Firstly, the best anime character is Goku, without a doubt.

Secondly, I'm never going to be one of those jerks on this forum that doesn't want you to believe what you believe and insult you for it. I'm Agnostic and very open-minded to both sides of the coin.

If you believe in God, generally you believe that He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (all-knowledgeable), and omnibenevolent (pure benevolence).

To assume He can't answer a prayer, even if you argue that Satan was involved, is in violation of His status as omnipotent. To assume He won't answer a prayer because you do not worship Him or you're not a good person let's say, is in violation of His status as omnibenevolent. To assume He can't answer everyone's prayers because He is only one God, is in violation of His status as both omnipotent and omnipresent.

Now genuine studies do indicate that terminally ill patients that are being prayed for generally have a greater chance of survival. There are repeated studies on this that I won't argue against.

However, if you look outside of the world that you know, you will see that God is very absent for the most part. Why a benevolent God would not allow peace in the world is beyond me. Why a benevolent God allows good people to die everyday before their time is beyond me. Why a benevolent God would not intervene during 9/11, wars or natural disasters that kill thousands is beyond me. Why a benevolent God allows innocent children to be kidnapped/raped/murdered all the time is beyond me. I'm sure many of them prayed and begged for God's help, but they shouldn't even need to if God is everywhere.

You may say, "God gave us free will.. with that came man's ability to do good or evil, and man is responsible for those things, not God." Agreed, we have free will, and man is responsible for very bad things. But how could a kind God watch and allow so many to suffer when He has the power to change things?

I want a God to exist, but it certainly doesn't sound like I should be worshiping this God.

I guess first off, I should ask, what is "God"??

and of course, everyone can pipe in and tell me just what it is that they think God is..
but in reality "God" is pretty much a mystery.

yes, prayers are answered, but how, by what force?
sometimes I think it is just the power of the belief really, in that case, did "God" answer the prayer or was it some unrecognized ability that we all have within ourselves? Maybe that large portion of the brain they claim we don't use is "God" and this is where that power comes from? some new agers claim we have an "inner child" another consciousness where we are more aware of total selves and out connection with the rest of the universe. maybe this is "God" in which case, my "God" isn't necessarily the same as yours.

your read in the Bible where the "Lord" has told the people to do quite a few things that we would consider very, very bad behavior today.... Was it really "God" who told them to do this, or something else.....and we are taught that this "Lord" is interchangable with "God" the same thing....
so, could the ancients really been referring to "God" or were their Gods more of a collection of earthly lords and masters?

"God" is the creator? okay, but we now have scientists in labs creating new life forms through genetic engineering, are they these new creations "Gods"? some religions seem to recognize Gods that have come to their early ancestors, taught them to cultivate and harvest their crops, taught them to refine metals, ect. to me, there seems to be evidence that these "Gods" we mot the same, since much of what they seem to have taught the various groups around the world is different. the culture Gods of one group seemed to want to enforce male dominance, with an exact opposite being taught another group in another area. maybe there are more than one "God", or maybe created beings that created these beings, that then proceeded to create us? in which case, well, the true "God" the one who created something from complete nothingness is so far away from this creation and has left creation to tend to itself...which, well he very well may have created it to do just that.

in short, no one really have the facts to be able to say outright that they KNOW what "God" is. But yes, prayers are answered. sometimes, by our own faith, sometimes by a kind spirit (similar to those culture Gods), and well, maybe once in while by that one great God, that managed somehow to create out of nothingness.

Well, first off, many peoples prayers to "jesus" may go unanswered as his name was actually "yeshua"....if he existed at all.
Regardless, in the book "conscious acts of creation" they document an experiment where people of all faith were asked to pray for the healing of particular others, and they measured the results. What they found was that there WAS a positive influence upon the healing of those prayed for that was subject to certain variables. 1) it did NOT matter what the faith was 2)the most healing was done by people who firstly attained certain brainwave patterns during their prayer, and usually with those with a history of habitual meditation or some other form of trance work, and secondly, the ones with the most success were those who prayed in the general format of "Please, grant this, if it is in your will" and then let the intention go completely, NOT those who prayed the hardest and most fervently or the longest.
Perhaps for most people the idea that god answers prayers comes from the fact that in praying you are opening yourself to try to look at things in a positive light, and this opens us to seeing the divine in whatever outcome may occur. I have heard it said that "a miracle is simply a change in how you see things" and perhaps this is an "answered prayer" that we all create for ourselves....however, if "god" or "tao" or whatever you may call it, acts through us all truly, then perhaps we are all but spectators to the miracles which are created through us.

Many times I have said that if I had the power I would turn God into "Child Protection Services."

A God can exist and be one that we might not always like, or even agree with. It does not discount his existence, nor make us any more valuable, or right. This is perhaps the most deluded thinking that man has.

I do not believe in the God of the Bible - nor the Christian God, Jewish, Hindu, etc. He just "is."

Because we were instilled with free will, we have a choice to honor the existence of a higher power existing over us, or we can deny him. It is our choice. But one thing we do not have the power to do, and that is; to execute him or shame him. We do not have that power.

If we are an experiment that is being watched - perhaps for future generations, either here on earth, or elsewhere, that we are possibly just templates, then it lowers our value on one hand and elevates it on another.

"If" he is a reality, then what do we need to understand about him that we aren't understanding at this moment? Where has religion gone wrong in understanding him?

Excuse me, but just because i'm secular, why does that make me a moron? I think you could have made that post without insulting those whose beliefs differ from your own.

No, Itachi Uchiha is the greatest anime character of ALL TIME

I would ask Alex G , if you havent considered the above video and considered it's discussion of prayer, please do so and respectfully ask christians to do likewise in order to get some sensible discussion going, without unprovable hearsay once more.

I would watch the video, but I'm on dial up, and thus would take me about an hour just to load the first 4 minutes...

Prayers that conform to God's will, get answered. Prayers to win the lottery do not fall into this category. And often times what is ask for is silly humanistic garbage. A "servant" of the Lord knows and has faith that prayer works. A servant also know "what" to ask for..........something the secular morons will never understand...

But previous posts bring up a good point. Satan also answers prayers. Hence the entire muslim false religion. Mary of catholic fame can not answer prayer, only the demon that listens to the morons who pray to her. Same as for the 'saints"....only Jesus and his father can answer prayer in the christian sense.

Buddist prayer..........satan again......hundi prayer......ding, ding, ding....satan again.

Oh, and "Underdog along with Dudley Do Right" are the best anime hero's of all time............

Oh, so it's satan huh??? but, is that not what all religions think of eachother??? So again, which is the right one??? I doubt you can give me an answer...

Of all the christians that posted in this thread, I've only seen two responding to the actual question at hand. What makes you attributing your answered prayers to the christian God, any different than a muslim attributing his answered prayers to allah. What makes you attributing your answered prayers to the christian God, any different than people of ancient civilizations attributing their answered prayers to whichever Gods they worshipped???

One person said something along the lines of "Our God answers our prayers, but the devil answers the prayers of all other religions"

See, I don't know if the poster read what he said, and how ridiculous it sounded, but that hardly qualifies as an answer, and only leaves more questions like, is that not what all religions think of eachother??? How do you know your God is the real one, when all these other religions think their God is real. Religious people of all religions all feel that their beliefs are correct, but in reality NOT ONE person of any religion actually knows if theirs is correct...

oh yes he does without doubt

if its according to Gods will (see Bible) and not contrary to it

such as God please make me a good liar.

You did not answer the question in the OP

Alex,
Keep in mind all prayers are answered..yes, no, wait.. Also the answer may not come as expected. Someone earlier posted that prayers are also answered according to God's will. In addition, God is not required to answer prayers of the unbeliever- unless it is to ask forgiveness thru faith in the life/death/resurrection of Jesus Christ. Otherwise, He might answer a general prayer of an unbeliever but he is not required to..Flip side is even if you are a believer, God knows the best long term answer to provide. One example would be the classic prayer for money. Would providing money allow you to grow as Christian? If you needed it say to start a church in jungles of South America..you would have a much higher likelyhood of receiving it than say to pay off your credit card debt.
Here is some more on this subject.

You did not answer the question. You say the christian God answers your prayers correct??? So what makes you saying that the christian God answers your prayers, any different than any person of any other religion claiming that his prayers were answered by whichever God he believes in???

Firstly, the best anime character is Goku, without a doubt.

Itachi would kill Goku...

Where on earth do christians get off on knowing the mins of god one minute, but when their stumped for an answer it's " god moves ina mysterious ways"

Exactly, I've been tempted to ask this question to christians during other discussions...

Well, first off, many peoples prayers to "jesus" may go unanswered as his name was actually "yeshua"....if he existed at all.
Regardless, in the book "conscious acts of creation" they document an experiment where people of all faith were asked to pray for the healing of particular others, and they measured the results. What they found was that there WAS a positive influence upon the healing of those prayed for that was subject to certain variables. 1) it did NOT matter what the faith was 2)the most healing was done by people who firstly attained certain brainwave patterns during their prayer, and usually with those with a history of habitual meditation or some other form of trance work, and secondly, the ones with the most success were those who prayed in the general format of "Please, grant this, if it is in your will" and then let the intention go completely, NOT those who prayed the hardest and most fervently or the longest.
Perhaps for most people the idea that god answers prayers comes from the fact that in praying you are opening yourself to try to look at things in a positive light, and this opens us to seeing the divine in whatever outcome may occur. I have heard it said that "a miracle is simply a change in how you see things" and perhaps this is an "answered prayer" that we all create for ourselves....however, if "god" or "tao" or whatever you may call it, acts through us all truly, then perhaps we are all but spectators to the miracles which are created through us.

I've heard of this study, quite frankly I find it ridiculous... I think there was another that showed prayer did not work, but even that one I found ridiculous. Because well, supposedly the ones who were prayed for had to use less drugs. Now, why would God help those few, but not the others??? Is it a rule, you must pray or else God will let you suffer??? That's what this study says to me, and if it is indeed true then this God is not benevolent in the least. If you want me to believe a study like that, make it one where the room is full of terminally ill cancer patients, or HIV positive people who all get prayed for, and ALL become fully healed...

Why dont we aske this question:
Why should God have to answer ouer prayes!

Dose God have to becausewe humans are so needy.



What can we ask God for that we can take with us into the next life! When we die we cant bring ouer money, house or car with us. Not even the rags that we die in will we take with us.

Yeah so what should we realy pray for ???

i would disagree. First off, i dont personally think of "GOD" seperately from us, as in a seperate entity with its own thoughts and desires seperate from ours. So in my belief, "god" such as it is, works through the will of men (or any other sentient beingsd), and mostly through those who actually spend time getting in touch with the divine within them. By this i dont mean those who read some book or pray in a church or some such, but rather people who spend time in quite contemplation and listening for the voice of "god" within themselves. The eastern asians, and indeed the hindus, and most cultures for that matter, believe in a type of energy we possess within, whether you call it Tao, or chi, or ki, or pranna or pneuma, and most of them use the same word for that energy as they use for "breath", and most of them believe through the cultivation of breath, and the cultivation of this energy (which seem to go hand in hand) they can develop this energy and use it to effect amazing things in the world around us. There are numerous and documented accounts of these people doing things which seem "miraculous" or "impossible" but the fact remains that not all things can be explained by our limited understanding of science. I dont think these things to be "supernatural" but rather to be completely in tune with nature, as these are the things that occur when people awaken and find their genuine nature, and act according to intuition, and in accord with their spirit within. Of course, you can never convince a skeptic, but if you truly want to find the miraculous in life you must first choose to be open to the Possibility that it is real, and you must learn to discover and hone your own intuition. Perhaps you will find the miracles you are looking for and perhaps not, but i promise you will find more joy and contentment in life, and that is truly what all faith is about when it comes down to it... . wouldnt that be a miracle all by itsself? Which is truly more amazing, that someone might have the ability to give a person back a limb, or that the human spirit could be so strong as to learn to find true contentment and fullfilment even in a life without legs?

What ever is up there i am glad, it is more intelligent than humans(not saying much). People always seem to be asking for tis and that, and like jordan maxwell says, maybe your doing something wrong.

But heck, my life was destroyed and all i have is my faith i have and i will keep it, as its better than placing your faith in humans, who do not have the brain to build a bus stop.

If anyone here thinks faith is a waste thats your business, just place it in your carnel activities, or your ps3. Put all your energies into those things.

In a world of darkness, any light is better than none as they say. And this world is so full of darkness. Remember what w cooper said. Be careful what you believe, or you will be going on a ride you do not want to be on, he was talking about believing humans, not your faith in god by the way.

[edit on 9/7/2008 by andy1033]

Not trying to be a butt- I just don't understand why these threads keep getting posted in the O&C forum when they should be in BTS' faith forum. Especially after the huge hoopla of the thread reaffirming the CIR, OC, and Faith forums.

There's far to many tragedys, deaths etc, on this planet for there to be a real God. If there was a supreme being do you really think he would have sat idly by and let all those people die in the trade centre towers? Would he refuse to intervene in the madness that is taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan? Would he really turn a deaf ear to all those people sitting at the bedsides of their dieing relatives, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers etc,who pray for help?
Go to the nearest cancer hos[ital, to the childrens ward, look at the horror and the despair and then start asking yourself whether there's a god.

And please don't reply by saying that god works in mysterious ways because I dont buy that explanation. With all the disease, death, disasters, starvation and madness that is staking place here on earth at the moment, if there is a god then he should be put on trial for neglect. . !