To Christians: A question about Praying before meals?

Question

Why is it that you thank God for your meal when it was clearly someone else that made the grilled cheese sandwich or other what? I mean c'mon, you need to give the person who ACTUALLY made your meal some credit too! So what's with the whole Prayer before meals?

So it's really a Prayer for being alive so that you can enjoy the meal in the first place?

To Reality Thumper:
...

To Helper:
The bread came from the bakers. The wheat came from Farmer John.

Judging from everyone's responses, this whole Praying thing seems to be more of an appreciation memo to God...

To Betty Boop:
...Noo, I didn't know anything about this whole concept. That's why I decided to ask this question to get knowledge from ACTUAL Christians rather than make up my own prejudices about it.

To Ever mom:
I agree. This Praying probably meant a lot more to people back in the days when you couldn't walk across the street to buy a lof of bread.

To Everybody who answered this question:
Please see Betty Boops profile, it's rather interesting...

Answer 1

Thanking God for providing the meal and praising Him for all that He is.

Answer 2

Praying before eating a meal is not a "have to do" thing. I believe it began with the early settlers here because many did starve since food was so scarce. Praying was a courtesy to God and also a little superstitious hoping having food would continue. Some believe that all "gifts" come from God because he motivates us to do good to our fellow beings. This brings up the question of "free will." Does God motivate us to do good? Or is that up to our rabbis, priests, ministers, parents, etc. On the subject of faith, questions seem to provide more questions. But that is what makes life interesting.

Answer 3

As a kin we pray until now each and each meal. We generally provide thank you for on the instant time and for the nutrition provided, we in specific circumstances ask for advantages on the meal and then we upload something else prefer to wish for people who're much less fortunate or commute mercies for every person wide-spread to be traveling. We rotate the prayers around the table with our childrens and have carried out this for years. Teh youthful ones have super prayers with regards to the snail they found or with regards to the propose boy next keep or for the recent motorbike. As they have been given older they have been somewhat extra severe yet consistently all substantial. I regularly ignore to wish purely until now the meal. thank you for the reminder.

Answer 4

When you put a lot of effort into making something, you like a "thanks" and not just to be taken for granted.

With nature around us and the benifit of developed society, food is easy to find in communities with computers. We don't need to raise the cows, milk them, process the dairy product into cheese every morning to get that grilled cheese sandwich.

If we didn't learn "Do unto others", society may not have developed to the state we have today.

Technology of refrigeration helped too.

But we are dependant on others for our daily food. If I thank God for that, that covers all the others that helped out. (the SURVIVORS show demonstrates how hungry we'd be without the development of society around us.)

So do those that helped feel like they are taken for granted? There are a lot of them to thank each meal .. or just let God pass it on :)

Answer 5

I thank God before the meal saying that I pray I won't get sick off the meal and to bless the person who made this meal for me.

Answer 6

Who made the earth and everything that goes into your mouth? I thank God because I have food to eat, some people don't have anything to eat. Therefore I am thankful for everything.

Sometimes if I see the cook, I thank him or her for being a good cook.

Farmer John put the seed God made into the ground God made, it rained from the sky that God made, and got sunshine from the Sun God made.

Answer 7

First you thank God for making your foods grow before someone harvested to turn it into bread. Without God there wouldn't be any foods for any of us to cook. The next time you would want to thank Him for the air that we breath and the water that we drink.

And always thank the person that prepares your meal.

Answer 8

You should always thank the person who prepared the food and the one who delivered it to you. However, if one believes in God, they are thanking him for blessing them with the meal, the appetite to enjoy the meal, and to bless the hands that prepared it. It is personal between the individual and God and I don’t see the harm if one believes in God.

Answer 9

You can say thank you to the person personally for preparing the meal, you dont need to pray to him/her.

Praying is our way of communication to God..to thank him for the food means we acknowledge him as the one giving us blessings and stuff, and nourishing us both with tangible and spiritual food also although not directly like falling from the sky...you know what I mean.

Answer 10

I thank the cook for the food. I thank God for allowing me to be born in a Nation where I never go hungry, rather than into complete poverty where I might starve to death by age 11.