The Philippines

Sometimes people ask me why I've decided to live in the Philippines. It's really something that is really hard to describe. Often times people from all over the world visit the Philippines and they are not affected by the country the way I have been because westerners will almost always visit westernized tourist resorts or resort cities, places that are built and designed to cater to the western culture. So they might visit the Philippines yearly but they never really experience the real Philippines. Sure there are bad things about the country, but this is the case with every country, right? But what has affected me more than anything is that in America we are often so obsessed with things and statues. Even when we are not successful or wealthy we bury ourselves in debt in order to Keep up with the Joneses. We are so obsessed with what other people think of us, how we project ourselves to others. In the Philippines everything is so simple, things are clearer, there are much fewer fakes. People are what they appear to be. Of course there are always exceptions to this but the vast majority of people are who they appear to be, for good or for bad you know who they are. There are not all of these facades to hide who they are. When people are worried about where their next meal is coming from, they tend not to think or care much for what the neighbors think.The simplicity of life, without all of the pretension, this is what really inspires me here. Growing up in America I heard about different ways of life, I heard about people that left the comforts of life to live abroad, I heard about the people traveling to the ends of the world to spread the love of Christ. I heard about these things but here I see these things, I experience these things. There is such a HUGE difference between hearing a report of missionaries in the field during Sunday service, and traveling out into the jungle to a beautiful Ranch style orphanage and seeing it first hand, hosting a dinner for the children, interacting with some beautiful giving people. Coming from a country where everything is about “Me” “what do I get out of it” it's such a beautiful thing to see people who place HIM above “the mighty I”, who place the children above themselves. Come visit the “real” Philippines and maybe you can better understand why I have stayed here. Check out this video of some of these wonderful people.

Life without Church

I think we find it so hard to give up Church not just because of tradition, though that is a major factor, but because Church has become our spiritual measuring stick. We determine our level of spirituality based on how often we go to Church, how many Church activities we are involved in, how much money we give to the Church. Without that institution to measure ourselves against, we feel lost and devoid of direction. So how do we measure our level of spirituality without the Church? Well, that would require study, seeking God, prayer and solid leaders as our examples. You see, it actually requires you to do more than to just check off your little Church duties to determine your spirituality. Now it's just like – Sunday service=check..., midweek Bible study=check... music practice=check... Oh, that means I'm a three out of ten. Maybe next time I can add children's ministry and Sunday night service and then I'll be a five, wow, I'll be half way there.

Without Church, how do we assemble? Our daily interactions with friends, family and neighbors becomes our assembling together. What does this mean for us? It means no more gossiping with the neighbors, no back biting with your sibling. It means that evening with the guys needs to be talking about Jesus and not getting drunk. It means that weekend party needs to be filled with worship, not gambling. It means no more special day or special place where we play nice, it means that being a Christian doesn't begin on Sunday morning and end on Sunday night. I think this scares us. If there is no start and there is no finish, then that means we REALLY have to follow through, we REALLY have to commit, we REALLY have to believe, we can't just fake it anymore.

When I say no more Church, I mean no more Church as we know it. I believe in assembling, I just think that it should be considered “assembling” every time we are with our family, friends and neighbors, not in a building on Sunday. I still believe in Leaders like Pastors and Teachers, I just don't believe in the “Office” of Pastor that comes from tradition. I think the leaders should be going to the body, teaching, leading, counseling and conducting Bible studies where the body is, not standing behind a pulpit on a stage on Sunday expecting everyone to come to them. I still believe in Elders, I just don't believe in the elders as some kind of a comity to decide whether or not to pave the parking lot this year, or if we should start using LED light bulbs or not. I think that the elders should be considered any member of the body who is spiritually matured, has great wisdom. Someone that we can go to for sound Biblical advice.

You see, life without Church is not removing Christ from our lives, it's removing Him from one day and placing Him as the center of every day. Life without Church is a life in Christ.

Forgiveness

I am writing this post to address an issue that I have found to be
somewhat disturbing here in the Philippines. People inside the
Church here seem to be under the impression that forgiveness means
to pretend that nothing happened and to hide your feelings about the
problem at hand. First let me say I think there are two kinds of forgiveness,
forgiving our enemies, and forgiving our brothers and sisters.As for forgiving
our enemies, we forgive them even though they don't ask for forgiveness.
If someone is currently your enemy, it stands to reason that they have not
repented of their evil acts against you so we must assume that when Jesus says
to forgive your enemies that he was saying to forgive them without their
repentance.The second kind of forgiveness, however, is very different.
Forgiveness between brothers and sisters (the body of Christ) MUST come
with rebuke and correction. We have all sinned and fall short of His glory, but
we as the body of Christ are on a road of correction and transformation so when
we sin against one of our brothers or sisters, it is not just the right of the offended
party to rebuke that action, it is their responsibility as a member of the body of
Christ to do so.

