I've been reflecting recently upon prayer. I came to a realization. It seems almost as if prayer is useless. Maybe God just doesn't care anymore? Maybe he's sick of us? I penned a small stanza about how I feel.

When I was back there in seminary school
There was a person there
Who put forth the proposition
That you can petition the Lord with prayer
Petition the Lord with prayer
Petition the Lord with prayer
You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!

I hope I'm wrong. But I think I've finally come to the truth.

>>511177231 (OP)
shut up jew lover

>>511177329
What are you trying to say?

>>511177817
He's trying to say he's butthurt.
Anyway I do not consider prayer to be useless. God wants you to talk to Him.
I don't blame you for feeling that way. Modern Churches have a bad habit of considering "God's will" to just be what they want. It's all fun and games until 2 pastors like the same girl or want to get the same promotion.
The other major issue I've seen in modern churches is culture erasure. Evangelicals want to love foreigners with their vote and not their heart.

>>511178651
>Evangelicals want to love foreigners with their vote and not their heart.
ehhhh?
we vote against immigration but send out missionaries and charity workers to help them where they're at.
iit's mainline protestants and papists who vote for open borders and communism.

>>511177231 (OP)
The purpose of prayer is communion with God. It's not for any material rewards in this life.

>>511177231 (OP)
protestants consider real prayer satanism

Have you tried praying directly to God?

That is what Jesus Christ commands.

He worshiped God, not himself.

Islam is the way of Jesus Christ.

There is only One God and He is One.

>>511177231 (OP)
You ever say the Lord's prayer man?
"Thy will be done"
not your own, but God's. He who is much wiser than you, infinitely so.

https://youtube.com/shorts/a_JX3AgEpeo

>>511177231 (OP)
Listen to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnjB061VFLs
Many of us going thru this, fren.

>>511177231 (OP)
Prayer isn't about getting what you want you fucking retard. You've never ever read the Bible, but you've made it painfully clear that you're a narcissist
Even placebo empirically works, but somehow prayers don't? You couldn't be more stupid if you were a nigger

>>511177231 (OP)
>Christian

>>511177231 (OP)
You never were Christian, you can't fucking ask a divinity for mundane things in exchange of prays like a fucking jew do to clean his anual sins.
Now stop being a retard and either learn the faith of your race or keep larping as part of a jewish tribe but at least do it with a more convincing sect

>>511180116

>There is only One God and He is One.

This is called Tawhid, the Oneness of God.

It is the central concept of the entire Islamic faith.

That is why we do this hand sign with one finger in the air.

Islam confirms the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Torah of Moses.

As a student of the Scripture consider reading the Holy Koran.

>>511180116
Don’t leave out the parts where He confirms He’s the Son of God and perfectly aligned with the will of His Father. That the Pharisees had Him crucified for saying this even though they saw Him doing miracles.

>>511180458

God is One. He cannot give birth and He does not have an equal.

Pray to God, not to partners that you associate with God.

Just like Jesus Christ did and taught in the Gospel.

>>511178651
i tell god he's a dumb kike piece of shit niggerfaggot about 60 times a day. it's a form of prayer

>>511180827
and he responds in kindly.

>>511180458
did you see sheikh dr. yasir qadhi basically said the entire hadith system is garbage?
>"Nobody in the academy affirms the Muslim Sunni science of hadith. Nobody. It is considered to be completely discredited. I'm just being factual."

it's a bad year for islam
>unsolvable quran dilemma promulgating
>mohammed hijab misyar hotel wife scandal
>qadhi discrediting islam publicly for the 2nd time

>>511177231 (OP)
It's gone quiet at the other end it feels like god got a new hobby and we have been abandoned for real.

>>511182019
lots of protestants believe in the gnostic idea that God is detached from creation, or the Holy Spirit no longer works the same as "it" does in the world as opposed to the biblical times.

To that we Orthodox say, we completely agree. The Holy Spirit is not with protestants. But The Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, is with His Church. And Christ has not left us, but sits at the right hand of His Father in heaven, governing the Church as Head.

