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Does Anyone Hear Prayers?

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goodlife | 08:27 Thu 16th May 2013 | Religion & Spirituality
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A Englishman says: I used to say that I didn’t believe in God because I thought that religion was invented to control people and to make money. Also, if there were a God, I reasoned, then there would not be so much injustice. Yet, sometimes I would sit quietly and talk to ‘something.’ I would also ask myself, ‘How did I get here?
Each person with such feelings has his own reasons for doubting whether prayers are answered. In many cases, the doubts may be fueled by unanswered questions, such as the following:

▪ Is there a Creator?
▪ Why is religion so often an influence for bad?
▪ Why does God allow suffering?

If you could know the answers to those questions, would you feel more confident about praying.

Becaus a survey of 10,000 people on four continents showed that of the respondents who describe themselves as atheists, almost 30 percent pray.
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If I knew the answer to

▪ Why is religion so often an influence for bad?
▪ Why does God allow suffering?

then I would be more inclined to consider the possibility of God existing.
LG; I value ancient wisdom, but it should be accurately portrayed. The translation you quote (by atheist David Hume) has become unfortunately the standard quote, used by Dawkins and now abounds. The original Greek doesn't say "Why call him God" it asks where evil comes from.
Khandro, LG didn’t quote it – I did – and whilst you’re right in saying that the original doesn't include the final lines, their addition does not detract from the whole. In fact, had I not mentioned Epicurus at all, the quote would lose none of its validity. It’s a reasonable question in its own right. In fact, I might post it as a question.
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All I can say go to one of our annual Conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses and see people of all walks of life and you see many former atheists there and see for your self.

You can find these:- Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Gillingham, Plymouth, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Cardiff, Colchester, Manchester, Brighton, Norwich, Coventry, Milton Keynes, Telford, Jersey. Jw.org
Thank you Goodlife. I might just go along to one of those. That should be interesting.
Many atheists are former believers too. Millions are abandoning the hypocrisy of religion every year.

We are entering a new age of enlightenment where religion is recognised for what it is.
^^"We are entering a new age of enlightenment where religion is recognised for what it is."
This is quite true.
Actually beso, you are viewing the world through the wrong end of the telescope. You try to see what you want to see. In reality, religion is on the increase, Christianity is sweeping across China and the former USSR. Western Buddhism/Taoism has shown an enormous growth in followers in the last few decades and there are many more examples word wide.
In fact I think it fair to say that you and your cohorts on these Religion and Spirituality threads are almost making a religion out of atheism itself!
It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum..
Is Beso waving his cohorts around in public again? How very rude.... :)

I do not have global figures for religion, nor do i really give a stuff in all honesty. But religion certainly seems in decline in the developed world- and as more of the world becomes developed I can only see that trend accelerating.

And regardless of the trends in belief, no amount of believers changes the essential truth or otherwise of religion, unless you are trying to claim that what constitutes fact is simply a popularity contest.
There was an amusing statistic I once heard, that a high proportion of graduates in the US are atheist. The source was lamenting that "so many [smart people] are turning away from God", or some such. It always struck me as a strange point to make -- our best and brightest are shunning religion? Wonder why that is...
^^ //It has been said that nature abhors a vacuum..//
Well I'm darned! I couldn't have said it better myself; Nature is religion, and atheism is a vacuum. :-)
jim; ref. students and atheism;
"A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion."

Francis Bacon.


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If you have not made up your mind yet which God you will serve. You cannot be limping upon two different opinions. There is only one right way.

Because the god of this wrold is Satan the Devil, is worshiped today, but not so much by means of service , as Baal was in ancient times. Instead Satan receives worship when people put material things first, or serving their own interests rather than doing the will of their Creator, So the choice is up to you. But the Bible says Acts 2:21. Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.


But here the warning, Jehovah does not listen to everyone who calls on him. Through another prophet, Isaiah, Jehovah said to Israel: When you spread out your palms, I hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I am not listening. Why would Jehovah refuse to listen to his own nation? He himself explains: With bloodshed your very hands have become filled. (Isaiah 1:15) so Jehovah will not listen to any who are bloodguilty or are practicing sin.

True Christians acted in harmony with these words. They repented over their failures and determined never again to compromise or slow down. This opened the way for God’s spirit to be poured out. Every individual who wants to call on Jehovah’s name and be heard must follow the same course.
There you are Khandro, I left a space and you filled it with nonsense, how divine :-)
Goodlife - If ever I needed a reminder of how nonsensical your religion is I just come on to AB and have a look at your latest droppings.
You are sat at a computer which, in itself, is proof that your stone age ideas are wrong. And yet you can't see the irony of being able to speak to the world using modern technology that would not be possible if great minds had not dismissed your fairy tales.
Goodlife, //Jehovah will not listen to any who are bloodguilty//

With his reputation as a warmonger and murderer, he’s a fine one to talk! He’s in no position to moralise to anyone about having blood on their hands!
Do you think God has blood-stained hands, naomi?
Khandro, God doesn't have hands, he doesn't exist other than as an idea in some peoples heads.
^^ Doesn't everything owe existence to 'peoples heads' ?

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