Prayer Requests: Why ask for them; who started the problem in the first place? (myth, divorce)
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I always get amused by religious folks asking for prayers when someone is ill with a serious disease.
Why?
Why do you think that who ever you think is holy will intervene, when that same entity caused the disease in the first place?
I don't get the "hey Facebook friend, pray for my Aunt whom you don't know" thing either. However....
I do understand why people pray for themselves or their loved ones. It is a temporary outsourcing of your emotions which may otherwise overwhelm you and slow you down from making the right decisions.
"Let me do the right thing to the best of my ability and God will take care of the outcome."
Prayer for yourself or loved ones is a source of mental strength so you don't just give up and roll over. Call it a crutch if you will - sometimes that's OK. If your leg is broken, it is better to use a crutch than put weight on the leg.
Of course, people also pray when they are healthy and feeling well, out of gratitude for life.
You realize those are the only three possible outcomes.
If you prayed to the dirty socks in your laundry hamper the answer would be "yes", "no". or "wait."
And how does one know the difference between "no" and "wait"? How long do you "wait" before it officially is a "no".
No, I'm saying most of my prayers are answered in the affirmative.
But how do you know it was your prayer that caused the outcome? I'm being completely serious. Any "God answered my prayers" scenarios that I've ever seen, whether it was during my decades as a devout, praying Christian, or now in my humbly ignorant agnostic condition, were situations where there were other likely causes for the positive outcome (such as a doctor's skill, or even mere coincidence).
There is a website that I find very interesting, and I believe it asks many very important questions. The paragraphs below are from this website: Why Won't God Heal Amputees?
"How can we determine whether it is God or coincidence that worked the cure? One way is to eliminate the ambiguity. In a non-ambiguous situation, there is no potential for coincidence. Because there is no ambiguity, we can actually know whether God is answering the prayer or not.
That is what we are doing when we look at amputees.
Think about it this way. The Bible clearly promises that God answers prayers. For example, in Mark 11:24 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." And billions of Christians believe these promises. You can find thousands of books, magazine articles and Web sites talking about the power of prayer. According to believers, God is answering millions of their prayers every day.
So what should happen if we pray to God to restore amputated limbs? Clearly, if God is real, limbs should regenerate through prayer. In reality, they do not.
Notice that there is zero ambiguity in this situation. There is only one way for a limb to regenerate through prayer: God must exist and God must answer prayers. What we find is that whenever we create an unambiguous situation like this and look at the results of prayer, prayer never works. God never "answers prayers" if there is no possibility of coincidence. "
But how do you know it was your prayer that caused the outcome? I'm being completely serious. Any "God answered my prayers" scenarios that I've ever seen, whether it was during my decades as a devout, praying Christian, or now in my humbly ignorant agnostic condition, were situations where there were other likely causes for the positive outcome (such as a doctor's skill, or even mere coincidence).
There is a website that I find very interesting, and I believe it asks many very important questions. The paragraphs below are from this website: Why Won't God Heal Amputees?
"How can we determine whether it is God or coincidence that worked the cure? One way is to eliminate the ambiguity. In a non-ambiguous situation, there is no potential for coincidence. Because there is no ambiguity, we can actually know whether God is answering the prayer or not.
That is what we are doing when we look at amputees.
Think about it this way. The Bible clearly promises that God answers prayers. For example, in Mark 11:24 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." And billions of Christians believe these promises. You can find thousands of books, magazine articles and Web sites talking about the power of prayer. According to believers, God is answering millions of their prayers every day.
So what should happen if we pray to God to restore amputated limbs? Clearly, if God is real, limbs should regenerate through prayer. In reality, they do not.
Notice that there is zero ambiguity in this situation. There is only one way for a limb to regenerate through prayer: God must exist and God must answer prayers. What we find is that whenever we create an unambiguous situation like this and look at the results of prayer, prayer never works. God never "answers prayers" if there is no possibility of coincidence. "
Honestly, I can't think of a situation where I was the only one praying for a particular person or thing.
Honestly, I can't think of a situation where I was the only one praying for a particular person or thing.
I don't understand how your reply is an answer to my question. Plus, earlier you said, "I'm saying most of my prayers are answered in the affirmative." Please know that I am truly trying to understand how people can believe in prayer.
I don't understand how your reply is an answer to my question. Plus, earlier you said, "I'm saying most of my prayers are answered in the affirmative." Please know that I am truly trying to understand how people can believe in prayer.
The one I pray to is my Heavenly Father. He knows me and I know Him. He loves and cares for me like no other. I make requests as part of my prayers, and He hears me and responds with what's best for me. I trust Him.
Let's not forget, too, that prayer requests are kind of like believing:
"Uh oh, Auntie Em is sick in the hospital and she might die. Quick, we gotta round everyone up and start praying - because God apparently has a 'prayer quota' for every sick individual, and if enough prayers aren't said by enough people, God will kill the patient. How many prayers does it take to cure Auntie Em? Well, we don't know. That's why it's so important to get as many people praying as possible. Without those prayers, God will stand indifferently aside - or perhaps take measures to kill the patient himself if the natural healing abilities God gave us starts to cure her without God's help. After all, who lives and dies is more like a popularity contest and God likes popular people. If you're alone in this world, heh, you're SOL."
I made a prayer request to my church. They came over and prayed over me and nothing happened.
I simply don't believe prayer works any better than natural outcomes. Same cure rates for atheists without prayer as Christians with prayer. That's a proven fact.
I know it can seem like some people might feel like they are somehow special b/c they prayed and whatever they asked God for they received. Then there are people who pray and pray and they only get more sick, more poor and they just can't catch a break, and they might start to believe God just doesn't care about them. Then there are those people who will tell the person who is having a hard time that they must not be praying right, or that maybe if they were real Christians then God would listen to them. This whole prayer thing can make some people arrogant, and some people feel like sh#t. Oh, and then there are those who instead of taking action they think sitting around and praying is enough and that too is not a good thing.
That being said I think there is nothing wrong with praying if you avoid what I mentioned above. I pray often, and it makes me feel better and makes me feel closer to God. It doesn't hurt anyone when I pray so I don't see a problem with it.
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