Praying, therefore, is not when one sits quietly conversing with an imagined power; it is instead when we are making concrete plans with ourselves. Faith (action) coupled with prayer equals concrete results.
Would you really attempt anything at all if you really believed that it was impossible?
Not that the imagination doesn’t have its place or doesn’t have importance. On the contrary, the imagination affords us the freedom to contemplate that which does not yet exist. Only after we contemplate do we make concrete plans, and only after planning do we attempt. I submit that when one imagines a conversation with an imagined entity one is merely day-dreaming. But when one takes action he or she does so with faith in the concept of cause & effect. Again, would you partake in any activity whatsoever without at least some expectation of the outcome? And if you do possess an expectation of the outcome, you must have planned a priori to your action. That, I maintain, is true prayer.
Of course, there are many instances in our daily lives that are governed by habit, but invention and innovation are not governed by habit whatsoever. One must go beyond experience to truly invent something new, and one then forges a thought of something new into reality via prayer and faith.
What is education ultimately?
First & foremost, it is an attempt to get you to imagine & contemplate something. If the training is for a specialized vocation or profession, the specialized education is merely a more or less thorough compendium of all that mankind has discovered regarding the particular subject presented to the pupil in a relatively organized fashion.
Secondly, but no less important, education imparts confidence to the student. Even though the experience may be new to the student, he or she can take comfort in the fact that they are not breaking new ground (for the duration of their introductory studies, at least), which, in turn, makes new concepts less threatening and uncertain as to their outcome, but also furnishes and acclimates a young mind to attempt that which is unknown.
We take so much for granted because we continuously & ceaselessly output that which was once unimaginable.
The nay-Sayers are only capable of crying conspiracy because they cannot fathom or comprehend how the world came to exist in its present form. Their argument, unfortunately, contains two major flaws:
Whilst screaming at everyone that its all been staged and doesn’t exist in reality, they mindlessly decide to create a blog of their opinions using their tablet (i.e. they take for granted and make use of some very sophisticated computing and internet technology, something which didn’t exist a mere century before), and
Even if we were to embrace their argument and subscribe to their ideas, we’re not agreeing that these things don’t exist whatsoever, but rather we’re agreeing to the misguided and half-baked notion that these (concepts, ideas, technologies, circumstances, etc.) do indeed exist, but only in a staged format. Even if the (concept, idea, technology, circumstance) actually was or is staged, SOMEONE had to conceive of the idea of WHAT to stage, HOW to stage it, WHERE to stage it, WHEN to stage it, and WHY to stage it. For, example, if we subscribe to the popular conspiracy theory that the Apollo moon landings were actually filmed on a set because we didn’t possess the knowledge or ability to accomplish such a feat (the most common and most popular argument made by this group of conspiracy theorists), then could you please explain to me from where did we gain the necessary knowledge and ability to manufacture highly sophisticated film cameras to film the above mentioned staging of the moon landing, as well as the knowledge and ability to build television networks capable of broadcasting the staged landing to millions of people who experienced the event on their (man-made) television sets, a device which (back in the day, at least) was made from neat and fun components like cathode-ray tubes, Fresnel screens, and transistors? Were the film cameras, TV networks, and televisions also staged? No, they were not, but trust the brain damaged conspiracy theorist to come up with an equally half-baked explanation as to the existence of these technologies, “That’s alien technology that the government scientists extracted from a space ship in area 51”! … etc. ad nauseum.
No, dear reader, I maintain that these things were human creations, born from human thought.
I think I’ve mis – titled this post. I think properly titled it would be
“That Which We Do is The Manifestation of Our Prayers”
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your little faith; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting”
Matt 17:20
Matt 17:21