Ex-Believers in God: Who answered your prayers?

Ex-Believers in God: Who answered your prayers?

I put this in the psychology section because I think it belongs here.

I've often heard and read believers say they speak (have conversations) with god and god answers them back. I've seen it several times just on this site alone.

I used to believe in god, and I did pray, but I don't recall ever having a conversation with anyone other than that little voice inside my head which is my conscience. I've had plenty of conversations with my conscience or inner self , just like I'm sure most people do.


Do believers talk to their conscience, AND talk to their god? How do they tell which is which? Are they mistaking their conscience for god? If you felt you talked with both, how did you distinguish between your conscience and your god? Did your god and your conscience converse together?

As a believer turned non-believer, (and I say believer because I don't want to single out any religious group) can you now say you were speaking with your conscience and not god?

Did your conscience change at all when you stopped believing in god?

If not your conscience, who were you speaking to, and who was answering you?

I've thought about this for a long time. I'm not out to belittle anyone's belief, I'm just very curious.

I can say god never answered my prayers, or much of anything else. I CAN say when I stopped going to church, I felt worlds better.

reply to post by Schleprock


I had a moment in primary school where I believed in god, but then I realized it was because I went to a catholic school and was following the crowd!

Why would you want to live your life by anothers experience's and views on what could happen?

Religion is a joke

Although it does help some people get "Right" but what turned them left in the first place? Sooner or later they are going to realize that their "Wishes" arn't going to come true!

Edit to add this:

I did pray a couple of times and to be honest it felt as if I was talking to myself! (I know thats obvious, but I just knew that there was nothing there..)



[edit on 16-2-2010 by Wolf ]

I'm not asking if you believe in god, or what your religious views are. I'm curious to know who ex-believers felt they were talking to when they prayed.

Having lived by myself for years and years and years- I have ended up with the habit of talking to myself (or the cats). Prayer has been the same way... I TRY to address a deity, but all I'd get was (what else) resounding silence. Going to church, all I got was my head filled with the asinine comments of people who obviously were in the same boat, but decided to imagine they heard all sorts of things.

I gradually drifted apart from my christian upbringing as I ended primary school and began secondary school. I was never forced to go to church or anything but my primary school made us learn bible studies and sing hymns etc..

I remember a few times (a long time ago now) when I was young and believed in God and did try to pray. I never recieved any reply, never got an answer, never saw a miracle.

As I've grown up, I've come to see the folly of subcription to religious belief structures.

Now I don't want to sound like I'm putting anyone else or thier beliefs down, this is just my honest opinion.

Religion is a coping mechanism which many people choose to believe in to ease the pain and frustration of not knowing why we are alive and why there seems to be no meaning for being alive.

As an athiest I struggle with the big questions often but I just can't one day decide to believe in something for which I see no proof just because it makes me feel better and makes life a little easier.



[edit on 16-2-2010 by Chonx]

reply to post by Schleprock


I don't actually know if I'm a believer or an exbeliever but I do perform rituals to "something"

It may not be a God. It might be an existing entity in the here and now.

In my rituals with a proper shrine with candles and trinkets and all sorts of religious artifacts such as St. Christopher, plastic elephants, beads, pictures of the Buddha, the Virgin of Guadalupe, saints etc. I pray for blessings.

I almost view my shrine and ritual as a conceptual piece of folk art that somehow touches and interacts with a mystical realm that I'm incapable of understanding.

And I'm not sure weather my prayers are answered on a spiritual basis or the result of MY hard work and efforts. But I have been blessed!!



[edit on 16-2-2010 by whaaa]

i do not pray but i believe that there is higher being.
What i believe most is that like with every story told the receiver hears distorted version of it.

its the same with church of all old religions and their "holy" books .

words are distorted to fit current leaders needs also alot is lost in translations.