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you,
you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two
more with you, so that by the moth of two or three witnesses every fact may
be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Assembly of believers;
and if he refuses to listen even to the Assembly of believers, let him be to you as
a Gentile and a tax collector."
Matthew 18:15-17

Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive
him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven
times, saying, ‘I repent, forgive him.”
Luke 17:3

Do either of these passages say that if someone sins against you that
you pretend that it never happened?  No, it says "Show him his fault"
and "Rebuke him". This is how we learn. how we grow. We must
always be corrected when we make a mistake or else maybe we will
never even realize that an offense was even done. Holding in our feelings
and pretending that nothing happened is actually the worst thing for
everyone involved. The person who was offended is still hurt by what
happened and the person who offended is not even corrected on his
or her mistake. If we truly want to grow in Christ then forgiveness
within the body MUST come with rebuke and correction.

The Shadow and the Fire

A while back I started working on my own translation of the New Testament. My original idea was to fully translate all the words in the Bible that have been left untranslated. As I began I started running into an increasing amount of words that even though they were translated into English properly, the English word had it's original meaning destroyed by religious tradition. So in these cases I decided to describe the meaning of the word instead of using the word itself. But then I ran into this scripture and as always it stumped me and I couldn't continue until I figured out what it meant.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17

So, my problem here was the word “Fulfill”. The Greek word is a very open word that can lead to several different conclusions. The English word is a little more limited but again it can have a few different meanings. So I wanted to read the thoughts of some Jewish Christians on this scripture. The web sites I had checked out before really stressed the Hebrew meanings to words even in the New Testament and they really always seemed to attack the people who also look at the Greek meanings. But in this case I was really surprised, they all seemed to universally be talking about the Greek word for fulfill. This made me very suspicious especially because there is a Hebrew book of Matthew that they were all sold out on as the “original”. So I decided to look up the Hebrew word for fulfill and then I understood why they seemed to be steering away from that. The Hebrew word seems to have a very limited and clear meaning, it pretty much means to end. But this wouldn't make much since. So Jesus is saying “I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to end it”? This doesn't make any since to me and therefore I have to assume that Matthew was originally written in Greek. So now I just had to figure out which meaning to this Greek word applied to this scripture.

Then I came across this scripture and it got me thinking....

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Colo 2:16-17

What is a shadow? Literally it means “a dark figure or image cast on the ground or some surface by an object intercepting light.” But some other meanings of the word include “a hint or faint, indistinct image or idea” - “outward aspect” - “a likeness, image, or copy.” - “exterior aspect” - a hint or suggestion”

So in other words Paul is saying that the eating restrictions and the sabbath day, both of which are a part of the law, are a physical act that represents a spiritual reality that we find in Christ. Another example of this is found in baptism....

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Matthew 3:11

John is in essence saying that water baptism is the shadow, the physical representation of the Baptism of Christ which is the fire.

So then in my study I came across this group of passages from the book of Hebrews which I found to be very helpful to my understanding of this topic

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

Hebrews 3

So here we see the writer of Hebrews describing one of the central elements of the law, the sabbath day as a shadow, a physical representation of the rest we find in Christ. This rest was offered to the people of Israel in the times of Moses but because of their unbelief, they could not enter into God's rest and so a day was set aside as the Sabbath day of rest . But now in Christ we can enter that rest...

“Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest”

We can argue all we want as to what day the Sabbath day is but we would be missing the point. A day was selected because their unbelief prevented them from experiencing the real rest of God. So now armed with these scriptures I went back to my original scripture confident in how to translate the word fulfill..... Some say the word means to end, others say it means to complete, and yet others say it means to properly live out.... but in the context of these scriptures I firmly believe that proper translation for that word would be “bring to realization” because He was bringing the physical acts of the law into spiritual reality. The Sabbath day becomes the rest we find in Christ. The diet restrictions that were in place to separate God's people from the world, becomes the true spiritual separation from the world we find in Christ. The tabernacle/temple, the place where God lives becomes us. Point by point, law by law, Jesus brought all of these physical representative acts and made them spiritual reality. In other words Jesus turned the shadow into the fire. When we focus only on the shadow it's kind of like a parent who gives his child a picture of his dream car with all of the details written down on it. From the engine to the tires every detail of that car is there on the picture and the Dad tells him “I'll buy that car for you on your 18^th birthday”. As the years go by the child looks and looks at that picture and memorizes every detail and every spec of that car dreaming of the day that the car is his but when his 18^th birthday comes around and his Dad hands him the keys to the car, He would rather keep looking at the picture instead of going for a drive. The law is the picture with all the details and specs, the cross is the key, the car is the reality of that picture. Do we just throw away the picture? No, we keep it because on the picture we have all of the details, all of the specs and we always have to know what is under the hood. But we must not just focus on the Picture, we actually have to take the car out for a spin. The car is sitting in the driveway.....will you keep looking at the picture, or go for a drive?

