Volume
Religious Gathekas
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#4 The Manner of Prayer
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2. Doubtful
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Religious Gathekas
#4 The Manner of Prayer
2. Doubtful
The second kind of person who offers his prayers is the one who offers the prayers because he is told to do so. And yet he is confused whether there is any God and if his prayers are really heard.
He may be praying and at the same time confusion may be going on in his mind: "Am I doing right or wrong?" If he is a busy man he might think, "Am I giving my time to something really profitable, or am I wasting it? I see no one before me; I hear no answer to my prayer."
He does it because he was told by someone to do it or because it might bring him some good. His prayer is a prayer in the dark. The heart, which must be opened to God, is covered by his own doubt; and if he prayed in this way for a thousand years it would never be heard.
It is this kind of soul who in the end loses his faith, especially when he meets with a disappointment and prays, because if his prayer is not answered that puts an end to his belief.
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