The Eternal Wall Of Answered Prayer

[naomi24]

This huge structure being constructed in Birmingham is due to open in 2023. A survey carried out by the group responsible found that one third of people believe that prayer helps their mental well-being. What do you think?

https://www.eternalwall.org.uk/about-us


Something to get your teeth into, nailit. ;o

[barry1010]

Why not? It's privately funded, the land has been privately donated and I think it is an attractive piece of art.
Birmingham doesn't have a huge cathedral (St Philips is quite modest) and this is a modern symbol of Christianity.
I like the idea of being able to read each brick's prayer with a smartphone.

[barry1010]

It won't be in Birmingham but just outside, in Warwickshire.

[pastafreak]

I'm a bit disappointed to see that it is Christian only. I was hoping it would be for all people and faiths. Surely prayer has not just benefited Christians?

[Khandro]

It looks good - it's a Mobius strip - does no harm and it is spiritually uplifting for some people, but obviously not for you, 'cos you don't believe in prayer.

Why not build it?

[barry1010]

pasta, it's a private enterprise paid for and supported by Christians "to preserve the Christian heritage of our nation".

[Peter Pedant]

why do I have to think? I am on Ab so someone will tell me - ter daah!

has been looked at as a medical study
https://www.jwatch.org/jp200606070000006/2006/06/07/another-study-intercessory-prayer

There is also a NEJM ( new England journal of medicine that is!) study on prayer that I cant find ( yup praying to St Anthony)

who said everyone prays for everyone else
nope
forbidden in Islam
I asked a poor muslim child to pray for my late farder 1978 - o god the arabic speaking christians had to sort that one out [ he is english and doesnt know .... phew ... talk about putting a foot in it and offending local sensibilites etc]
and you proddies, arent keen on intercessionary prayer innit?
Praying to saints - it is a no-no, one of Luthers theses yeah?

a lot here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercession_of_saints

People wouldnt do it if it were harmful would they?
like oo-gee board or conjuring up the devil

or am I overestimmating AB - - ter daaah

[naomi24]

Barry/Khandro, hold your horses! Where did I say I object to it being built?

[naomi24]

PP, //who said everyone prays for everyone else
nope
forbidden in Islam //

No it isn't.

[vulcan42]

It looks like a graffiti magnet and will become an eyesore. It isn't necessary, I thought prayer was personal contact between a person and their God, if they need something physical what's wrong with a church?

[anneasquith]

If treated with respect it may well look very nice. Some people will appreciate it.

[Khandro]

vulcan, //I thought prayer was personal contact between a person and their God, if they need something physical what's wrong with a church?//

It is, but this is symbolic of an offering of thanks along the lines of the oriental religions; Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto etc, who all place offerings before deities, it is a small gesture of something physical into the spiritual.
Those who are bereft of a spiritual side to their lives might find that hard to understand though.

[woofgang]

Well there's no reason why they shouldn't but I am sorry that its not interfaith.

[anneasquith]

Who knows woof, it may change when it’s built and established .

[barry1010]

Naomi, I never suggested you objected to it

[andres]

I envisaged a wall not a modern monstrosity. I can think of better ways to spend £9 million on.

[vulcan42]

Khandro, I fully understand the offering to deities, it's "on a small scale" I question. This is huge and will compare with the statues of Buddha, such as the spring Temple Buddha at 128 metres, the Myenmar Buddha, 115 metres, which, by the way, are now dwarfed by the Statue of Unity at 182 metres which isn't even dedicated to a God. All these seem, to me, to be a long way from a simple prayer offered up to a God.

[Peter Pedant]

// No it isn't.// ( intercessionary prayer) - erm yes it is....
[Accordingly, Shafa'ah is a form of prayer to request God - to God not the saint]
see bit where they fall over themselves over the mistake I made. No one said "o he means shafa'ah it is OK, Naomi says it is OK"

never mind, you'll say the opposite tomorrow - just wait

meanwhile
it all started with these two
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetua_and_Felicity

now feminist lit - in late Latin
at the time and around 1800y after it was taken as the main source of the power of intercessionary prayer - she dreams of her dead brother now miraculously cured in heaven.

actually the account ( of her martyrdom ) is so powerful that they think she wrote a lot of it herself. worffa read - in Latin of course

[Khandro]

vulcan : The statues you mention are not 'offerings', they are, if you like, aides-mémoires; like monuments, to remind people of someone or something on a daily basis. The Buddhist stupas are to commemorate a holy or enlightened person who once walked this Earth, who in the West we might call a Saint.
The offerings (in this case, individual bricks) are the grains of rice, flowers & simply water, which is placed by the devout in front of them.

[naomi24]

PP, you weren’t talking about intercessionary prayer…. But you know that. Not even a good try.

[nailit]

Wailing wall in Jerusalem...
Didnt that one work then?

Perhaps unplug it and put it back in again....