"Do not think that I have come to get rid of the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to get rid of them but to bring them to realization.” Matthew 5:17

Losing faith in Church and gaining faith in Christ.

I, like many others, made many assumptions about Christianity based on human traditions. I always assumed that what we call “Church” was in fact the Church of the Bible. Growing up seeing my father's discontent at the Church system lead me to question certain things about Church but never to question the entire institution. I thought that maybe there were things that needed to be fixed or adjusted but my faith in the system was never shaken.

When I was 13 years old my family started to attend this Church and it had such a profound impact on me that it made me look back at the Churches that we had attended in the past and start to see and understand how very far we have come from the Biblical Church. In past Churches I would hear sermons about how “Church doesn't end on Sunday”... but it always did end. But in this new Church I didn't hear these lectures about Church not ending on Sunday....It just didn't end on Sunday. In the Churches I had gone to in the past I would hear sermons about the importance of having the Church be like a family. They would create programs to try to encourage small groups to bond together....But they never really did bond. At this new Church there where no sermons about small groups, there where no programs.... It just was a family. It was just so unforced, unscripted and unplanned. Everything just happened so naturally. God really impressed something on me during my time there that I never really understood at the time. The more we try to plan, format, micromanage, script our worship, the less God is involved.

With this wonderful experience under my belt, boosting my expectations of Church, my family moved on to another state. Once again we found a Church and started to attend. It was nice enough but to be honest, it felt a little boring compared to my last experience. Even though it wasn't quite as exciting as my last experience, I really felt like the people there were really caring. If you missed a Sunday service they were always quick to call and make sure everything was alright and if you where sick, they were always there to pray with you. At one point the Church was having some financial troubles and so to “educate” the congregation on the costs of the Church, they released a detailed budget of every cost. When I read this budget I was shocked, It seemed that every single person who did anything for the Church was a paid employee. Those nice people that call you up if you miss service to make sure you are okay, they are paid to do that. The nice people that come visit you in the Hospital and pray for you, they are paid to do that. I felt heart broken, what ever happened to service, to sacrifice? What ever happened to doing something because it was good or right? Was everything just business now? The examples of Christianity I grew up with were people like my Grandparents. My Grandpa who was a Baptist Pastor and my Grandma would often visit sick people in the hospital, old people in the nursing homes and pray for them, visit with them and sing to them. My Grandmother on the other side of the family was involved with Meals on wheels where she would cook and deliver meals to people who were too old or too sick to cook for themselves. These where some of my examples and so this version of “paid service” was just not compatible with my faith. At that point I totally lost faith in the institution of Church and I vowed to never go to Church again. I never lost faith in Christ but all I could see was the disconnect between what we call Church, and Christ.

Ten years past and during that time I never set foot in a Church. But eventually I did start attending a Church. It was nice and very positive and uplifting but I just couldn't feel it in my spirit. I felt like I wasn't being honest. I felt like I was going to Church because I'm a Christian and that is what Christians do on Sunday. I felt like I was just living a lie. So eventually I stopped going there and went another four years without going to Church.

Then I moved to the Philippines and got married and started to attend the Church of my wife. At first I was intrigued, these people seemed more focused on service without financial reward. They were more interested in service than profit. They were very hands on in everything they did. I was very interested and felt like maybe I had found what I had been looking for for so long. I thought that these desires for a true Church might have finally been fulfilled. BUT, once again something happened. One Sunday my wife was supposed to sing with the group on stage. We got to Church and the worship leader told my wife that she needed to go home and change cloths if she wanted to sing on stage. The issue, the dress she was wearing showed half an inch of her knee and the rule is that it has to be below the knee. (Included is a picture of what she wore that day)Never mind that just a couple of months earlier my wife had lost all of her cloths in a horrible typhoon and she didn't have many cloths to choose from. No compassion or understanding at all. I asked the Pastor over to the house to discuss this situation. I told him our position and our thoughts on the matter but he was totally unwilling to make any concessions or exceptions to this rule, ever after explaining to him that my wife's cloths had all been ruined and that she was slowly trying to re-build her wardrobe. So I respectfully informed the Pastor that we would no longer attend Church there but I told him that there was no reason for any hard feeling with anyone and that I hoped that the congregation would not condemn us for leaving. He agreed and left. However within 24 hours many members of that Church including the Pastors family started to publicly attack us and even to question our salvation. Ridicules. After witnessing a total lack of people willing to stand up on our behalf, I realized that while the Church in the Philippines might not have the same problems that it has in America, it definitely has its own problems.