>>511177231 (OP)
>I penned a small stanza about how I feel.
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY

>>511182469
this is proven by the modern Saints who continue to live Christ-like lives to this day, even dealing with all our modern problems.

https://orthodoxwiki.org/Category:Modern_Saints

>>511177231 (OP)
Jesus told you exactly how to pray and exactly what to pray. There is a line in there "thy will be done". Sounds like you do not know what that means. Thy meaning God's, not yours. What a silly thing to pray for things as if God does not know what you need already being outside of time. As an older Christian you might want to actually take the time to read the word of God and clue in. Your ignorance keeps you in the dark and grows it. If you have some sort of mental handicap or leftism, please do not think my words as harsh rather think of them as fair and out of kindness for your potential.

>>511180583

The First Commandment is to worship God and God alone. This is confirmed by Jesus Christ in the Gospel in Luke 4:8.

We are meant to worship God and God alone, as Jesus Christ did and commanded of us.

The Koran affirms the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Christology of the Gospel does not contradict the First Commandment nor the Oneness of God as affirmed in the Koran.

Many early Christians believed the same. God is eternal and self-existing, He does not need to give birth. A student of seminary, of the Scripture, understands that God does not give birth.

Jesus Christ is the Messiah and servant and messenger of God. To say that Jesus is physically the biological son of the One God or that he is God Himself goes against the First Commandment and teaching of Christ.

A student of the Scripture should see as well that the spiritual progeny of God is not the biological and physical progeny of God. That is what the Koran asserts, that God does not have physical, biological sons but appointed servants. God does not have physical sons, but He has spiritual progeny.

In the Psalms, what Muslims call the Zabur, David is also referred to as a son of God, Psalm 2:7. A spiritual son, or in the Hebrew and Greek, an appointed one. Not a physical son and incarnation of God. David, the ancestor of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Monotheism, the command of Moses and Jesus Christ, is undeniable. I hope this explains things clearly in a way that satisfies a student of theology.

>>511182469
this is not an eastern orthodox position.

“We know where the Church is; we cannot be sure where it is not.” -- Metropolitan Kallistos Ware

>>511177231 (OP)
Just keep on praying you know. You can't give up like this when you're so close to reach your breakthrough

>>511183099

אספרה אל חק יהוה אמר אלי בני אתה אני היום ילדתיך

I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

Psalm 2:7

Here, David is declared the King of Israel.

בְּנִ֥י

My son

Not a physical son, a spiritual appointment.

When the Koran speaks of this, it is about people who say God having a physical son.

He can't. He is eternal and beyond this, who would be His wife? How would He give birth?

This is a common dispute that is not well understood. God is One, He does not have equals or give birth to physical sons. He has prophets, servants, the anointed (Messiah), but not physical sons.

Jesus Christ would be confused as to why you worship someone other than God, because Jesus only worshiped God and not himself.

This is why we have Islam. To keep people on the Straight Path to God and in submission to God alone.

Yes, the Gospel is all true. As Muslims, we ask you to obey the Gospel, where Jesus Christ commands us to worship God, as in the Torah as well.

>>511183308
The Holy Spirit "works" everywhere. Even wicked people are moved to ends that God wills. So to say protestants don't have real experiences of God, this can't be true, all converts know this from their time outside the Church. Of course we say to Him “O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,

who art in all places and fillest all things,

Treasury of blessings and giver of life: come and dwell in us, cleanse us from every stain, and save our souls, O gracious Lord.”

But other bodies outside the Church do not have grace. That's how you know the fruit of the Church is pure, undefiled across the generations. And God obviously does not dwell within people outside His Body who have not received Holy Baptism into His Body.
Thus you will not find Saints anywhere but the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Orthodox Church.

>>511183775
if the Holy Spirit works everywhere but only the orthodox church has grace, how do you reconcile this distinction?
and how does it align with kallistos ware's caution about presuming where the Church is not?

>>511183669
>This is why we have Islam. To keep people on the Straight Path to God and in submission to God alone.