I find it funny that some rely on God for everything, and pray daily, and think God watches over us, and gets personally involved in each one's life, and each one's little personal problems. Now I believe in a God Force, a vast, energy field that is both intelligent and creative, but is not personal in any way, or humanistic in any way. It cannot really hear us when we pray. What happens is a Vibration is sent out, and absorbed by this energy field, which is everywhere. It is like a wave of energy.
It is the same as when a Wiccan casts a spell, the energy is contained in a circle and then released to do it's work, same as a prayer has been said to help people, I myself have seen this. Both ways. The true power is in us, people, not in the God we worship. I have seen a Christian lay hands on a sick person, and that person became well again. I have seen a witch walk around a bed and wave incense, and chant, and the person was healed. I have seen a sick person go to the doctor, neither prays, and the doctor gives the sick person a prescription, and the person is healed, but the key thing is, it is the person heals themselves, it is not the prayer. But, to a reverend person, a prayer may be necessary to reinforce the mind set, or idea.
Religion, the organized, book following religion has lied to the people, you know it and I know it. They have trapped you into a mind set of fear based control, and here is how it works. The church is a Power. They hold secrets of divinity, which gives them power, and they are "men of God," men who walk with Jesus," and like that. You are told, again and again of Satan, the Devil, who seemingly has power enough to take God on in a war, which is duly recorded in the Bible. This Devil is to be feared, and so is God, for that matter. I remember only too well hearing the sermons tell me to "fear God!" in a loud voice, the preacher's face so red I thought his heart would burst. When I went to church, Communism was also used as a fear factor, to scare us into submission. Communism was "Ungodly," in every way, and seemed to be everywhere, ready to steal one's soul. The soul, my soul, I was supposed to give over to "Jesus" and that would make me "saved," and my worries were over, or were they? I still had to fear both God and the Devil, what a dilemma!

Glad I am not there anymore, and am free of the chains of a religious upbringing. I wish everyone was as free as I am. I can see how religion is dividing us as a people, as is politics and race, and anything else they can use to keep us divided, keep us fighting amongst ourselves, keep us controlled. Control is the key word here. Where does the control come from? You know where it comes from don't you? Look at this and see it for what it is. If we take away [their] weapons that they use to control us, how then can they continue to control us?

I must take this another step further. IF this were to happen, that people everywhere stopped believing in religion as a power, and stopped believing in political power, and stopped believing in a fearing the figures people have created, the Gods they have made for themselves, then they will be "FREE," right? Wrong! There is one thing left to fear. And, everyone around me do fear this power. It is the LAW. "What if someone calls the law?" "What if the law found out?"

The only way we as a people can really be FREE is to stop FEARING. Let I am not afraid me our mantra. What is there to fear, if we are the only real power in the universe? We together can save this planet from destruction, and we as a people can clean up the pollution the powers that be has crapped on all over the world. Yes, well will need a governance of some kind, sadly, mankind/womankind cannot govern him/herself, he/she needs a governor. All we need do is look at the papers our Founding Fathers wrote, so eloquently, so many years ago....

The Articles of Confederation (1781)

ARTICLE I. The style of this Confederacy shall be "The United States of America."

ARTICLE II. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled.

ARTICLE III. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever.

ARTICLE IV. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively; provided, that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state, to any other state of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided also, that no imposition, duties or restriction shall be laid by any state on the property of the United States, or either of them.

If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall upon demand of the governor or executive power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offense.

Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states to the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state.

ARTICLE V. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of each state shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first Monday in November, in every year, with a power, reserved to each state, to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the year.

No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor by more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary, fees or emolument of any kind.

Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, and while they act as members of the committee of the states.

In determining questions in the United States, in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote.

Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court, or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.

More

Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union - 1777 -

The Articles of Confederation

Why is something that seems so easy to do, become so hard to do?

Define a prayer to begin with.

Is a prayer a wishlist that a deity sometimes grants like a random space genie?

