do you pray before you fly?

Henning said:
I have been an ordained minister for nearly 15 years.:lol: When the we lost the ability to be marriage celebrants on our USCG licenses, I had the choice of becoming a Notary Public or a Minister. Notary takes money and time, Minister is free and took 10 minutes on the Universal Life Church website (same guys that had the admin Rolling Stone forever, was $10 when it was mail in).

As for knowledge of God, I learned to listen, do that and God will tell you everything.
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I would think God ear would be at your lips for crumbs of wisdom.
 
My CFII, back in 1969, used to say "God hates cowards!"

Then we'd get into my Cessna 185, at night, and only when a system was coming through, in winter, and fly IFR between Boeing Field and Oakland, down the Pacific coast.

Going down V27 we'd pick up a big load of ice and the airplane would start to descend. Lyle just had me turn off the transponder......turn west and descend over the ocean. The ice would all melt off and we'd then climb back to V27 and proceed.

He'd be laughing and smoking the whole time.

But as you can see, he was deeply religious.

Religion is the root cause of all evil.
 
I'm not a religious person, but I'm open minded about it.

I don't pray before flying, but my EAA Chapter has a chaplain who's a retired preacher, I had him bless the airplane when I bought it.

Why not?
 
Henning said:
God knows every thought I have, you too.
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Does that include Jimmy swaggert too? I see he's back on the electric T.V. Asking for money. As for God telling one everything. He missed on the air France low time pilot. Must have given him bad advice.
 
bullwinkle said:
I'm not a religious person, but I'm open minded about it.

I don't pray before flying, but my EAA Chapter has a chaplain who's a retired preacher, I had him bless the airplane when I bought it.

Why not?
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yup, why not?.....but, I'd rather see you blessed. :yes::D
 
I'm late to the game but here's my answer to all this...

Pray for luck, for the things beyond your control to go right, etc. Rely on yourself for everything else. God is very busy and has better things to do than bail you out because you couldn't do a proper preflight.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
Heck yes!
I also do communion a brief alter call during preflight.

My passengers appear to do a lot of praying too.
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Altar calls are much more effective on short final. Just sayin'


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
1600vw said:
I have seen to much that can not be explained to know that someone is indeed watching.
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Humans have been thinking this since the beginning of time. Can't explain something? Invent a god for it - Sun, wind, thunder, etc. Of course in modern times, it seems that the true believers equate dramatic luck with "proof" of a guiding hand. To each his own.
 
Well if I felt the need to pray before I flew, I wouldn't fly.
 
Reminds me of when I was a kid. We ALWAYS said the rosary on a road trip, led by mom of course. I hated it.
 
Do you praying' guys truly believe that god controls everything in the universe all the way down to whether your favorite football team wins or not? Lots of praying on both sides of the super bowl. Man god has some tough choices to make. ;)
 
I have been known to utilize the Right Stuff Alan Shepard prayer on occasion before landing the Waco in gusty/squirrelly x-winds....."Dear Lord, please don't let me f up"
 
RoscoeT said:
Do you praying' guys truly believe that god controls everything in the universe all the way down to whether your favorite football team wins or not? Lots of praying on both sides of the super bowl. Man god has some tough choices to make. ;)
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No. :rolleyes:

When I pray, I ask that the engine keeps running. If it stops, I ask that I have the ability to utilize the skills and experience necessary to bring the bird down safely and allow everyone to make it home safely.

If a wing falls off? Well, sh*t.
 
Wow. I wasn't planning on starting a theological debate. Good reading though.

For the record I don't pray out of fear or because I think God will miraculously glue the wing back on if it were to fall off.

I thank God for the beautiful day (still in my early hours so it's usually pretty nice out), the opportunity to do something I love and have wanted to do for a long time, and ask him for a safe and enjoyable flight.

Much like when I sit down for a meal I thank Him for the food, and ask that it nourishes my body. I fully realize that it will nourish me whether I ask or not. Unless it's McDonalds. I'm not sure even divine intervention could make that good for you.
 
bullwinkle said:
I don't pray before flying, but my EAA Chapter has a chaplain who's a retired preacher, I had him bless the airplane when I bought it.

Why not?
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My partner in the gym business was catholic, and asked me if I minded if he had a priest bless the enterprise.

In my heart of hearts I found the whole exercise pointless, but again, why not? :dunno:
 
We've always prayed before road trips, as well as our trips by air, whether private or commercial. When flying professionally, I just let my morning devotional carry the day. I figure when the passengers see me during boarding the devout ones will be praying the entire flight!
 
RoscoeT said:
Do you praying' guys truly believe that god controls everything in the universe all the way down to whether your favorite football team wins or not? Lots of praying on both sides of the super bowl. Man god has some tough choices to make. ;)
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I pray that everyone on the ground stays safe in case something bad happens. I also pray for a safe flight.

Those who pray for things like winning the lottery or for thier favorite team to win some game do not understand the meaning of prayer.

Tony
 
1600vw said:
Those who pray for things like winning the lottery or for thier favorite team to win some game do not understand the meaning of prayer.
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That implies there's one "meaning of prayer".

In my experience, there are a wide variety of meanings given to prayer.

Your personal "meaning" cannot be assumed to apply to all.

Curious...

...would praying for a child to be cured of cancer be fundamentally different than the two examples you just gave?
 