I now found myself calling out to God with a burning desire on my heart, a desire for a better way. I was now at the point where I could actually ask myself and God “Is what we call Church even Biblical?” I started digging deep within the scriptures looking for any examples of what we call Church. First I went to the writings of Paul and I noticed that most of the time he will start off by saying “To the Church at....” After meditating on this for a while I was then lead to look up the meaning of the word Church. I found that it is actually an un-translated or not fully translated word. The meaning of the word actually translates to “The called out ones” or “The summoned”. But going even deeper the word at it's root has the meaning of being called from one place, to be gathered at another place. So, the first question is who are the called out ones? Well, the Believers and followers of Jesus “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord” 2 Corth 6:17. And then the second question, if we are the called out ones and this word means to be called from one place to another, what is the place we are being called to? This is where the split in opinions comes. Some would say that the called out ones are being called out to gather at Church ____ Let us explore this opinion quickly. While following this way of thinking we have literally created thousands of denominations, thousands of divisions. So what does the Bible say about divisions? “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” and also we see Paul talking more about this here “For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere human beings?” Sound familiar? I am a Baptist, I am a Methodist, I am Lutheran, I am a Catholic, I am none denominational..... It's the exact same thing now days, just with different names. If the called out ones are indeed being called out to gather as in a Church setting, then why did Paul tell the Church “not to forsake the assembling together” ? If the word Church means the assembling at Church, then wouldn't that be saying that the assembled people should assemble? That doesn't make much since to me.

 So one road we have tried and it has lead us to division that the Bible so strongly opposes. So in essence the institution that we call Church, the white building with a Cross on top, with pews and a pulpit, with 4 song standing up and 3 song sitting down, with passing the collection plate, with a nice message for 40 min.... this entire format that we call Church never occurs in the Bible at all.
What is the other way, what is the alternative to Church? If we are not being called to Church then what are we being called to?
Consider this...“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. And also “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” To repent means to change your mind, to leave one way and go to another. So now it starts to become clearer, we are not being called to a building on Sunday, we are being called to Christ Himself, we are being called to turn from our life and submit to His life, this is what it truly means to be a “Called out one” But, as I pointed out earlier we are told to assemble together, so, how should these assemblies look?

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20. The assembling of the called out ones is nothing more than this verse states, two or three brothers and sisters coming together in Christ. We pray for each other, we study the Bible, we encourage each other, we worship God together. We don't need a pretty little building to do this, we don't need pews, we don't need a pulpit. All we need is a living room, a kitchen table to share a meal with friends, an extra chair to offer a neighbor. This way the Holy Spirit is free, completely free to do what He needs to. No time limits (20 min of worship time) no restrictions (35 min sermon) He sets the times and situations. Before you call me crazy, before you dismiss what I'm saying, look it up yourself, what we call Church doesn't exist in the Bible. The next time you read in the Bible try replacing the word “Church” with “Those who have been called to Christ.” Check out the examples below.

Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in prison, but those called to Christ where earnestly praying to God for him.”

Romans 16:4 “They risked their lives for me. Not only I but all of the Gentiles who have been called to Christ are grateful to them.”

1 Corth 5:12 “What business is it of mine to judge those outside of those called to Christ? Are you not to judge those inside?

You see how simply describing the meaning of the word instead of using the word itself changes the religiousness of these passages? It takes the emphasis off of the building or system and puts it on us, where it should be. The most poisonous phrase I can think of is “Lets go to Church” Because if you go to Church, then Church is a place for you and if it's a place for you, you've lost its true meaning. If you think this is an important subject that needs more thought and discussion, please forward this to your friends and family.

As Children

A few months ago I felt God put these scriptures on my heart, I felt like there was something in them that I had not heard or thought of before....

Matthew 18:3

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me. Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children."

Mark 10:15

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

I think we have all heard the explanation in Church of this meaning that we have to have the faith of a child. I'm not going against that explanation, I just felt like God was telling me there was something more to this. So I was meditating on these scriptures for a few days and trying to think of some clever answer to this question when one day as I was thinking about it I felt like I was Gibbs smacked on the back of the head...