Wishes tend to come true when you work at them long and hard moreso than when you simply ask a space ghost to give it to you. So, my prayer tends to come in the form of action...sometimes my prayer (work) gives me what I prayed for, sometimes not..but typically with a greater success ratio than if I simply sat back and wished for a billion bucks or world peace.

Now, if Prayer = a desire for inner peace, then those not of a religio tend to simply call that meditation...connecting with the higher self, etc.

Well praying didn't work for me, I found out at a young age.

About a year ago, i was sitting in my car and with all the problems in the world, I just closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. I felt good and things began to clear up.

A little later I decided to look up meditation to give it a go. After that, all my questions slowly came to be answered, or at least became clearer. Turns out I was asking all the wrong questions.

I guess I look for the answers in myself now. I know what to do, I know how to do it, I just needed to focus my mind and listen to myself.

I guess this "god" thing is really the consciousness that is all. I had all the answers, they where always there.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by vjr1113]

Originally posted by SaturnFX
Define a prayer to begin with.

Is a prayer a wishlist that a deity sometimes grants like a random space genie?

Wishes tend to come true when you work at them long and hard moreso than when you simply ask a space ghost to give it to you. So, my prayer tends to come in the form of action...sometimes my prayer (work) gives me what I prayed for, sometimes not..but typically with a greater success ratio than if I simply sat back and wished for a billion bucks or world peace.

Now, if Prayer = a desire for inner peace, then those not of a religio tend to simply call that meditation...connecting with the higher self, etc.

I have to 2nd your first part. A lot of people pray for selfish reasons and then expect god to send them elevendy billion dollars from the sky.

Actually there has been quite a few blind studies that have been done done that would promote the "Power of prayer".

on a side note: God always answers prayers. Does he have to tell you he answered them? Not really.... God has 6 billion others to deal with..

I suspect that going through a process of 'asking for help' can reap rewards. It's something I've done and continue to do...usually for people I give a damn about. Call it prayer, call it a dialogue with your own subconscious, meditation? It doesn't matter. The perception of a positive change is enough.

I imagine we answer our own 'prayers' and colour in all the rest with whatever makes sense to us.

Originally posted by DaMod

I have to 2nd your first part. A lot of people pray for selfish reasons and then expect god to send them elevendy billion dollars from the sky.

Actually there has been quite a few blind studies that have been done done that would promote the "Power of prayer".

on a side note: God always answers prayers. Does he have to tell you he answered them? Not really.... God has 6 billion others to deal with..

I’ll add to what you said and say God does not answer prayers on our time frame either. He does so on His own time as He sees fit.

Now aside from that I have even found myself praying for selfish reasons, I doubt any human is above doing that at times. Those prayers prayed for selfish reasons were never answered and honestly I would not expect them to either since they were not what God had intended for me.


Raist

The OP has a valid point, who do we hear when we prey to god, I studied to be a Christian because a Job i was going for insisted i had to be a Christian to do the said job, Thing is it was never really in my heart, I'm not stupid, and looking through the bible in my studies, i never once found anything to convince me that a word of it was true, and just like the OP, i was getting the voice of my inner self mixed up with god, having been told that that's what it was and one way god communicated with me, but in my own mind, how could that be, when i could make that voice say what i wanted it to say? If i ever asked for something to go right, well it never happened, not as a result of divine intervention, any one can see when there are coincidences a foot, or can they? And that's the problem, IMO, those whom believe they hear the voice of god, just haven't managed to distinguish between the two, plus I do believe that most people have never actually read the bible, they simply follow what other say and believe it blindly to be true. Nice post S&F thank you

I think Neo5842 answered the correct question. I wasn't asking who fulfilled your prayers. I was asking who answered back to you while you were talking to god (as in a conversation). If you had a belief in god at one time, I'm sure you thought it was god answering you back. I was curious to know who that voice was that you once thought was god.

I came back to edit in that I guess my subject title was not the best for the question I was really asking.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by Schleprock]