You're a lier and the truth ain't in you. You neither know Jesus neither the only true living God. Noone knows God except the ones who knows Jesus

you're an hypocrit. You have no spiritual legitimacy.

>>511177231 (OP)

The god of Israel won't take your prayers seriously. If answering it will serve Yahweh in some way, then maybe you'll get lucky.

Try reaching out in prayer to a white god.

>>511183099
John 10:30 “The Father and I are one.”

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 20:28

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Colossians 1:15

Philippians 2:5-6 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And many more...

>>511183669

how can you unironically post Hebrew and think this isnt a Jewish religion

>>511177231 (OP)
God cares deeply about all of us, reread the gospel anon, all we need is provided to us. Perhaps your faith has wavered but God certainly does care, when praying give God time to speak to you.

>>511177231 (OP)
Imagine being God. The all-powerful creator of infinite universes. One universe is full of sad shitting carbon sacks who all think they are going to heaven when they dye. You're God. Would you let humans in to piss and shit all over your paradise, destroying everything in the name of economic progress? Of course not.

>>511183669
What are your thoughts about the "Islamic Dilemma"?

>>511184355
that guy's muslim, and muslims realize disbelieving in something that you think is true just because you hate other groups that also believe it would be retarded.
there are hadiths showing that they intentionally have different practices from the jews though, this one's pretty funny.

>>511184102
We understand it because God has clearly established the Church has borders. The Truth is the Truth, and if you change anything about it, it is no longer the Truth. Or better to say, "He" because Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit moves wherever He will and one of the Divine characteristics is omnipresence, but we understand many ontological distinction in Christians, that is, people who are "IN Christ". For example, how would you reconcile the fact that Christ, being God, is omnipresent, yet He is also man and in a definite place at once? That's a mystery to human understanding but it is true.

I pray for Metropolitan Kallistos, memory eternal, and his words are accurate. But a more accurate conclusion from his words would be the positive affirmation that we absolutely do know where the Church is, and the Church is the Pillar and Ground of Truth. I would also say that one man (who isn't even a canonized Saint) does not determine Orthodox dogma. Not even one Saint does, but the mind of the Church across the ages as made clear and lasting by the Holy Spirit. That is "orthodoxy" belief that is what was found in all places, at all times, universally. And the fact that the Church is One is not disputable.

This should not be taken at all to suggest that salvation is possible outside the organic Body of Christ. As we know, none come to the Father except through Him. We also know that the Church is the fullness of Christ (His Body as I've said) and so to get the full Christ, you need Him in all of His members of the Church as well. What is salvation? It's not winning the gate ticket to heaven. Salvation is theosis, the growing in union and likeness of God, and the purifying and restoring of our nature. It is a process. You will not find this process in any meaningful way outside the Church. Again, you will know them by their fruits.

Thanks for asking

>>511177231 (OP)
yup definitely legit
you must be some kind of visionary sage huh and definitely not a fucking redditnigger

>>511177817
Here is your actual answer. You need to develop your intentional field more. Prayer isn't supposed to work how you think it is, and doesn't come from who you think it would.

You’ve wrestled with something many of us do-what it means when our cries go unanswered. But take heart. There is power still, even if not in the way you once believed.

Prayer, as you knew it, may seem to echo in silence now. But perhaps its value was never in persuading a god to act, but in clarifying your own mind- helping you to see, to endure, to strengthen your resolve. The Stoics taught us that the divine, if it exists, expresses itself not through intervention but through the very order of nature and reason within us. And even if there is no god at all, the stillness you once found in prayer can still be found in reflection, in virtue, in deliberate thought.

The world may be indifferent- but you are not. You can care. You can act. You can rise.

The truth you’ve come to doesn’t need to be bitter. It can be the beginning of freedom: the freedom to stand firm, to create meaning by how you live, to be the source of courage and kindness in a world that often lacks both

>>511177231 (OP)
Your prayer can only have a noticeable effect if it happens to align with "God's mysterious plan" and that's maybe 0.000000000001% cases I made up up some number. Imagine if people could just *request magic* to happen, that'd be insane. Also your "prayer-power" is further made less effective by your "imperfect human will in accordance with your sinful human nature" (i.e. you want random, culturally conditioned shit like "a car"). More properly, you would only be *supporting* God's wise mysterious plan, so it's more like cheering in that sense, but only loosely. More immediately, the only thing you should be praying for is to *know God's plan better*, which few people do.

