Being Humble and Praying are Mutually Exclusive

A prominent preacher recently published an article advising people "how to pray." He advised those who pray to "be humble." This struck me as peculiar. If a person believes that he/she is so important a god knows her among the nine billion people on earth she is anything but humble. That is a person with an inflated sense of self.

 There are two reasons a preacher would give such advice. First, he makes his living telling people the god they pray to knows them. If people stopped believing this he is out of a job. It's profitable to tell people about a god that knows them personally.

The second reason the preacher tells people to be humble is that whatever they ask for may well not be delivered. So he tells them not to be too demanding, be humble.  A preacher whose living depends on people believing there is a god will be unemployed if people are led to believe their prayers will be answered but never are. People need to be convinced their prayers are heard. If their prayers are not answered they need to believe it is their fault. It's clever but it works.

The message of the faith is confusing. People are told God thinks they are important. Then they are told God may not answer their prayers. They may see others who must certainly be less important seeing their prayers answered.

If people enjoy praying they should pray. But, it will not matter whether they are humble or full of themselves.