I'm sure most people find this to be incredibly hokey. Prayer doesn't heal people, prayer doesn't save, science and medicine is what fixes our ailments.
I suppose I should clarify first. I believe in the collective unconscious I think that we are all connected. Sometimes, I wonder if we believe in God because he exists...or if he exists because we believe in him. Now before anyone gets huffy, hear me out on this. If no one believed in God, if no one thought about him at all, then he would cease to be. Epic disasters that are chalked up to him would be dismissed as nature. Miracles that are attributed to him would be considered great feats of science. Most things in our world CAN be explained away, if you try hard enough.
Not that that is ever likely to happen.
I feel that many people need that divine power and that guiding light. It's not that we need God to teach us right from wrong, though there are some good morals in the bible (and yes, there are some negative parts as well.) It's that we need God as a reason to connect to other people.
Humans are social creatures, right? That's pretty obvious in this day and age with Twitter and Facebook and G+ and e-mail and the myriad of ways that we have to stay connected. Religion, at one point, was one of the only ways that people had to connect with one another. They worked six days out of the week and took that seventh day to visit with others. Many people go to church because they require that sense of community that they are able to find.
Myself, I have a hard time finding that sense of community in a church. I know that my church is out there somewhere, just waiting for me to find it. It's probably some crazy hippy church that meets in a meadow of wildflowers or something. I can totally dig it.
So people need community. That's why many people need religion and need faith. Personally, I think that the community that a church can offer is WAY more important than the spiritual message. Coffee and cookies are good for the soul...and while an inspiring sermon can be as well, if you are someone who doesn't grasp what is being said (I have a hell of a time following lectures and sermons and such, and I'm not a theologian, so sometimes things just don't click) then the coffee and cookies are what feed you. That's what feeds many people. That's why churches that don't have a thriving community to back them up eventually wither and die.
So anyway. The power of prayer.
I don't think that anyone can deny that positive thoughts are more productive than negative ones. You may not see many miraculous healings...but you do see people getting better. You see them FEEL better, because there is power in prayer. Through the collective unconscious.
This is another topic that people will disagree with, and that's ok. I don't expect anyone to believe what I believe. Faith is unique to each person, we all find the way that fits us best. My faith is different than my husband's and it will be different than my children's. I will encourage our children to find their own way, and find what feels best for them. That may be atheism, or they may be Pastafarians, or Jewish or Buddhist or whatever is best for them.
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