Download or read book The Agnostic s Guide to Prayer written by Samuel Abinitio and published by . This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For those who have trouble finding spiritual nurture in a religious setting, a former priest draws on a rich heritage of Celtic and American Indian spirituality to rediscover spirituality.
Download or read book Learning to Pray written by James Martin and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A smart, wise, often side-splittingly funny master class in seeking God. Any spiritual seeker—from atheist to professional religious—will cherish this bravura tome from one of our great spiritual guides, in the lineage of C. S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. Hallelujah & amen!”—Mary Karr, author of Lit and The Liar’s Club One of America’s most beloved spiritual leaders and the New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage teaches anyone to converse with God in this comprehensive guide to prayer. In The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Father James Martin included a chapter on communicating with God. Now, he expands those thoughts in this profound and practical handbook. Learning to Pray explains what prayer is, what to expect from praying, how to do it, and how it can transform us when we make it a regular practice in our lives. A trusted guide walking beside us as we navigate our unique spiritual paths, Martin lays out the different styles and traditions of prayer throughout Christian history and invites us to experiment and discover which works best to feed our soul and build intimacy with our Creator. Father Martin makes clear there is not one secret formula for praying. But like any relationship, each person can discover the best style for building an intimate relationship with God, regardless of religion or denomination. Prayer, he teaches us, is open and accessible to anyone willing to open their heart.
Download or read book Finding God Beyond Religion written by Tom Stella and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Take Your Understanding of Church Teachings from Limiting to Life-Giving—& Free Your Faith to Flourish "No longer sustained by easy answers, we may find ourselves standing before a three-pronged fork in the road: we can wander in the direction of conventional beliefs and practices, we can reject God and turn away from religion altogether, or we can embrace our uncertainty as an invitation to a more vital understanding of both God and religion." —from the Introduction Do you describe yourself as "spiritual but not religious"? Whether young or old, church connected or not, are you spiritually restless for an authentic faith life but do not find conventional religious teachings pertinent to you? This accessible guide to a meaningful spiritual life is a salve for your soul. It reinterprets traditional religious teachings central to the Christian faith—God, Jesus, faith, prayer, morality and more—in ways that connect with people who have outgrown the beliefs and devotional practices that once made sense to them. It helps you find new ways to understand and relate to traditional, narrowly defined Christian “truths” that honor their full spiritual power and scope, and opens your mind and heart to the full impact of Christian teachings.
Download or read book Finding God Beyond Religion written by and published by . This book was released on 2013-08-07 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This accessible guide to a meaningful spiritual life is a salve for your soul. It reinterprets traditional religious teachings central to the Christian faith God, Jesus, faith, prayer, morality and more in ways that connect with people who have outgrown the beliefs and devotional practices that once made sense to them. It helps you find new ways to understand and relate to traditional, narrowly defined Christian truths that honor their full spiritual power and scope, and opens your mind and heart to the full impact of Christian teachings.
Download or read book The Absolutely Essential Guide To Agnosticism written by Aaron Caldwell and published by GNP. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No matter how many falsehoods the theist has spread about agnosticism, it has survived quite well over the decades and is a theology to be reckoned with. An international poll of most western countries taken in the early 90's, asked people their religion. 17% wrote agnostic. How many millions of acknowledged agnostics are there in the US alone? No one knows for sure. In addition, how many more Americans lean towards agnosticism and don't realize it? Millions more probably. This book has been written to give a better understanding of both the agnostic and contemporary agnostic theologies. The theistic religion most discussed is Christianity. This is not because Christianity is better than other religions but because (1) agnosticism was developed in response to orthodox Christianity, (2) the theology of agnosticism is most prevalent in Christian dominated cultures and (3) because Jesus was not only a great teacher but the religious visionary western civilization is most familiar with. Reference information on Christianity will be provided to help us better understand how and why contemporary agnosticism and its grandfather, agnosticism, developed. We'll gain a better understanding of contemporary agnostic principles by discussing this theology's position on key religious doctrines such as the fear of God, the apocalypse, life after death and prayer. To aid in this process, the reader is encouraged to take advantage of the glossary and several appendixes in the back. This publication will use the power of knowledge and history to explore theology. Facts generally are presented from the standpoint of science and history rather than from the standpoint of faith. This book won't spend a great deal of time with drawn out essays. Instead, one point will be clarified concisely so the reader can move on to another. In this publication, the "Jesus of faith," which for so many centuries was unquestioned, will give way to the more likely "Jesus of history." We'll utilize a perspective of Jesus that has been intensely scrutinized by scientific and historically oriented research methods. In doing so, we hope to provide a better understanding of what this wondrous sage and visionary had to offer mankind. This more scrutinized perspective of the life and teachings of Jesus began emerging in 1906 when Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer (also known as a great doctor and humanitarian) wrote "Quest Of The Historical Jesus." Research on the subject of a historically more accurate Jesus has dramatically increased in the last 30 years. As well as being called "the Jesus of history," this perspective is also referred to as "the historically more accurate Jesus," and "the historical Jesus." More than 100 biblical scholars, researchers and professor participated in this scientific research. Almost all of these scholars have P. h Ds. or the theological equivalent. What they found was a better understanding of the founding prophet of Christianity and what this man of great wisdom said.