I'm not religious.

>>511177231 (OP)
You are not Jim Morrison

>>511184911
>>511184102
i'm also not a theologian, far from it. A theologian in Orthodoxy is not an educated scholar, but one who knows God by experience, one who is Holy. I just tried to do my best to give you an answer because I want to help, forgive me for my presumption. You should always verify anything you hear or read about Orthodoxy with the Holy Fathers and the Saints, and by asking priests (and of those you should take the predominant teachings, not just one in a vacuum)

>>511180164
Wow, thanks, anon.

>>511177231 (OP)
>he thinks prayer is anything other than meditation
You were taught wrong by a bunch of retards.

>>511177231 (OP)
>He told them another parable. 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it has grown it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.'"

>>511185352
thanks, I needed that.

>>511177231 (OP)
Prayer works. Pray to Jesus sincerely. I prayed to the Father only my whole life and it's had a great positive effect but praying directly to Jesus showed me very clear signs.

>>511180827
You should pray free Palestine 60 times a day.

>>511185376
Yeah like I said, the intentional field. You don't need to be "religious" dude stop letting that label which has been denigrated by design influence you and in turn influence others. There are so many archons and structure in between that lead people to think they are serving The Monad when in reality they are serving Yaldaboath. You clearly are remembering, yet this religious obstacle that was made to be an obstacle is still in your path. Rise above it. Who am I kidding you already are. Sophia needs you. You don't need to be "religious" you just need to rise above the noise. Dress it up if you have to, it helps. Keep going you have merit

>>511186119
Thank you anon, that is very kind of you.

>>511184155
God is the creator and Jesus is our King and Shepherd who sits at His right hand. Jesus does the will of God the Father. The Holy Spirit is from God the Father that instructs us and writes the law on our hearts but we need to ask for this privilege. The more we turn from sin the easier our prayers are heard and answered.
Jesus was sent to us for many reasons but one was as a teacher/example of how we should conduct ourselves in a way that is righteous and pleasing to God.

>>511177231 (OP)
The one true god is a jewish demon. Take a look at the world around you.

For protestants prayer is just psychological as you're outside of the Church.
Why would prayer work? Solely because of your status in the Divine Council and because of you knowing people there.
Most Protestants don't even believe that there are alive people in Heaven right now...

>>511186119
I got nothing against religions either, technically they're true, but they got everything twisted round that they might as well be false because they're effectively docetists, which I like to call "holographic Jesus theory", i.e. they "delete Jesus's mind" and think of him as just given arbitrary *commands* instead of *advice*. Notable, advice is *provably in your own best interest* if it's actually good advice.

E.g. Matthew 5:21-22 is more properly about factionalism ("whoever calls his brother a hellbound reprobate apostate heretic [instead of trying to understand his position]"), but they twisted that into "do not experience the emotion of anger" because that's the "collapsed interpretation", and also: the >10K denominations, many of which have mutually excommunicated each other, would be hard to sell.

They did this with most of the gospel-sayings. Paul, who wrote some "community newsletters wherein he sometimes complained", they turned into "the DARK LORD PAUL WHO COMMANDS!!!", etc. I don't wanna talk your ear off but if you're interested by any chance.

>>511184587
If anything we should deeply understand not wanting people in our house who hate and reject us.

Also if you were a King creating a perfect Kingdom would you have subjects who hate you and worship the enemy?

>a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand

>all these christfaggots coping
Pathetic. Just accept that God doesn't exist, or, if he does, he absolutely, positively doesn't care about you.

>>511177231 (OP)
Prayer brings you closer to God like pulling a rope on a boat to bring it up to a dock. The dock doesn't change position.

