Does Baptism mean that you those who are not Baptized won't go to heaven?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Atheists come to this forum in droves, I can and will interact with them because they choose to come to the religion forum. I can and will pray for them.

Great, so you can tell Atheists not to interact with you if they don't like what you say, but the option is not mutual. Got it!

Anonymous wrote:I think they have deep personal issues that influence their decision to call themselves atheist but then come to a religion forum daily and try to lecture religious people, mostly Christians.

Fortunately there is no lecture coming from you, ever! Including the sentence above! No lecture there! And no irony in any of this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The presumption that everyone you pray for benefits is, though. And I will remind you pf Matthew 6:5-8: "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen."

This makes zero sense. Not being showy with prayer is a different issue than what a person believes about prayer.

No sir, bleating "I'm praying for you!" is in exact contradiction to that verse. Especially when you are certain the person will not appreciate it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Atheists come to this forum in droves, I can and will interact with them because they choose to come to the religion forum. I can and will pray for them.

Great, so you can tell Atheists not to interact with you if they don't like what you say, but the option is not mutual. Got it!

Anonymous wrote:I think they have deep personal issues that influence their decision to call themselves atheist but then come to a religion forum daily and try to lecture religious people, mostly Christians.

Fortunately there is no lecture coming from you, ever! Including the sentence above! No lecture there! And no irony in any of this!

/S

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Atheists come to this forum in droves, I can and will interact with them because they choose to come to the religion forum. I can and will pray for them.

Great, so you can tell Atheists not to interact with you if they don't like what you say, but the option is not mutual. Got it!

Anonymous wrote:I think they have deep personal issues that influence their decision to call themselves atheist but then come to a religion forum daily and try to lecture religious people, mostly Christians.

Fortunately there is no lecture coming from you, ever! Including the sentence above! No lecture there! And no irony in any of this!

/S

PP here, and I assure you there was absolutely no sarcasm in my post whatsoever - that is how I understood the points I was responding to.

...ok, maybe some sarcasm in my "no irony" comment, I will cop to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Atheists come to this forum in droves, I can and will interact with them because they choose to come to the religion forum. I can and will pray for them.

Great, so you can tell Atheists not to interact with you if they don't like what you say, but the option is not mutual. Got it!

Anonymous wrote:I think they have deep personal issues that influence their decision to call themselves atheist but then come to a religion forum daily and try to lecture religious people, mostly Christians.

Fortunately there is no lecture coming from you, ever! Including the sentence above! No lecture there! And no irony in any of this!

/S

PP here, and I assure you there was absolutely no sarcasm in my post whatsoever - that is how I understood the points I was responding to.

...ok, maybe some sarcasm in my "no irony" comment, I will cop to that.

Yes, the "no irony" comment only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

Well I'm a DP, and an atheist, and I didn't take it that way at all. When someone says they'll pray for me, I just say "thanks but don't waste your time." I don't get angry about it or ascribe malicious motives to them. OTOH, this thread is supposed to be about baptism, so maybe we could go back to that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

We are talking about the post from two days ago, right? Where I said k had to make dinner, but would keep him in my prayers?
I didn’t know what he believed at the time. He never said. He was a stranger asking a bunch of questions about baptism and the Catholic Church.

I can see now that he was an atheist trying to have an argument, but when I was reading, he seemed like an agnostic who was conflicted and questioning things. I can see that the prayers were maybe seen as some kind of statement that he was going to Hell. It was really more intended as a “I’ve got to go, but I hope you find answers to your questions.”

So, no. It didn’t seem obvious to me that he would find this to be offensive, and it was certainly not intentionally hostile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

Well I'm a DP, and an atheist, and I didn't take it that way at all. When someone says they'll pray for me, I just say "thanks but don't waste your time." I don't get angry about it or ascribe malicious motives to them. OTOH, this thread is supposed to be about baptism, so maybe we could go back to that?

What kind of response do you get to that?
If someone told me not to waste my time on them, I would think they were depressed and feeling worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

Well I'm a DP, and an atheist, and I didn't take it that way at all. When someone says they'll pray for me, I just say "thanks but don't waste your time." I don't get angry about it or ascribe malicious motives to them. OTOH, this thread is supposed to be about baptism, so maybe we could go back to that?

What kind of response do you get to that?
If someone told me not to waste my time on them, I would think they were depressed and feeling worthless.

