When did prayer EVER help you!

Believe it or not, .... it ALWAYS works for me, ....

I grew up very hardcore christian, and even though I am not anymore, .... prayer has always worked for me so I continue to use it.

The reason it works, ... is because I KNOW it's going to work, ... hence it becomes so.

Prayer is simply a conscious effort of our will's to a desired outcome, in the end we are only talking to ourselves, .... the gods we are. but like anything else, .... if you believe it works, ... it will.

reply to post by rabbigoldstein


It doesn't do any good. Graveyards around the world are full of people who were praying and being prayed for. I used to be a Christian and I used to pray an awful lot but never got any satisfactory answers and never got what I wanted. Yet the occasional warm fuzzy feeling of comfort while praying kept me coming back for a while. Now that I'm an atheist I wonder why more people don't question the silence of their God(s).

Here's a simple pic I made for my blog that illustrates the point:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/77ee7cf25b8d.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by SheSellsSeaShells
While in high school I ran a prayer experiment to piss off my mother who could be classified as a evangelical nutcase. I didn't study at all for an upcoming test, only prayed for a week that I would pass and maybe get an A. The results weren't good for the power of prayer to say the least.

Jesus answered (Satan), "It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Luke 4:11

reply to post by freedish


Jesus also said ask and you shall receive, he didn't put any qualifiers on it either, all you need is faith the size of a grain of Mustard. Also, don't forget the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal where God is put to the test and responds. The Bible contradicts itself painfully often.

To me the most interesting aspect of modern Christian prayer is that it often takes place in public, in Church for instance, yet Jesus directed his disciples directly to pray in secret and detested the hypocrites who prayed in public in the Temple.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by freedish

 

Jesus also said ask and you shall receive, he didn't put any qualifiers on it either, all you need is faith the size of a grain of Mustard. Also, don't forget the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal where God is put to the test and responds. The Bible contradicts itself painfully often.

It wasn't that Elijah was testing God...God loved these people and wanted them to stop sinning & worshiping false gods.

To me the most interesting aspect of modern Christian prayer is that it often takes place in public, in Church for instance, yet Jesus directed his disciples directly to pray in secret and detested the hypocrites who prayed in public in the Temple.

The pharisees prayed in public to boast of themselves...they did a lot of things in public like they they would go without sleep and not shower to show everyone they had been fasting and praying. They thought of themselves higher than everyone else because they were more 'religious'.

God cares about where your heart is. Not about how much you pray or where you pray...

*EDIT* sorry double post.

When did prayer help me?

I partially credit prayer for my near death experience as I was praying before and during my assent to heaven.

Not all will agree and that's okay, just answering the question from my life and my experience.

Hopefully everyone realizes we can learn things from other people regardless of our own life experience.