03-20-2003, 03:41 PM
I am not a Christian, yet when a Christian tells me that he will "pray for me" I generally just say "Thanks."
Case 1. He really has a sincere desire in his heart to do me some good. OK, go for it, a kind gesture given with sincere intent, particularly one that operates out there in the spiritual ether, does me no harm. Having been offered a sincere prayer now and again by friends who are Christian, I accept them in the good nature that they are given: it is positive energy all around.
Case 2. He is being condescending. In that case, my 'thanks' (or a 'thanks for nothing') may just infuriate him, particularly if I put a slight edge on it, or it may dupe him into thinking that he is on his way to converting me to "his" version of The Truth. More the fool he, and I get a chuckle out of that. Should he ever try to use "hey, man, I prayed for you" as some sort of leverage, a nice reply is "and see the good it did you. Either you prayed for selfish reasons, and the answer is being revealed to you in my indifference, or they don't work. Now, go and pray on that mystery to see where the solution to your problem may lie."
Case 3. He is going to pray that I die of rotting fungus. Were I an athiest, he is of course wasting his time, his loss, not mine, and in any case, my "thanks" is a nice little "killing with kindness." And if the God he is praying to is the God of the Bible, I doubt that such a prayer will be answered: that sort of prayer is most likely answered by other forces . . . or not at all, which again fits the Athiest's sensibilities beautifully: no fungus in your future.
Letting him get your goat, now, do you really want to give him the satisfaction? :o
Another useful reply is: "Thanks for the offer, pray for someone who needs it more than I do." Trouble with that it, I have found, is that it leaves open "But you, the unsaved, need it more than anyone." All that does is reopen a conversation which was going nowhere in the first place. Which is why a simple "thanks" has been working for me since I was about 19.
Win-Win, and no one gets inside your head. You know who belongs in there. :)
Case 1. He really has a sincere desire in his heart to do me some good. OK, go for it, a kind gesture given with sincere intent, particularly one that operates out there in the spiritual ether, does me no harm. Having been offered a sincere prayer now and again by friends who are Christian, I accept them in the good nature that they are given: it is positive energy all around.
Case 2. He is being condescending. In that case, my 'thanks' (or a 'thanks for nothing') may just infuriate him, particularly if I put a slight edge on it, or it may dupe him into thinking that he is on his way to converting me to "his" version of The Truth. More the fool he, and I get a chuckle out of that. Should he ever try to use "hey, man, I prayed for you" as some sort of leverage, a nice reply is "and see the good it did you. Either you prayed for selfish reasons, and the answer is being revealed to you in my indifference, or they don't work. Now, go and pray on that mystery to see where the solution to your problem may lie."
Case 3. He is going to pray that I die of rotting fungus. Were I an athiest, he is of course wasting his time, his loss, not mine, and in any case, my "thanks" is a nice little "killing with kindness." And if the God he is praying to is the God of the Bible, I doubt that such a prayer will be answered: that sort of prayer is most likely answered by other forces . . . or not at all, which again fits the Athiest's sensibilities beautifully: no fungus in your future.
Letting him get your goat, now, do you really want to give him the satisfaction? :o
Another useful reply is: "Thanks for the offer, pray for someone who needs it more than I do." Trouble with that it, I have found, is that it leaves open "But you, the unsaved, need it more than anyone." All that does is reopen a conversation which was going nowhere in the first place. Which is why a simple "thanks" has been working for me since I was about 19.
Win-Win, and no one gets inside your head. You know who belongs in there. :)
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete