How about what the Bible teaches? What DOES the Bible teach about prayer? You mean to tell years of earnest heart-felt inquiry will be ignored by God? That's not what Scripture suggests. Demonstrate or show me where my interpretation is mistaken? Otherwise, I will be forced to lump you in, right along all the others whom make up their own brand of 'faith', without sufficient warrant or cause. Blank assertions will get you nowhere.
I was a proclaimed Christian for decades. I was patiently awaiting the call from the Holy Spirit. I never received anything forthcoming. I heard countless anecdotal testimonials from others. Heck, I can even watch videos today of many being 'contacted' by Jesus:
Please look at post #1 of this thread:
God's Revelation is Real and Proven!
Why should I believe what the Bible says, as opposed to any other opposing book of assertions and claims?
Sometimes I would get goose bumps, while praying. But looking back now, I also get goose bumps watching fictional movies. I need more tangible evidence to determine I'm receiving any contact from anything other than my own thoughts and emotions.
This is incorrect. God says He will give you virtually anything, if asked from a sincere heart. You have conspicuously dismissed the many Verses I offered in my prior response. You mean to tell me contact, when prayed for, is too much to ask???? And all this while reading that He intends to contact EVERYONE in a way they can no longer deny anyways, whether they like it or not?
I'm calling nonsense here! You need to back up your claims. I have, you have not. I gave you Chapter and Verse to demonstrate that God answers the call to prayer. God also wants His presence known. Also, knowledge of His existence really ruins nothing. You still have a choice.
Please look at your response from my perspective. Just imagine if you were conversing with someone of an opposing religion and they started giving you [your] 'reasons'
Helping others can certainly make one feel good. But anything more than that, you will need to demonstrate how that validates truth to the assertion of Christianity?
Then you can explain why He always skips the petitionary and intercessory prayer requests to 'cure' amputees, cerebral palsy, and Downs syndrome.
I assert it is quite possible, as the OP suggests, that prayer is worthless, when it comes to 'healing.' It's safe to say that any/all wanted healing, would work just as well, had prayer never entered the equation.
I'll give you a simple example...
Say you are diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. The doctor informs you your chances of survival are high, as long as you seek proper medical treatment. Say you are given an either/or proposition.
a. medical tx
Or...
b. prayer alone
....But you cannot do both. Which will the Christian likely choose?
The indwelling Holy Spirit is the Christian’s guarantee
and not miracles.
A Christian with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit can sincerely, fervently, pray for any Kingdom helping result and it will be granted, but again praying for a scientific verifiable miracle would not help the individual’s growth and the growth in numbers of the Kingdom. We are to: Matt. 6: 33 But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given, to you as well. I cannot pray and would not pray for you to receive God’s undeserved unconditional unselfish charity, without you humbly deciding of your own free will to accept that pure charity as charity. I nor God is going to take away your free will opportunity to make the easiest free will choice you can make (accepting God’s help as charity).
Do not believe everything you see on YouTube and I agree goosebumps is not the indwelling Holy Spirit.
There are billions of people worshipping gods, which have not done any miracles. There are millions of people calling themselves Christians who have not seen any miracles and of those who have seen miracles none of the miracles have been scientifically proven.
Acknowledging the existence of the Christian God is not the same as having faith in a benevolent Creator. Knowledge is not faith and does not produce faith, since the desire for knowledge is also the desire for power (knowledge is power) and knowledge tends to puff the person up with pride of having knowledge over others.
Faith in a benevolent Creator is something the lowliest mature adult on earth can do any time, so it is a humbling activity and humility is what is needed to humbly accept pure charity as charity.
What “call” are you talking about, since the invitation to the banquet has gone out to everyone?
I feel there was no Christian more righteous then Paul yet: 2 Cor. 12:7… Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
And 1Cor. 13:10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
The “part” includes outward obvious miraculous powers. But this verse takes getting into the Greek to fully understand.
We have lots of examples in scripture of people and even large groups of people having huge obvious God provided miracles shown to them, like the Jews who left Egypt, but what we see from their reaction it does not produce
faith (only two entered the Promise Land).
I do see today a very strong faith developed in Chinese Christians in Communist China under severe persecution, impoverish, with only the Bible to guide them and they have no outward, obvious, scientifically verifiable miracles.
What makes you think you deserve a scientifically provable miracle? (Do not tell me, others are seeing it, because there is nothing in a scientific publication about that. And do not tell me about signs found throughout scripture, since they have passed away (1 Cor. 13:10) and there is no scientific evidence for them.)
Your hypothetical question about pray and medicine is not possible since nothing can stand in the way of a person going to God. We pray that the medicine will work for us, but if it does not and we die what is the problem?
If you asked: “Would a Christian take the last medicine available or give the medicine to another, praying for the life of both”, that might be a likely scenario?
It appears that I and other Christians out there, do not pray for outward, obvious, scientifically provable miracles, because it takes away the very best opportunity for the nonbeliever to extend the very easiest degree of faith, which can produce humility.
Does it takes humility to worship a God, who made you His very good creation, just look at children of a very powerful, intelligent and rich father, does his children worship him and why?