A Jaded World

In my daily news this morning I was horrified to find a new low for our society, though I must admit I wasn't shocked. After all, as a programmer I am required to take manual ways of doing things and make them faster, more efficient. But today I have to wonder where we will stop.

The concept of mechanized prayer is not new. Maybe you've seen shows about Tibet where large cylinders in the temple spin, sometimes powered by the wind, sometimes by men who are walking by on their way into the temple. These are prayer wheels. Prayers are written on paper and placed inside the cylinder and the cylinder "prays" as it spins.

Enter the computer age. Now, for a fee, you can have a prayer generated and shipped in a closed loop around the Internet. Richard Cavitch, the founder of this company, sees the service as a way for busy people to alleviate guilt about forgetting to say prayers. "I didn't want to do a porn site, because I figured there's already enough of that. I figured maybe we should try to do something more wholesome."

But how wholesome is this, really? Granted, Buddhists may find this perfectly acceptable, although it is questionable whether any god is surfing the web to pick up e-prayers, but as a Christian I find this a horror and must admit to some concern that people will be taken in by this seemingly easy way to "pray".

As Christians, we believe that we have a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Part of that relationship is prayer. I believe that Cavitch was correct when he spoke of the guilt modern day Christians feel about the amount of time they spend in prayer, especially when it can be so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern living. The answer to that guilt, however, does not lie in having a computer pray for us. After all, God did not say:

"If my people who are called by my name will have their computers contact my computers..."

If I'm not mistaken the quote goes:

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

The answer to feeling guilty for not taking time to pray is to readjust our priorities so we pray before we go into the world. Jesus frequently made time to pray both with His disciples and by Himself, sometimes sending the disciples on ahead so He could spend time in prayer. Can you see Jesus sending Peter to pray in His stead?

This also raises the question of the other half of prayer, which is lost when we entrust our prayer to computers. Prayer is not just speaking to God. In fact, that shouldn't be our primary goal because who likes a one-sided conversation? No, part of our praying should be taking time to listen to God. A computer that is constantly sending prayer through the net is certainly not bothering to listen for a reply. More importantly, the individual who paid for that computer to send his or her prayers isn't listening to God either. Prayer is communication with the living God, listening to and talking with Him.

Sad to say, however, that in today's fast paced world there are people who probably will pay Mr. Cavitch for this service in order to soothe their guilt. I wonder what they'll do when they are standing in line for entrance to the pearly gates and their pagers goes off with a message that reads,

"Sorry, your computer has already been accepted in your place."

A Jaded World

In my daily news this morning I was horrified to find a new low for our society, though I must admit I wasn't shocked. After all, as a programmer I am required to take manual ways of doing things and make them faster, more efficient. But today I have to wonder where we will stop.

The concept of mechanized prayer is not new. Maybe you've seen shows about Tibet where large cylinders in the temple spin, sometimes powered by the wind, sometimes by men who are walking by on their way into the temple. These are prayer wheels. Prayers are written on paper and placed inside the cylinder and the cylinder "prays" as it spins.

Enter the computer age. Now, for a fee, you can have a prayer generated and shipped in a closed loop around the Internet. Richard Cavitch, the founder of this company, sees the service as a way for busy people to alleviate guilt about forgetting to say prayers. "I didn't want to do a porn site, because I figured there's already enough of that. I figured maybe we should try to do something more wholesome."

But how wholesome is this, really? Granted, Buddhists may find this perfectly acceptable, although it is questionable whether any god is surfing the web to pick up e-prayers, but as a Christian I find this a horror and must admit to some concern that people will be taken in by this seemingly easy way to "pray".

As Christians, we believe that we have a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Part of that relationship is prayer. I believe that Cavitch was correct when he spoke of the guilt modern day Christians feel about the amount of time they spend in prayer, especially when it can be so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern living. The answer to that guilt, however, does not lie in having a computer pray for us. After all, God did not say:

"If my people who are called by my name will have their computers contact my computers..."

If I'm not mistaken the quote goes:

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

The answer to feeling guilty for not taking time to pray is to readjust our priorities so we pray before we go into the world. Jesus frequently made time to pray both with His disciples and by Himself, sometimes sending the disciples on ahead so He could spend time in prayer. Can you see Jesus sending Peter to pray in His stead?

This also raises the question of the other half of prayer, which is lost when we entrust our prayer to computers. Prayer is not just speaking to God. In fact, that shouldn't be our primary goal because who likes a one-sided conversation? No, part of our praying should be taking time to listen to God. A computer that is constantly sending prayer through the net is certainly not bothering to listen for a reply. More importantly, the individual who paid for that computer to send his or her prayers isn't listening to God either. Prayer is communication with the living God, listening to and talking with Him.

Sad to say, however, that in today's fast paced world there are people who probably will pay Mr. Cavitch for this service in order to soothe their guilt. I wonder what they'll do when they are standing in line for entrance to the pearly gates and their pagers goes off with a message that reads,

"Sorry, your computer has already been accepted in your place."