Yes, I don't poo poo the supernatural, I've had some prayers answered too that seemed out of the ordinary. Thanks for your replies. I'm not a disbeliever in a spiritual realm, just a disbeliever that there is an 'exclusive christian' God and it's here we differ, which is ok. I think there are many paths, some better than others.
Thanks for sharing that! I'm glad you've had some prayers answered that seemed out of the ordinary! O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Psalm 65:2
I breed tree frogs in the semi wild, I get tadpoles which large frogs lay eggs in tubs which hold potplant water. Anyhow I feed tadpoles, refresh water every couple of days and when they get 4 legs I lift them out of their environment and move them into an area of more potplants. I like the large frogs to croak every now and again, but not too much as it gets annoying. During breeding season, late winter, they croak like hell day and night and I worry about the neighbours. My point, God probably likes to hear from us but not too much. Too much prayers God is thinking to himself, "For gawds sake, stfu with your baying and snivelling wimpering, you're grown up, stand on your own two legs for once little wuss". Habitat.
I'm not sure if liking that post would be disrepectful to God, so I will just say it in a separate message. Although I no longer catch and play with tree frogs, I'm glad you still have fun with them! That was perhaps a good analogy of us to God, in very simplistic terms, although I think God's heart toward us is not as you described, but is like the father of the prodigal son who appears to have been watching for his son so that the day he saw him coming home, he ran to meet him.
Something that forever changed my prayer life for the better was something that a pastor once asked me when I went to him for some spiritual advice. He asked, "Does God answer your prayers?" I realized that although I prayed about things and for people, if I ask God in a general way to bless someone or help with a situation, that is good, but I'm not asking in a way that I would know that God was answering. Slowly, over time, and I could do better at this, I have learned to ask for specific things that are needed. For example, around the time that the pastor had asked me this question, I was in a class that was difficult and I would pray for God's help generally at that time, so I generally asked for His help with school. This was a Christian school and there was a missionary's kid there that I didn't know, but we were lab partners with a few others in the group. We had a lab that we couldn't get to work after several attempts we were running out of time. This missionary kid said, "Let's pray about this." I was surprised and didn't think we should pray about something like this, but I didn't stop her. So, she led the group in prayer for the lab to work, and what do you know, it actually worked immediately, the first try, after she prayed. That's the difference between praying in a general sense and praying for something specific.
I haven't read the whole thread, just this post. It reminded me that as a child I really, really wanted a bike. I prayed to god for a bike but no bike appeared. I spent a whole year being good and every night I prayed for a bike. It took a year but I finally realized that God didn't work that way. So I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness.
Imo, there is nothing right with religion/christianity, everything is shades of grey! When you read about the early Jews, they had different beliefs among themselves. The Christians have always had different beliefs. King James was bi-sexual, drank heavily and Guy Fawkes tried to blow him up in parliament. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I All scripture appears to be subject to several interpretations. To take the bible literally and as the perfect word of God, ya gotta be uninformed, narrow minded and a bit nutso.