Well I guess we disagree about this one. If you want to punch me be prepared to get it back. I would still give my opinion, I can take it as well as dish it. Calling me a coward? There is no sarcasm in your firehouse? At least you called bullshit, that is all I did.
Permalink Reply by Russ on December 10, 2010 at 10:02pm
every day before i start my shift: Dear god thank you for this day and thank you for yesterday. i ask that you bless and protect my fellow firefighters, EMT's and paramedics and the rest of our public safety community as we try to save lives and property. god bless our fallen public safety members, grant them peace and sanctuary in your kingdom and absolve them of their sins. protect my shift and my department and allow us to return to our familys when our work is done. i ask these things not for myself but for those i work with, amen
if i hear somebody going to or on a bad call : dear god, strengthen them so that they may save the day and bless the injured and allow them to reduce their suffering
EXCELENT TOPIC!!!!, thanks for asking. i came up with that prayer myself and have said it everyday since i've been a firefighter.
has anyone ever been asked by a patient to pray with them? and does your department have a rule for or against it?
Russ, the last line of your post is a real good one. I have been asked to pray with/for/near a patient a couple of times. I am a total atheist, but I'll usually humour the patient. When I was younger, I was a lot more militant, but I guess old age has mellowed me a bit.
I would love to hear other non-religious (or different religions) comment on this. Would a Jew pray to Jesus with a patient, how about to Ganesh?
Permalink Reply by Russ on December 10, 2010 at 10:14pm
good 1 Mike and remember, "there are no athiests on hoselines"
Greg, you are a strong individual and i'm praying for you too and i respect your opinion
You are correct, but how will we know if there are differing views if we don't express them. Some people are smoother at it than others. I respect their right to have their own view and their right to express it, but I do not have to respect the view itself. It may well be valid and it may well be fiction, we will never know.
Permalink Reply by Russ on December 10, 2010 at 10:52pm
LOL- thats a good question Vic. prayer requests on scenes only happened a few times for me and that was up north. the torah would have been a bit hard to carry around but i get your point...in the south the church is big so i see it more
Why would you think Jesus would punch anyone? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't. Mere mortals at the kitchen table being told that prayers they might say are bullshit and just a fairy tale? That's different.
I didn't say I want to punch you. I said you run the risk of getting punched in the firehouse, and in that setting you may not be quite as sarcastic, depending on who you're talking to. And I didn't call you a coward. I said what you did could be done by any coward.
Your comments - the "mocking" ones "intended to wound another" - were out of line. You're not in the firehouse with guys you know and work with; guys you break bread with. That's an altogether different animal. In this context you were just being boorish. It's uncalled for.
Ok, I get your point. To be correct I di not say their prayers were bull I said prayer is bullshit. I know that is a fine point but none the less a point.
"Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).