Download or read book Finding God Beyond Religion written by Tom Stella and published by Skylight Paths Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible guide to a meaningful spiritual life that reinterprets traditional religious teachings central to the Christian faith in ways that connect with people who have outgrown the beliefs and devotional practices that once made sense to them.
Download or read book God Is a Question Not an Answer written by William Irwin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncertainty is the essence of the human condition, and nothing is more uncertain than God. Yet passions run hot when it comes to God, both among believers and non-believers. God is a Question, Not an Answer aims to unsettle readers on both sides of the issue. William Irwin argues that because belief occurs along a continuum of doubt and we can never reach full certainty, believers and non-believers can find common ground in uncertainty. Beginning with the questions of what we mean when we talk about God and faith, Irwin shows that from a philosophical perspective, the tendency to doubt is a virtue, and from a religious perspective there is no faith without doubt. Rather than avoid uncertainty as an uncomfortable state of emotional despair, we should embrace it as an ennobling part of the human condition. We do not have to agree about the existence of God, but we do need to practice intellectual humility and learn to see doubt as a gift. By engaging in civil discourse we can see those who disagree with us as not only fully human but capable of teaching us something.
Download or read book Common Sense Recovery written by Adam N. and published by . This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion was once the primary way to understand human behavior. This was certainly true when the book Alcoholics Anonymous was written in 1939. But, we have learned much over the past 80 years. Common Sense Recovery began as the journal of a long-standing member of AA during a time in his life when he was struggling to reconcile the religious language of Alcoholics Anonymous with his new-found atheism and scientific understanding of addiction and the recovery process. The short chapters articulate a non-religious, practical understanding of the fundamental principles at work in the program, and examine the 12 Steps from a secular perspective. Now in its third edition, this work continues to be a valuable guide for many who struggle with the religious nature and language of AA and contains important insights for the future of the fellowship.
Download or read book Prayer Guide written by Lowell Snow and published by . This book was released on 2006-06 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Prayers Before a River written by John C. Maher and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-01-04 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book of prayers, with reflections on the act of praying. The prayers are scenes from daily life touching upon different topics: a prayer for animals; a prayer before a Christmas Tree; a prayer of the agnostic, of the unemployed, and of a college student; and a prayer against pessimism. Prayer is a rapport between heaven and earth, between God and humanity. There is no certified method of praying but some prayers offer a methodology, like the psalms. Your prayers are just you. Learning to pray is like when children learn to dance, to become the wind or a tree. They just let go. Prayer is the creative capacity of every soul, a deep structure, a language art, a reinvention of language that makes it possible for the spirit to sing and speak, to praise, petition, and weep.
Download or read book Agnostic Prayer written by Paul H. Sutherland and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover: Casebound red leatherlike cover with gold foil
Download or read book A Manual for Creating Atheists written by Peter Boghossian and published by Pitchstone Publishing (US&CA). This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith—and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, A Manual for Creating Atheists offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith—but for talking them out of it. Peter Boghossian draws on the tools he has developed and used for more than 20 years as a philosopher and educator to teach how to engage the faithful in conversations that will help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their religious beliefs, mistrust their faith, abandon superstition and irrationality, and ultimately embrace reason.
Download or read book The Art of Prayer written by Timothy Jones and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2011-08-17 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “I often shrink from books about prayer, because they usually produce in me feelings of inadequacy. I was delighted to find Tim Jones to be a sympathetic, not intimidating, guide. He writes with humility, clarity, and practicality–exactly the qualities I want in a book on prayer.” –Philip Yancey Revised and Expanded Edition with Study Guide Included “Timothy Jones…guides us into a life of prayer not by cramming us with knowledge and technique, but by quietly returning us to simplicity of soul and the presence of God.” –Eugene Peterson Something within us wants to grow closer to the God who loves to relate to us. But we often hesitate. Even though we have a desire to pray, questions nag us: Can I pray when I feel distant from God? Is it okay to ask God for help in “little” things? What do I do when I don’t know what to say? What sense can I make of seemingly unanswered prayer? How do I keep growing closer to God? In The Art of Prayer, Timothy Jones honestly shares his own struggles with prayer and invites you to be honest–and hopeful–as well. Offering biblically wise, warmly instructive explorations of our questions, Jones considers how you can become fluent in the world’s simplest language: talking with God. Includes a full-length inductive Bible study guide on prayer, ideal for small groups or individual readers. “…wisely human, spiritually practical, and wonderfully interesting.” – the late Lewis Smedes, author of My God and I “…luminous prose and…lucid insights.” –Publishers Weekly
Download or read book How to Pray written by Pete Greig and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pete Greig is a worldwide authority and the face of a generation when it comes to prayer. One of the founders of the 24-7 prayer movement, he has seen, experienced, and chronicled amazing works of God in the world. While you might imagine him to be puffed up, Pete Greig is entirely the opposite. He is enchanting, down-to-earth, friendly, and most of all, very normal–and yet he tells preposterous tales about prayer (and they’re true). He is basically a regular dude who loves to talk with God. How to Pray is written to evoke a passion for prayer in everyone—the committed follower of Jesus as well as the skeptic and the scared. The enormous blessing of How to Pray is that it is accessible, full of surprising stories of answered prayer, and tremendously engaging. The basic idea is that prayer is a conversation between you and God. Pete Greig demystifies and reenchants prayer, helping you to find prayer achievable and enjoyable, and ultimately life-giving and life-changing. How to Pray is designed to be used together with The Prayer Course (a free video curriculum associated with the Alpha course), making it useful for personal and group or church-wide reading.
