A Question For Those Who Pray

[society]

How does prayer work for you? How does it translate in your life?

[chakka35]

goodlife, the answer to your main question is 'Yes'. In extremis people will behave in all manner of desperately weird ways. Grown men will scream for their long-dead mothers. Parents who have just seen their child blown to pieces will refuse to believe that it is dead. And so on. And to some extent it is understandable.

What is not understandable is how people in normal circumstances can believe in something like prayer which so obviously and demonstrably doesn't work. Unless, of course, you subscribe to keyplus's highly convenient explanation: that God is responding but not in the way you wanted!
So if you pray that your sick loved one will not die and she does, that is not a case of God not responding but of his responding in precisely the way you didn't want. How profound.

Good old keyplus. What would we do without him?

[society]

"A man shall eat good by the fruit of his lips."

[chakka35]

society - if you must quote secondhand thoughts at us you might at least give us the source of them so that we can know the mind that invented them and the context.

[joko]

woofgang, isnt that just confession, rather than praying though?

[society]

It's from one of the proverbs in the Bible. Don't remember which though.

[joko]

but keyplus - you say sometimes humans don't know whats good for them so they dont get what they ask for in the way they expect - because god knows best and doesn't think thats what that person really needs

so what happened to free will? i thought the whole point of freewill is that it allows human to make their own mistakes (and thereby absolves god of all pain and suffering in the world)

so how come god gives freewill to all humans, and therefore allows wars, famine, pestilence etc etc, yet will not grant you your, in comparison, pretty minor wishes - such as a better job, or for your sick child to pull through, or that you find a lost possession, because "its not whats best for you" ...?

so how does that work then? isnt that taking away freewill? isnt that making a decision for a human that perhaps he shouldnt be making, give freewill and all that?

[birdie1971]

Keyplus - “... First of all as human we do not really know what might or might not be good for us. Something we may wish for but that might not be good for us. So few prayers are usually answered by not being answered the way we wanted them to...”

I'm afraid that your above statement is just nonsense. It's typically (for you) circular in its reasoning in that it explains nothing whatsoever and yet the fact that it explains nothing is taken by you as proof that god exists.

[idiosyncrasy]

Hello everyone. I am new to this site, so if I make mistakes please let me know.

In answer to this, I say yes it does work for me. Maybe not every time or when I want it. There have been times when i have prayed for something and it does not happen, but then much later something does happen and I realise it was an answer to my prayer.

Basically I view prayer as communication with my Heavenly Father. Just as I would speak to members of my family I speak to God. I tell him of my joys, my disappointments, my wants, needs and expectations. I ask him to help my family, friends and anyone else who may need it.

But of course, that is just my view and maybe you view it differently.

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, Welcome to R&S. If you don't mind me asking, which version of God do you talk to?

[RATTER15]

idiosyncrasy, why do you feel the need to tell God all these things, doesnt he already know?

//There have been times when i have prayed for something and it does not happen, but then much later something does happen and I realise it was an answer to my prayer.//

let me change just one word and see if it still works:

There have been times when i have hoped/wished for something and it does not happen, but then much later something does happen and I realise it was an answer to my hope/wish.

Look, see it works for atheists too!!!!

[idiosyncrasy]

Naomi - there is only one God isn't there.

Ratter - Why do I need to tell God? Because just as my family know I love them, they like me to tell them and just because they can see me happy or sad, doesn't mean they don't want me to let them know.

[society]

Welcome to AB idiosyncrasy!

[RATTER15]

idiosyncrasy ;-)

[naomi24]

idiosyncrasy, //there is only one God isn't there. //

Is there? The Hindus wouldn't agree with you - and the Muslims worship a very different version of main stream Christianity's three in one variety. Oh what a tangled web.....

[tamborine]

I give thanx for each day for my health & welfare & that of my family and friends - it works coz we're ok

[naomi24]

tamborine, //it works coz we're ok//

And what will you say when it stops being ok - as sooner or later it must?

[goodlife]

//So if you pray that your sick loved one will not die and she does, that is not a case of God not responding but of his responding in precisely the way you didn't want. How profound.//

chakka35 @No ,The Bible say,when man was created, God set no limit on his life span as was done with animals. Man had the prospect of eternal life ahead of him. His body was designed to continue functioning indefinitely.

But because of disobedience the first man lost that prospect. A limit was now set to his life span that he could not exceed although his body had the potential of being able to live forever. That limit was a symbolic day of one thousand years. When telling man not to eat of a certain tree God said: “In the day you eat from it you will positively die.” (Gen. 2:17) Adam died within that thousand-year day at the age of 930 years.

Adam could not pass on to his offspring what he no longer had. He could not give them an endless life span. All his descendants have inherited his sin and its companion, death, just as certain diseases may be inherited from one’s parents. “That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”—Rom. 5:12. So there the true answer.

[LazyGun]

@goodlife you keep making the same mistake - offering biblical verse or interpretation of the bible as proof. Its proof of nothing at all..