Quotes: Ambrose Bierce on Prayer

"Pray, v. : To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy." ~ Ambrose Bierce (as quoted in The God Delusion (soft cover, 2007) by Richard Dawkins, p. 84)

The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins

As could be gathered from above, I've been reading Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and have found it quite the delightful read (I have read Dawkins' before but in a different light and for a different reason). In the book, Dawkins' sets out to prove the non-existence of God in good humour and his attack on religion is very refreshing.

To be sure, the book is out for blood - the blood of God, and it does well in arguing for the implausibility of the existence of God. Dawkins' swiftly but surely shoots down almost every major argument that has been utilised in the defence of God by revealing their ludicrous premise (though his focus is on scientific proof, his arguments inadvertently cover philosophical and theological proofs of God's non-existence).

In regard to quotes, I have to say that I love quotes and have been collecting them since I was about 12. Quotes are beautiful in that they manage to summarise massive concepts and call on thoughtful analysis that could take up entire volumes. There are already some other quotes I'd like to share from the book, but for now I will leave it at this.

Pertaining to this quote specifically, I have to admit that I have always criticised prayer because of its selfish nature (even when praying on behalf of another individual). Indeed, I have always found it amusing how people pray for very personal issues and then, in midst of prayer, slip in the statement "Your will be done" - if one was sincere about having Him do His will then the prayer must be misguided because it is in the hopes that He will not do His will... to that point, whether the prayer is answered or not, it was always His will to begin with!

Anyway, I could likely sing on about this forever if I don't stop now! It's already late and Yuna Ito singing Precious in the background doesn't help in keeping one awake either, LOL! *O(-___-)m*zzz*ZZZZ*zzz*