>>511186695
>I got nothing against religions either, technically they're true, but they got everything twisted round

This sounds like dispensationalism, a form of universalism. As if all religions are true but somehow the truth morphs and changes depending on the time and place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOLWbx7l-gI

https://youtu.be/MTTFwZb3o68

>>511177231 (OP)
It's you that puts your will into the world, anon. God is within you. Reach God then talk. Grow the seed that is within your heart so that it becomes a tree. That means practice, meditate, follow the teachings (Dharma), etc. the tree it's talking about is the tree of life. It's Kabbalah, you have to remember when you're dealing with Abrahamic religions you'll always be confused unless you understand their core. You would think a place like /pol/ would know that, but as long as you learn it now you'll be on your way. Build on it, but remember this: Judaism is a revision of Hinduism. It's a great secret but it's the truth, the jews once lived in India.
Have a goodnight anon and I wish you the best of luck finding the kingdom of heaven. Never forget that is within you first and foremost.

>>511187115
There's not an "ontological base category" of "religion", no religion can create truth, that'd amount to them being able to create God, but not only that, but to them being able to determine what God does. That's only an idea you'd have if you started bottom-up as a regular human who got born "into a religion", but from God's POV: they'd have various cults centered around you. Religions are "too large" to be regarded rationally (like how arithmetic is, where there's no "ideological disagreement"), hence people coming to believe, in effect, that there can even possibly be such as thing as "multiple truths", which is nonsense, of course, but you gotta take into account that we're a bunch of semi-rational monkeys.

i can't talk about clown world even with freds and family (theyre the clowniest) i guess that leaves only one

Delusional sad fucks

>>511177231 (OP)
Hard times make strong men. Do it yourself.

>>511177231 (OP)
speak to your priest or pastor imo. when I don't hear or feel God it's because I'm closed off, not because God is. Try just talking? I started talking to God before I started praying and I found it helped. God bless

>>511187115
The various religions are actually, I have found, largely relabelings of each other, e.g. the reason it was necessary to say something like Matthew 5:21-22 is because humans naturally fail "the blind men and the elephant"-puzzle (from the Tittha Suddha in Buddhism). They succeed with a physical elephant, of course, but they don't succeed with something like a more abstract model, hence the factionalism which Jesus was addressing. We also fail "higher-kinded mirror-tests", anything beyond the visual, really, e.g. we don't consider that the other person has a mind like ours and has reasons for believing what he does based on reasons we ourselves would accept if he were in his position.

Instead we say: "evil heretic".

>>511187349
Except the various cults are not centered around God, they explicitly worship demons. Some are more obvious than others. Basically all pagan pantheistic religions were/are like this. They worship passions, their gods are fickle and ornery and violent in predominant character.

>>511179337
>christcucks
>lying through their teeth.
A tale as old as time

>>511187711
While I respect your views: I don't take any fantastical ideas seriously. I do take them seriously, I just know that they're false and why people still believe them, so the chance of convincing me of demons and the like is 0%. I'm immune to this kind of simple possession (by ideas about demons).

As for their folk-stories about supposed gods: obviously those didn't happen, they're stories. Same as most of the stories in the Bible. I'm also immune to the idea of inerrancy, whether in the case of "pagan" religions or the Christian one.

Or so I claim, anyway. You can believe me or not, but I basically worship reason (God's voice).

>>511187963
You worship yourself and your own opinion of what is right, according to you. Protestants make themselves into their own Pope, as much as they dislike roman catholicism.

>>511187845
if i look it up and those are mostly papist or mainline (rather than evangelical) protestant organizations, should i assume you are a gaslighter or just a retard for calling me a liar?

>>511177231 (OP)
>You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!
how much chicken did you eat in Seminary school?

>>511188148
I obviously agree on Protestants having one-man church hierarchies (but then being partially overridden by "Biblical interpretations of verses").

Also, the church is, from my perspective, more fallible than me. Yes, I do, as I must to be in alignment with God, myself be decider of what is true, if in accordance with the wisdom with which he provides me. Of course human institutions (or rather, certain followers of such) try to seize this divine prerogative and duty from me, I am determined to not let such occur, as it would constitute dereliction of my duty. The church may *provide* wisdom, but she does no get to discretionarily decide *what is true or not*.