I felt God saying “It's you, you came to believe when you were a child. What did you know about me when you accepted me?” So, I started trying to remember what I knew about God at that young age. I knew “God is good, Satan is bad” I knew “Jesus is God's son and that he was punished for the bad things I did and that he rose from the dead” That is it. I knew nothing about man made denominational doctrines, I knew nothing about the “trinity”, I knew nothing about the deity of Jesus, I knew nothing about whether or not laying on of hands for healing was for today or not, I knew nothing about pre, mid or post tabulation rapture. I knew absolutely nothing about the things that divide us, I only knew the things that all Christians agree on -God is Good -Jesus is God's son- Jesus died for my sins-Jesus was raised from the dead-period.

Seeing God through the filter of religion:

If you come to God through some denomination, organization, non-denomination or any other such organized group, generally you will be taught the basics of truth BUT you will also be taught man made rules, regulations and doctrines with the same importance as the Biblical truths you receive. So, in other words you might hear things like this “You have to dress up for Church” with the insinuation that if you don't dress up, you are somehow less of a Christian. Or you might hear things like “We should only sing the old hymens” or the opposite “We should only sing the modern worship songs” with the insinuation that anyone who doesn't subscribe to this belief is some how less of a Christian.

In truth these things are not addressed in the Bible at all, these along with many other things are simply man made rules and doctrines. Sometimes these man made rules might be necessary, but they should NEVER be elevated to the level of Biblical truth. In this case you are literally seeing and experiencing Jesus through the filter of religion.

Coming as a child:

On the other hand, when we come to Christ as He demanded, as children, that means we literally have to let go of everything we know and everything we think we know. We have to take all of the religious, denominational, Church thinking, all of the theology and all the man made doctrines and precepts and just throw it all in the trash, everything must go and then we must go back to just the very basic thing that a child understands when he or she accepts Christ “ God is Good -Jesus is God's son- Jesus died for my sins-Jesus was raised from the dead” It is only then that He will be your teacher...

1 John 2:27

As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

It's not to say we can never be guided or taught by man, because we can. It simply means that we pass the teachings of man through the filter of Jesus, instead of passing the teachings of Jesus through the filter of man. God is our teacher. As the religious pass Christ through the filter of their religion, if we come to Christ as a child, we will pass the religion and denominations through the filter of Christ. We will take the truth from it and leave the religion.

My goal is never to tear anyone down, to simply criticize for the sake of criticizing. My goal has been and remains to try to help people to think outside of the box of religion. You see, religion takes God and tries to package Him in a way that you get everything you need at Sunday service. The truth about God is that He is so much more than we could ever imagine. If we have read the Bible hundreds of times and we think we know everything about God, than we are only fooling ourselves. He is so infinitely more than we can ever understand on this earth. What we call Church, what we call religion in most cases is just holding us back from experiencing God in a bigger and more meaningful way. Always remember that if you think you know what love is, His love is more infinite than you can imagine. If you think you know what goodness is, His goodness is much more infinite than we can imagine. If you think you know who God is, He is so much more infinite than you can imagine. We are only scratching the surface, lets dig in and break open the pretty little box of Church, religion and denominationalism and unleash the infinitely powerful and loving God!!

Pray

I just saw this article and it really goes to show you how easily things can be twisted and perverted if we don't know the actual and original meanings of words. This article is about what they call "Secular prayer"

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05/06/atheists-swiftly-respond-to-supreme-courts-pro-prayer-ruling-with-a-plan-that-could-bring-secular-prayers-to-your-town/

So, we have the modern interpretation of prayer as placing your hands together closing your eyes and bowing your head. You then proceed to say a few nice words and conclude by saying a word most people don't even know what it means "Amen". So, with this as our understanding of Prayer, it is quite easy to pervert this...put your hands together, close your eyes , bow your head and say a few nice words (this time omitting any reference to God) and ending it by saying "Amen". What is wrong with that? Well, everything is wrong with that.

The actual original Hebrew meaning of the word we translate as "Pray" actually means to "fall down to the ground in the presence of God and plead a cause" Now, with that as our definition of prayer it's not so easy to take God out of the equation is it? And as for the nice little word at the end, "Amen", that is not even translated into English. Translating it into English it would say "So be it", again, this is a statement of faith and if we know it's real meaning we can easily see that this couldn't legitimately be used in a "secular prayer"

Words mean things, lets don't be lazy, lets care and lets find the truth because where the truth is, there is also a closer relationship with our creator.