD, Peter Vardy, Collins, London, 1990

THE SATANIC BIBLE, Anton Szandor LaVey, Avon Books, New York, 1969

THE SPIRITUAL GUIDE, Michael Molinos, Christian Books, Gardiner Maine, 1982

THE STUDENT’S CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, Rev Charles Hart BA, Burns & Oates, London, 1961

UNBLIND FAITH, Michael J Langford, SCM, London, 1982