>>511188148
I gather you're Orthodox, so you're the more contemplative type, well I like the Eastern Orthodox because they don't have this "judicial model" which drove me insane. I am very contemplative myself.

But it's *actually* not correct for me to ever "outsource what is true or not". If it's not true about arithmetic, it's not true about religion. If we lack strength, we may rely on others, of course, but nothing is as certain as "knowing that someone is true and why", any "other person saying stuff" is not going to outclass that. And even if someone is only saying true things: if we "just believe them", we will only have a surface-level understanding of that person, and not the understanding of that person.

This is also why people "are docetists": they believe in "a commandment-giving Jesus-hologram who thought nothing of what he said". In reality, the words of Jesus should be starting points of contemplation, not simply commandments to be obeyed because he said them.

>>511188338
The lack of your personal accountability (someone to hold you accountable) as well as the subjectivity of human reason aside, your faith in yourself will crumble at some point of personal catastrophe and you will find you don't have all the answers, in fact you have absolutely none of them. Unfortunately this is the destiny for people with pride. As it was with me, so will it be undoubtedly for you. And if I could convince you with logical argument I would try my best in order to save you from that suffering, but I know I can't say anything that will change your opinion, your faith in yourself.

>>511187845
>>511188160
let's see, CWS affiliates
>african methodist episcopal
>ABC
>episcopal church
>ELCA
>PCUSA
>UCOC
>UMC
>greek orthodox archdioces of america
>coptic orthodox church
>ecumenical catholic communion
yeah these are all papist or mainline aside from the bizarre unexpected presence of orthodox

EMM,
don't even need to look this one up since it says episcopal in the name, it's mainline

LIRS,
this is ELCA, which is mainline (despite paradoxically having an acronym that begins with evangelical)

USCCB,
don't need to look this one up, papist

WR,
this one's ours, which means it's awesome.

>>511188989
If I have no faith in myself, I have no faith in God's handiwork. The greater faithlessness to say: "I am not only broken, but I also connect be repaired", I'd say. If I arrive at a conclusion, I can be open-minded as to it being wrong, but proof is the best standard I have, not other man. *Many* put their faith in men. I attempt to put my trust in the voice of God within. Why is that bad? And why would it not be *correct*? Well if it's correct, it should be provable, and it's my job to check that proof.

>I deserve almighty God's attention since I am only the most humblest and miserable of shitters and surely God would work through me
>No! I deserve almighty God's attention since I am the most devout and holiest of his servants and surely God would work through me
>None are more deserving than I of God's attention for my hard work at...

nobody gives a fuck about you

>>511189172
I meant "I cannot be repaired", not "I connect be repaired".

>>511188872
You should read about the lives and accounts of the contemporary Orthodox Saints. We don't listen to the Church out of blind faith or solely out of distrust of ourselves... really it's about the factual matter of truth that people do become transfigured. If anything you should take that from this conversation, because reading their lives and accounts will help you in more ways than just a dry theological text. In this case it's real people who did physical things and radically altered the people they came in contact with.

>>511189172
this goes along with the "proof" you're asking for. Many nowadays act as if God is just an idea and not active in the world and in people.

>>511177231 (OP)
Nice try kike. Take you and your demoralization propaganda on a one way back to Tel Aviv.

I pick Islam over Christianity

but im too lazy and too racist

>>511189377
I will admit, begrudgingly, that you might be onto something. But that's a somewhat different kind of fact. That's not really something you prove analytically (I'm a logician, so I'm fairly deep into this), but an interpretation you assign to an observation. Even a miracle doesn't uniquely prove *God*, but it does tend us towards considering something of that sort of power being the explanation of something. "Sysadmin of the simulation", "telepathic aliens" (actually that's a bit too weak, even), etc.

I get "beatific reason-visions", practically, that's probably that sort of thing which we might describe in religious terms. But it's up to you, I'm not the belief-police.