Someone saying they'll pray for me really doesn't bother me that much -- I could say "your efforts are futile since I don't think prayer works," but as with anything, we cut people some slack if we think they mean well. The person here who took offense really just wants to argue. One of the very few times I've disagreed with a fellow atheist poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

We are talking about the post from two days ago, right? Where I said k had to make dinner, but would keep him in my prayers?
I didn’t know what he believed at the time. He never said. He was a stranger asking a bunch of questions about baptism and the Catholic Church.

I can see now that he was an atheist trying to have an argument, but when I was reading, he seemed like an agnostic who was conflicted and questioning things. I can see that the prayers were maybe seen as some kind of statement that he was going to Hell. It was really more intended as a “I’ve got to go, but I hope you find answers to your questions.”

So, no. It didn’t seem obvious to me that he would find this to be offensive, and it was certainly not intentionally hostile.

He was an atheist asking you not to pray for him. Nothing argumentative about that . It's a simple request -- but not perceived so from the point of view of a Christian being cordial and friendly in a Christian way. Hopefully you've learned something from this: Not everyone wants your prayer. Not everyone sees it as a pleasant way to sign off -- and when they tell you not to pray for them, an appropriate response is simple compliance.

If someone asked you please not to do something for them, hopefully you would not do it anyhow, assuming that your desire to help in your way was more worthy than their desire not to be on the receiving end of something they made clear that they did not want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

Well I'm a DP, and an atheist, and I didn't take it that way at all. When someone says they'll pray for me, I just say "thanks but don't waste your time." I don't get angry about it or ascribe malicious motives to them. OTOH, this thread is supposed to be about baptism, so maybe we could go back to that?

What kind of response do you get to that?
If someone told me not to waste my time on them, I would think they were depressed and feeling worthless.

Maybe because you are so religious that you can't imagine someone not wanting prayer?

If someone turned down food you offered, I bet you would at least consider that they were not hungry and not immediately think they were ill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christians can pray for whomever and whatever they wish to pray for. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Prayer is their choice.

It is the attitude of one who prays. It doesn’t influence God necessarily. They person who prays focuses their thoughts and their emotional and spiritual life through prayer and that’s how they choose to interact with aspects of the world around them.

Prayer isn’t arrogant, it’s how some people feel comfortable interacting with their fellow man and the world around them.

Telling people specifically in a religion forum that their prayers suck is arrogant. Interaction with religious people, when you have rejected God, and lecturing them on prayer reeks of arrogance.

If you don’t like prayer, and don’t like interacting with Christians, or Jews, or Muslims, all who pray, don’t interact with them.

Prayer can be arrogant and it certainly was in the example here. Anyone anywhere saying they don't want to be prayed for is not arrogant any more than declining any assistance is arrogant.

question: are you saying that it's acceptable for Christians to pray for atheists who have made it clear that they don't want the prayers, but not acceptable for atheists (or anyone) to acknowledge that they don't want the prayers?

And Thanks for demonstrating just how arrogant and insensitive some people can be.

Also, please keep in mind that this is the Religion forum, not the "Religious believers only" forum.

^ I think you're being a bit too had on the Christian lady in this instance. She's not the belligerent believer, and she means well. Just my opinion.

No she doesn’t. She said she would pray for me seemingly because we disagreed in this discussion. Why that required prayer, I have no idea. It’s like she thought I needed divine intervention to help my soul or something.

I wrote that I would pray for you. I didn’t see us as arguing. You had some questions about the Catholic Church, we were having a discussion, and I was leaving. I said that I had to make dinner now, but that I would keep you in my prayers later.

It was not a hostile statement. Exactly the opposite. If I really look at why I wrote it, I think it was intended to soften the “I have more important stuff to do” statement that preceded it.

DP here. You told a guy who you knew doesn’t believe what you believed that you would pray for him, when you knew he didn’t want you to, and you reasonably would assume he wouldn’t like, and you say that isn’t hostile? I think you should do some self reflection on that because it was entirely hostile and appeared intentionally so.

Well I'm a DP, and an atheist, and I didn't take it that way at all. When someone says they'll pray for me, I just say "thanks but don't waste your time." I don't get angry about it or ascribe malicious motives to them. OTOH, this thread is supposed to be about baptism, so maybe we could go back to that?

What kind of response do you get to that?
If someone told me not to waste my time on them, I would think they were depressed and feeling worthless.

Someone saying they'll pray for me really doesn't bother me that much -- I could say "your efforts are futile since I don't think prayer works," but as with anything, we cut people some slack if we think they mean well. The person here who took offense really just wants to argue. One of the very few times I've disagreed with a fellow atheist poster.

This is strictly your opinion, of course. Personally, I think it's important for believers to know that their prayers aren't universally wanted or valued by people with different beliefs.