Someone please explain ''Prayer'' to me

[AtheianLibertarist]

I'm trying to make the connection here, looking for your responses.

Statements:
A. "god has a divine plan"
B. "god is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent"

Questions:
A. If you believe those 2, are you asking your god to change his perfect plan to suit your specific need at that time?
B. Why ask for your friend to get over their cold, to do well on a test, or other topics that are quite small in the scheme of things? side question- with all the suffering in the world, and if prayers were actually getting answered, why waste time on those topics?
C. If you believe in those 2, god knows your thoughts and feelings, why actually pray? -side note, he knows you are going to pray anyway right?
D. If you believe in those 2, and your prayer is not answered. How do you feel? Has there been a time where you have resentment, disappointment, or anger because of a non-answered prayer?
E. If you don't believe at all, or in just a few things, state your thoughts

Thanks yall

 

[cantata]

Intercessory prayer has always seemed to me like more of an opportunity to think and care about other people (or, if I'm being cynical, to show God that one is being very virtuous by thinking about them) than a genuine attempt to change the future.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Divine plan? Really, I don't understand people who believe that God has planned every second. God has only planned a rough sketch - where you go and people you'll meet. And because of our free will, that plan can change if we chose not follow His. Plus, God does say no to prayer. He doesn't spoil His children like that. The point of prayer isn't to get what you want. It's to ask and then give all your trust to Him that regardless of whether it's what you want, He'll be leading you in a righteous direction.

 

[cantata]

Divine plan? Really, I don't understand people who believe that God has planned every second. God has only planned a rough sketch - where you go and people you'll meet. And because of our free will, that plan can change if we chose not follow His. Plus, God does say no to prayer. He doesn't spoil His children like that. The point of prayer isn't to get what you want. It's to ask and then give all your trust to Him that regardless of whether it's what you want, He'll be leading you in a righteous direction.

Then he must have planned the lives of the people you meet, too.

Why bother praying if God knows best anyway?

 

[jayem]

Believers pray because it makes them feel better. Especially in difficult, uncertain situations where people may feel powerless, prayer gives a sense of doing something worthwhile. Prayer certainly has no external effects, but it can objectively benefit the person praying. I'm pretty sure there are studies showing that, like meditation, it can lower blood pressure, heart rate, and levels of stress hormones. It provides psychological comfort and peace of mind. And that's why people pray.

 

[Verv]

I was always taught to pray for others and to not pray for material gain, and I was also told that God would reveal truths to me in my prayers.

I was also taught that prayer helps other people.

I've never really thought much about praying for myself but rather giving thanks for the life that I have.

That's what prayer means to me, essentially.

God helps others and helps you and more than that you gain more insight through deep thought and connection with God.

Prayer used to be treated as a meditational exercise in Christianity, hence rosaries and patre nostre beeds, etc. in all the faiths.

Orthodoxy beleives in internalizing prayer so that we are always praying for the best outcome for the world and focusing our eyes on God.

Does this help you in your venture to understanding Christianity?

( ) Yes.
( ) No.
( ) Please go on, J. M. Verville.

Check one and let me know, dude.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Then he must have planned the lives of the people you meet, too.

Why bother praying if God knows best anyway?

This is true according to any believe system, and I do mean any. In Christianity God plans it. In any other belief system, nature just lets it become. Even in atheism, meetings aren't chance. They happen because such and such stacked on top of each other. The only difference is Christians believe God planned that meeting.

 

[truthshift]

This was the question that I was asked that made me reconsider my faith.

After I was asked this I went to Church Camp the following summer and asked the pastor and my cabin leader there. I asked my pastor and youth pastor these same questions. Of course I went to my family as well.

I think my sister gave me the best answer; among all of them: "What do you think?"
The rest of the answers that I received were all personal inferences to what the truth is, that had no foundation beyond being an educated guess. I learned, later, that these were rationalizations.

I honestly did my best to try and believe the answers that were given to me, but I couldn't bring myself to accept a logical impossibility (divine design + free will). I'm still searching for whatever the truth might be, be it what I believed in before, what I believe now, or something new. That's the entire reason I spend time on this forum.

*2 cents deposited*

Anyhow, I see one of the same answers I received on this thread already.

I think that prayer certainly has some benefits to the individual who prays, it's actually been shown to do have a positive affect on blood pressure and stress. However, indirectly, there is nothing to show it has any effect whatsoever.

Meditation has the same stress relieving effects for the body that prayer does, so I see no point in prayer in that sense.

 

[cantata]

This is true according to any believe system, and I do mean any. In Christianity God plans it. In any other belief system, nature just lets it become. Even in atheism, meetings aren't chance. They happen because such and such stacked on top of each other. The only difference is Christians believe God planned that meeting.

Yes..? I don't quite see your point. I'm an atheist and a determinist so I don't have to believe in free will. Most Christians do believe in free will. How do you reconcile that with an intervening God who organises where people will go and whom they will meet? If it's not up to you whether or not you go to the chemist (and thereby meet the TV evangelist on the way), how can you be sure it's up to you what you have for breakfast?

And, more importantly, my second question: why bother praying if God knows best?

 

[Beanieboy]

I see prayer more like having a conversation with a friend. It's as much as my analyzing and reviewing my day as God listening, and it's also me listening to God.

I believe that there is no one plan, but there is countless possibility in our life. We choose what happens. And I spend very little time asking God to help me catch the bus, or get a job, than I do asking God what he would like me to do today.

If God is my lord, I am the servant. God is not my genie that I conjure when I need a wish granted.