Download or read book Faith to Faith written by Lewis Stanek and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been said that there are no atheists in foxholes and that may or may not be true, having never been in a foxhole, thank God, I have no way of knowing, but I suspect it is true; if not, I pity the poor atheist the lack of solace otherwise available through a belief in God. One thing is unquestionably true though, that is throughout the world in every culture and throughout history mankind has felt a deep yearning to cry out to something, someone greater than themselves. A desire to pray to one's creator is common throughout the world. It has been said that there is a vacant space in the soul of mankind that can only be filled by God's presence. The desire to reach out to God is an echo of our need to fill this void. How this desire is displayed from one culture to the next varies from cultures that practiced human sacrifice to those that believe in the efficacy of using prayer wheels to gain God's favor. In the passage quoted from Luke 11:1 one of Jesus' followers asks him to teach them how to pray. It is a straight forward request, but let's think about this for a moment. It may be safe to say that Jesus' disciples had been raised in good Jewish families. They were familiar with the Torah, they had learned from the Pharisees in the synagogues since their youth, and at that time that temple worship still took place, and they were familiar with the animal sacrifices and prayers offered in the temple for the sins of the people. Furthermore, they were familiar with the prayers taught by John the Baptist. What more are they seeking and why are they asking Jesus? Because they are his followers, yes of course, but more importantly because they had first hand experience to the effectiveness of His prayers. They had the privilege of witnessing many of the miracles he wrought and they had the privilege of witnessing him pray. The disciples could see with their own eyes the connection between Christ' prayer life and the effectiveness of His prayers. They wanted to know what he knew that the others didn't, why His prayers consistently brought results when other's did not, could not. How did Jesus respond to their request? By blessing them and us with what is now known throughout the world as the Lord's prayer or the Pater Noster. Which, in fact is the perfect template for us to follow in our daily prayers. Jesus answered them. "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Lead us not into temptation." Luke 11:2-4 We will discuss this template for prayer in detail later in this book, but at this point I only want the reader to realize that prayer can be more than a primal cry to our creator in times of despair and need, but is a God given means of personal communion with our God. Furthermore, that prayer is something that can be taught, something to be learned, and something that must be practiced, and perfected if we desire to grow in our spiritual life. Prayer is something we must know and a skill we must be proficient in if we expect to reach spiritual maturity. Prayer after all, in its deepest sense is communion with the living God.
Download or read book 21st Century Practical Spiritual Metaphysic Guide Book for Atheist S and Agnostics written by Joel Gonzalez and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a guide book for the individual who has always shied away from all occult subjects, such as religion, magic, astrology, metaphysics, spiritual anything, and for the beginner into all of these subjects who wished to expedite his/her learning with the latest up to date information. It offers leads for the beginner interested in understanding the merger between science and the occult spiritual subjects, and a reference of where to get started in the search for the ultimate truth. This book also provides references of where to find up to date information, based on scientific evidence of what is going on with our planet earth, and what to expect in the coming years leading to December 21, 2012. This book provides scientific and practical ways of understanding the universe; TOOLS to help YOU LIVE life TO ITS FULLEST and with EXCELLENT HEALTH!!!
Download or read book Help Thanks Wow written by Anne Lamott and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller from the author of Dusk, Night Dawn, Hallelujah Anyway, Bird by Bird, and Almost Everything. Author Anne Lamott writes about the three simple prayers essential to coming through tough times, difficult days and the hardships of daily life. Readers of all ages have followed and cherished Anne Lamott’s funny and perceptive writing about her own faith through decades of trial and error. And in her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow, she has coalesced everything she knows about prayer to these fundamentals. It is these three prayers – asking for assistance from a higher power, appreciating what we have that is good, and feeling awe at the world around us – that can get us through the day and can show us the way forward. In Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamott recounts how she came to these insights, explains what they mean to her and how they have helped, and explores how others have embraced these same ideas. Insightful and honest as only Anne Lamott can be, Help, Thanks, Wow is the everyday faith book that new Lamott readers will love and longtime Lamott fans will treasure.
