The Idea of a Direct Line to God

A Story by Ryen James

A theological essay I wrote while bored in church

One of the most interesting concepts of Christen Doctrine is probably are sense of prayer unlike older religions such as the polytheistic Practices of the Romans and Greeks our prayer is very direct. We do no offer offerings or sacrifice to our god. Some might say that tithe is a monetary offering but the concept of tithe is seen as a religious duty similar to charitable giving or the Islamic pilgrimage. Tithe is not given as appeasement or a bargaining chip but as a means of devotion and supporting the church you could also conceptualize the tithe as a sacrifice but to what end? The crucifixion of Jesus and the concept of Christ's redemption negate the need for sacrifice and god would have no use for money, as per his omnificence and as in the descriptions of heaven devalue all worldly wealth. Therefore god has no use or need for our money then why is it a religious duty. For the betterment of ourselves. As humans we are inheritable selfish which lead to greed. The willful sacrifice of our money prevents this as we put our trust in god this further backed by the concepts of altruism and charity which are important Christian values.

Therefore tithe is not an important communicator to god at least not in the same as sacrifices and offerings of other religions and before the advent of Christ another common communicator is that of Divination, and channeling. To begin with divination it its many forms, such as tarot, Ouija Boards, Mediums or other forms of contacting or channeling spirits or making future divinations are expressly forbidden. There is a Twofold Reason for this. First to prevent the contact of malevolent spirits or other demonic or hurtful spiritual beings and also to prevent from seeking out other deities and beings. The second is that use of divination takes away from the totality of God. On the other note there is no oracle of God. Instead there are numerous sources, if only antidotal of Jesus speaking to us individually, whether this be the lives of the saints or modern inspirational tales that we read about spread upon the internet or in christen publication such as Guidebook and while they are sources that claim that certain religious figures, such as the pope, have a direct line of god this is measured in a sense of frequency and clarity rather then ability it is a frequent and wide spread belief that the ability to speak or hear god's voice is had by all Christians is extremely prevalent.

Whether this is true or if we are actually speaking with God, ( and not perhaps a low level angel) is not in the scope of discussion. The concept and belief of Direct Communication rather then communicating through a Oracle, Priest, Channeler, or other proxy is what's important. Direct Unproxyed Divide Communication. You could define the Catholic Use of Confessions that of Proxied Communications. But that would have to take in the difference in belief of atonement, legalism, and ritualization of spiritual actions between the catholic and protestant ideals of Christianity. While this discussion has protestant's bias as the writer is a protestant it is to note that catholic confession is used as a form of repentance not as a supplement for actually prayer. All Christians (as well as most theistic religions) consider prater as an important religious practice. Prayer in itself as Christians disregard other forms of communication mention previously, is the most important if not only form of communication. Other actions such as tithe or church going correspond to devotion than correspondence. I say most important as to not invalidate other possible forms such as meditation. Prayer in most cast is without major ritualization. There are no geological restrictions to prayer. Prayer can occur in any location even if it is not in a divine space (such as a church_ or around a devotional space such as an alter, shrine, or representation of a religious figure. Also in this vein there in no ritualization or practice of where to face during prayer. The majority of Christians in my experience place no importance on cardinal direction or focal point such as in other Abrahamic religions such as Jerusalem for Judaism or mecca for Muslims. this may be because of the Christians belief in gods Omnipresence but is unlikely since the Jewish people considered Yahweh to be omnipresent but still had this geographical bias as with the story of Joseph. This may be due to Christians aversion to ritualization. Another aspect of prayer is that of symbolism. While many forms of prayer involve the use of crosses, crucifixes, bibles, or rosery beads there is nothing in either the bible nor commonly excepted doctrine these objects and others such as candles are used as symbolic ritual or as a spiritual focus. Another form of focus the folding of hands in prayer is not a requirement and in not unique to Christians or Abrahamic religion. It is a seen as a symbol of subjugation and predates Christianity. Pose, geography, objects, and other criteria such as frequency or length of prayer are not defined or required in christen prayer. Even verbal communication is unrequired as many christians pray internally either due to stigma in social settings, inclusion in group prayer, or other situations. Group prayers usually have more traditions but almost every instance of tradition and ritual is not continual reinforced. There is plenty of prayer rituals but none are presented as necessary for prayer . A base prayer. It is essential to understand this but here is the sum of Christine Prayer. When Christians pray it is a direct communication between god and man between the divine and mortal. The point of this is fact or if not fact the common held belief. Which in some discussion mounts to the same. For what is religion but the summation of godly knowledge. Why is the question does are direct content with god. Stem from the crucifixion Jesus eliminating are need for sacrifice or is this pipeline to the Devine a modern convenience, a construct to humanized our god and turn people away from the cold petty attitudes of the old polytheistic gods. I can rule out neither option and as to those who declare blasphemy, it is important for those who are of a religion to question belief is to cast away false beliefs and make beliefs stronger at while I put out the contrary I believe that Direct Prayer is consistent with our image of god. God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and loves every human, Christian or not regardless, God Loves all people regardless of race, Nationally or any other demography. In this age gods love for humanity is a good indicator of the validity of direct prayer and his omnipresent and omnipotence, would explain the logistics and abilities of direct prayer. There is no conclusion of this discussion simply the idea that Christian prayer is that of direct prayer and the significance of that fact/

Yours in Faith, Ryen James.