Good Greetings Everyone,

Excuse me if this topic has been spoken on recently.

I spoke to an elderly neighbor the other day, and she keeps asking me to attend her church. I stopped going to church and for the most part years ago. I told her that God was within me, therefore, He travels with me everywhere I go. She was like, "I know that's right", and all that good stuff, but she still probably thinks that worshipping God should be done every Sunday in a Church.

My mother went to Church on a Sunday and 14 hours before she passed. She went almost every Sunday, and she loved it. She never pressured me to, but she did take mewhen I was younger.

These days, we hear frommany folks that are stating that they're spiritual beings, believe in God etc., but they are not overly religious. Some of them go to a dwelling to pray and praise God, and some don't.

What say you all? Do we have to go to a Church, Mosque, Temple or any other dwelling in order to pray to God so that He hears us,and/or in order for us to receive Hisblessings?

I agree with the quote below, and I forget where I swiped it from. LOL!

"If you have God in your heart you don't need any church - if you don't have Him in your heart you will not find Him anywhere! Having Him within you obviously you can talk to Him whenever you wish - and more often than not HE WILL ANSWER if you only listen. I believe a forest or a mountain are the best places to worship Him. Nature is His house - churches have been built by humans!"

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful...the Best Knower.

Salaam (Peace) to all.

The Hon. Elijah Muhammad taught us that prior to around 6,000 years ago there were no white people on our planet; and that this present system or civilization is a relatively new one. He taught us that there once was a time when we - the Original People - were so in tune with the Nature and Purpose of our Creation, that our WORK was our praise/prayer...our Worship was DEMONSTRATED in our everyday lives. Therefore there was no need for a synagogue, church or mosque for the people to "go to" in order to worship or praise God.

However, as the Hon. Elijah Muhammad taught us, the emergence of the Caucasian and his way of rule has taken Man away from his true self. Since that time, Allah has sent Prophets and Messengers to guide humanity, step by step, back to the Right Path. In this world, and age, houses of Worship serve as sanctuaries from a world gone mad, where the believer can be strengthened by a spiritual support group on a regular basis, to counter the negative influences we are constantly bombarded with on a daily and hourly basis.

In THIS DAY, however, as the Hon. Louis Farrakhan teaches, our prayers and praise of God inside a house of Worship - in and of themselves - are all but useless. In this day, we must be found Praising God in our WORKS. THIS is where our Blessings come from...WORK...striving in the way of God to produce a better reality for self, family, nation and world.

We can't change the conditions OUTSIDE the "Church" if all we want is to stay INSIDE the Church. The "gold is in the fish's mouth"...and the Fish are NOT in the "Church" or in the Mosque or in the Temple. The Fish are PEOPLE....swimming in a sea of filth and indecency. They can't be "fished" in from the confines of some house of Worship. The Believers in God must GO OUT AND GET the people.

In my opinion, we cut ourselves off from God's Blessing by using the "Church" as a mask for our laziness or our fear of confronting Satan and his world.

The Hon. Louis Farrakhan teaches us that there will come a time when there will be no more need for churches, mosques or temples; and that some day, the whole earth will be "the temple".

I would say, go to the "temple" for the fellowship and support group; but realize that the BEST PRAISE we can give to God is our Diligent and Sincere Effort to make God's Word "flesh"...and that is done in the Streets...not in any building.

RM

I hear you One Zero Seven.

offtopic.gifBut and btw, is your number 8? Mine is seven. I studied some numerology, and learned thatif one adds all the numbers of their birthday, month and year, and continues adding until one gets to the last two digits, and then adds them, then that is their Life Number. Some might do this, butstill will end up with something like a 3 and 8. That ='s 11,so that could be their life number, but some say that they still can add the 1+1 = 2, and that is their life number. For instance if one was born 2-6-1960,one could add 2+6=8+196=204. 2+4=6. Or for that same combination, one could go, 2+6+1+9+6+0=24. 2+4=6. Added either way would = one's life number. LOL!

Anyway, what you wrote about is very-very interesting. I agree. Some of us were also taught that if one prayed with one or more persons, then God would hear those type prayers, but not so for the prayers that are prayed alone. Some of us also have heard that one should never pray out loud, because the devil could hear your prayers and intercept and turn them off.

I've always believed that God hears my prayers when I'm alone, because most of the time I am, and/or, I talk to Him when I am alone. Naturally, one should realize that they should be about praising God more than be about praying to Him for something.

Thanks for your response OZS.

One Zero Seven, I think you have given the best unbiased answer I have ever read on this board on anything.

You did not beat her down with your religion or try to convert her, you just delivered a message that is possibly true for all religions, but you just based on your teaching and put it on point.

Love Child wrote:...

Quote:

btw, is your number 8?

Ironically the time of my last post was 12:13. That is my birthday andI just noticed that that was the time when checking back. Wow! God is trying to tell me something", as the lady sang in the movie "Color Purple." LOL!

Isn't that something. Now here is the thing. If one were to add 12+13=25. 2+5=7. That is my number. My number is what they call squared all the way round, because if you add the year of my birth 1953, one still comes up with 7. That is the correct way to add it, meaning day - month and year. But again, just adding my day and month gives me a seven. I just realized shortly after my mother's passing that her life number also was a seven. I was sure I'd added it up before, but must have forgotten that I had. I was stunned to realize it. May she RIP.

Thanks for your responses you two. So you are a five huh One Zero Seven? That is a great number. 5 goes into.................... LOL! And I love it because it is part of my number. 2+5, 1+6 and 3+4.

I've also read most all of Elijah Muhammad's books back during the time I lived in Atlanta and in my early twenties. I found all of the reading interesting and fascinating indeed.One of the things I do believe entirely is that in some cases and in order for some believers to share and praise God is thatfor them - they needto do it within a dwelling of some kind. A sort of gathering place.

And.............back in the US slavery days, and for the most part, most of the believers would meet on the outside to share and deliver the message of hope, faith, charity, praise and worship. They weren't allowed inside a dwelling to carry on so. But carry on they did, and praise God for letting them still feel Him and get it done. For us here in the US, we would not have made it without their faith and belief in a Supreme Being.

Just like Jesus told the people that the Sabbath was made for MAN, and not man for the Sabbath.

So it is with congregational prayer.

Religion was originally a community oriented affair where all the believers in a particular region met on a certain day to share meals, public information, as well as prayer and devotion to God.


Now we live in a selfish/individualisticage where most people want to keep thier religion in the closet, or behind closed doors and many are ashamed of worshipping God publicly.


God doesn't need our prayer publicly or privately, but as social beings we need eachother.

Whether inside our outside, I think frequentcongregational meetings in a particular religion is necessary to keep the family together.