Jimmy cooper said:
Does that include Jimmy swaggert too? I see he's back on the electric T.V. Asking for money. As for God telling one everything. He missed on the air France low time pilot. Must have given him bad advice.
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The Multiverse is an organism with a central intelligence, the same intelligence every sentient being in the multiverse uses, it is the "elusive spark of life". We are cells of that organism that provide new information to add to the 'singularity' for universes created after us. So yes, the information Jimm Swaggert created is there as well. God can only manipulate the universe through inspiration and guide us through conscience. Due to the requirement of free will to do our job of creating information and Dark Energy through the process of thought, we have to choose to follow the inspiration and our conscience, we can also choose to follow any other ideas we come up with, that's how we create new information. We can choose to work for the betterment of mankind, or we can choose to work for the betterment of ourselves, it's totally up to us. The reason we don't have understanding of, and access to the Dark Energy spectrum, is because we as a species are a cancerous tumor in the organism, and have to be quarantined. That's why SETI never finds anything, every species that is more advanced than us has access to that spectrum. Since that spectrum also exists outside of time, instant communication across any distance is possible. Since the information of creation is also on that spectrum affecting the uninformed, unenergized quantum particles telling them what to be and energizing it into creation, it also allows for instant teleportation anywhere in the universe, and possibly the multiverse if our time coding can be found in our DNA and altered.

What happens to Swaggerts information package in the next universe after he is done in this one is anyone's guess, but likely he will be a prey species to learn what he failed to learn in this one.

God can't make us do anything while we're here, the ability does not exist.
 
FastEddieB said:
That implies there's one "meaning of prayer".

In my experience, there are a wide variety of meanings given to prayer.

Your personal "meaning" cannot be assumed to apply to all.

Curious...

...would praying for a child to be cured of cancer be fundamentally different than the two examples you just gave?
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The meaning of prayer is to create useful thought and energy for God, it's basically 'food for God'. Praying for a lottery ticket is not useful, nor is it effective.
 
I must say that this thread has fallen somewhere between fascinating and terrifying.

I would not fly with an overtly prayerful pilot. (By "overtly prayerful" I mean kneeling, chanting, eyes closed, holding a sacred talisman overhead before boarding). If it were subtle (meaning that no one knew it was happening), no harm done, I suppose.

Bottom line? I don't want to fly with someone who thinks that God is in control of their precise flight plan -- but I don't mind someone who is humbly asking their God for redemption should something go wrong.
 
I have started bowing toward Mecca on final

On a side note, I am working on a soon to be classic country song "Jesus take the yolk"

Was going to go w/ "yoke" but in his day a "yoke" was something different.
I don't want to offend him. I would rather he think I am offering him eggs.
 
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1600vw said:
Those who pray for things like winning the lottery or for thier favorite team to win some game do not understand the meaning of prayer.
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I guess god has issued clear guidelines on this? ;) There is a different god inside the mind of each person who has ever believed. And since there are just about as many variations on deism throughout history, I say your understanding of the true meaning of prayer is just as valid as my belief that praying to the Pastafarian god will cause my wife to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tomorrow. :)
 
RoscoeT said:
I guess god has issued clear guidelines on this? ;) There is a different god inside the mind of each person who has ever believed. And since there are just about as many variations on deism throughout history, I say your understanding of the true meaning of prayer is just as valid as my belief that praying to the Pastafarian god will cause my wife to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tomorrow. :)
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Ra'men, brother. :yes:
 
RoscoeT said:
There is a different god inside the mind of each person who has ever believed. And since there are just about as many variations on deism throughout history, I say your understanding of the true meaning of prayer is just as valid as my belief that praying to the Pastafarian god will cause my wife to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner tomorrow. :)
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Am I safe in assuming that if I prayed to the Pastafarian god, he/she/it would know I was vegetarian and only provide veggie meatballs?

Yum!
 
This thread is long past hijack stage! ;)

Clark1961 said:
WTF is a "veggie meatball"? Isn't that an oxymoron? Why not just call it what it is: a veggball?
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Likely for the same reason they're called "Rocky Mountain Oysters!"
 
The funny thing about prayer is that it works 100% of the time. If you pray for someone in the hospital to get better and they do: "See! Prayer works, God is good!" If you pray for someone to get better and they don't: "God works in mysterious ways", or "It was his time, God called him home."

I don't have negative feelings about any individual with strong religious beliefs, more power to you if it helps you through your day (many of my immediate family members are quite religious). That said, I do feel sorry, more on the level of humanity, about the need for religion. The logic-driven guy inside of me finds that quite sad.

Look around you, I say. The universe is filled with crazy amazing things, it's okay to not have all the answers. We don't need to make things up to not feel alone...we have each other and an entire Universe to explore, and for me that's enough.
 
Its a shame that both sides of this topic cant just leave it alone. I am a Christian and I do pray and I will never be ashamed of that. On the other hand, its not my place to chastise or cast aspersions on anyone for their beliefs. I don't take offense when someone makes fun of my faith and I certainly don't attack them for it. Everyone believes and has faith in something, everyone. If you want to pray before we fly, that's fine, Ill wait and we will go. If you don't want to fly with me because I pray, that's ok too. We are all different, just like everybody else.
 
RoscoeT said:
Do you praying' guys truly believe that god controls everything in the universe all the way down to whether your favorite football team wins or not? Lots of praying on both sides of the super bowl. Man god has some tough choices to make. ;)
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Well, it might be a semantic distinction. I love when I see stuff like the following from hard core materialist/atheist types:

"Religious people are so stupid, thinking God made the Universe out of nothingness in the blink of an eye! Everybody KNOWS that the Big Bang created the Universe out of nothingness in the blink of an eye!!!"
 
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