>>511177329
Pedo detected

>>511177231 (OP)
>Maybe God just doesn't care anymore?

Let me tell you a story, I'm a far away empire there was a war, a civil war. And when it ended, the Emperor faced a choice, he could outright execute the rebels. But he did not, not out of kindness, but calculation. For had he killed the pretender outright, doubts might have festered among his vassals. "What if the pretender had been the better ruler?"

So the Emperor devised a plan.

He exiled the pretender and his loyalists to an island, granting them authority over its native population. A test, though no one called it that. There, stripped of excuses and granted freedom, the pretender revealed his true nature. He ruled with no order, no restraint. To him, freedom was sacred, even the freedom to steal, to murder, to drown in filth and decadence.

The result was Chaos, anarchy and pain. The island became a pit of anarchy, a mirror reflecting the pretender's unfitness to rule. He could not govern a speck of land, how could he ever rule an empire?

Only then, when the lesson was clear to all, would the Emperor cross the sea. And only then would he deliver the final judgment. Put the rebels to sword, and deal with the natives of the Island as he see fit.

>>511190053
Nowadays, they could do the A/B-testing via a Grand Strategy video-game.

>>511177231 (OP)
God set your path for you, he prays over you every second to guide you on whatever your mission is
Wouldn't have it any other way
Christ is King

>>511189831
All I know is the amount of love and peace that surrounds the Saints is impossible otherwise outside of the life of the Church. Whether they work miracles is ancillary (some Saints do, some don't, and in different ways) but they all have a peace and disposition that is immediately recognizable as otherworldly. Read the life of St Nektarios of Aegina if you prefer books. If you prefer online (videos, articles, etc) then read about St Paisios the Athonite.
God bless you, I pray regularly for all people who are searching for the truth because I know how horrible being lost in the sea of it all is.

>>511191553
The problem is there's many churches and they hate each other. I can't play favorites, so I remain outside.

>>511177231 (OP)
Prayer only works if you live His way
Second, He detests vain repetitions

>>511191930
well mr logician, you know that just because there are many claiming to be the church, that doesn't automatically mean the one true church doesn't exist; that would be a fallacy.
anybody can claim anything. the truth is what matters. you will know them by their fruits. etc.
good night

>>511177231 (OP)
here's a tip... do the silent prayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JKe31L04Rl4

>>511177231 (OP)
Prayer is meant to show how grateful you are. Even when things look grim, there's always something to be grateful for. Even if it isn't about yourself. God is not some order taker like a waitress in at diner.
Read the Monkey's Paw. All prayers for a person's gain lead to ruin.

>>511177231 (OP)
Good song but Jim Morrison was wrong

>>511177231 (OP)
(John 9:31) We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to this one.

(Proverbs 28:9) He that is turning his ear away from hearing the law—even his prayer is something detestable.

(Psalm 66:18) If I have regarded anything hurtful in my heart, Jehovah will not hear [me].

(Isaiah 1:15) And when YOU spread out YOUR palms, I hide my eyes from YOU. Even though YOU make many prayers, I am not listening; with bloodshed YOUR very hands have become filled.

>(Micah 3:4) At that time they will call to Jehovah for aid, but he will not answer them. And he will conceal his face from them in that time, according as they committed badness in their dealings.

(James 4:3) YOU do ask, and yet YOU do not receive, because YOU are asking for a wrong purpose, that YOU may expend [it] upon YOUR cravings for sensual pleasure.

>>511192447
>Read the Monkey's Paw. All prayers for a person's gain lead to ruin.
this

>>511190053
I don't see the point of this story

>>511177231 (OP)
Role-playing all your life and only now you realize it's a fairy tale, must be tough, huh?

>>511177231 (OP)
youtu.be/D5WPfZrKiFM (New Discovery Shows How To Pray 10x More Effectively In Half The Time)
getwisdom.com/creators-recommended-daily-prayers

rumble.com/v164wkr-demon-spills-beans-about-vax-during-exorcism-better-version.html

>>511177231 (OP)
>As an older Christian
So you're a gullible retard and refused to correct it after many years.