garrisonjj Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 If prayers are never answered, why do people keep praying and attending church? I've prayed all my life except for my last 2 happy years as a born again atheist and the result??? Nothing. Nothing when I prayed and nothing now (but relief) So why does it continue??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Because they're told platitudes like "praying is good for you, church is good for you." And they believe what they're told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaman Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 prayers give you a sense of hope or fake hope. When you do not get what you want, you blame it on God? The Christian will probably say that you haven't pray enough and you give up too soon. No one likes a quiter. Prayers only works if it is a reasonable prayer and one that is not for yourself but others. If you pray for me, I will pray for you but my prayers will be for you to have a good day tomorrow. If it is not true that tomorrow will be your good day then you get a freebie for prayers do act like cell phone companies...they do roll over and mobile to mobile too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinnTheEskimo Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I pray to talk with God. I sometimes ask him to bless me, to bless others. I something ask for healing of myself or for others. I sometimes praise His name and give him my thanks for everything He has done. I pray when I am sad or hurt about something, I pray asking for help in my life, or in others. I pray to seek Him more clearly, and I pray so that He may fill me with His Spirit. And you know what, sometimes I do not feel like my prayers are answered. Sometimes I feel like God is ignoring me. Sometimes I struggle to believe He is really there by my side. Then later on I realize how foolish I have been, I feel bad for even thinking such sinful thoughts. And always, it's over something that I am trying to control God over. "Why did you not do such and such for me?" "If you do not do this and that for me I don't believe you anymore!" Yes, there are downtimes in my faith, and I do struggle sometimes. The good thing is, God catches me, He pulls me through anytime I ever feel ignored. I am only a human, I am not perfect. I am not capable of being completely holy and righteous, I can expect to have struggles all along the way. God tells me this. You may think prayers are never answered, and I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, I certainly do believe my prayers are heard by God, the things I come to Him asking for, the things I praise and thank Him for, and the things I just tell Him. The rsseasons I go to church are that we are called with a mandate to encourage eachother and speak to eachother the gospel. We are called to be witnees to eachother. We are called into fellowship with eachother. I do all this in order to glorify Christ crucified. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piprus Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I pray to talk with God. I sometimes ask him to bless me, to bless others. I something ask for healing of myself or for others. I sometimes praise His name and give him my thanks for everything He has done. I pray when I am sad or hurt about something, I pray asking for help in my life, or in others. I pray to seek Him more clearly, and I pray so that He may fill me with His Spirit. And you know what, sometimes I do not feel like my prayers are answered. Sometimes I feel like God is ignoring me. Sometimes I struggle to believe He is really there by my side. Then later on I realize how foolish I have been, I feel bad for even thinking such sinful thoughts. And always, it's over something that I am trying to control God over. "Why did you not do such and such for me?" "If you do not do this and that for me I don't believe you anymore!" Yes, there are downtimes in my faith, and I do struggle sometimes. The good thing is, God catches me, He pulls me through anytime I ever feel ignored. I am only a human, I am not perfect. I am not capable of being completely holy and righteous, I can expect to have struggles all along the way. God tells me this. You may think prayers are never answered, and I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, I certainly do believe my prayers are heard by God, the things I come to Him asking for, the things I praise and thank Him for, and the things I just tell Him. The rsseasons I go to church are that we are called with a mandate to encourage eachother and speak to eachother the gospel. We are called to be witnees to eachother. We are called into fellowship with eachother. I do all this in order to glorify Christ crucified. Yes Quinn, Most of us know exactly exactly what you mean...we've been there, done that, and felt that. But no longer... And guess what...for most of us, life got better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I pray to talk with God. Prayer is an exercise of focused meditation for you to talk to yourself about whatever you are feeling or wanting. It's a way to focus your own thoughts by projecting it to a listener, in this case a self-created, idealized one. I sometimes ask him to bless me, to bless others. I something ask for healing of myself or for others. I sometimes praise His name and give him my thanks for everything He has done. I pray when I am sad or hurt about something, I pray asking for help in my life, or in others. I pray to seek Him more clearly, and I pray so that He may fill me with His Spirit. One quick note, I still find it amazing how that Christians would pray to be filled with His Spirit. Isn't that supposed to happen when you're saved? Doesn't that thought reinforce self-doubt for the believer? Outside of that, all these things are about you using God as a symbol for you to go throught the exercise of talking to yourself. There's lots of objects of focus in the world for this purpose. The exercise of prayer is about a guided meditation. Doesn't matter if there's no diety out there to hear you. You could pray to a potted plant, and whatever benefits there are to this sort practice will be equally realized there, since the power is in the act, not the object. And you know what, sometimes I do not feel like my prayers are answered. Then the fault's in you. It's not about you having an external things come out of somewhere else and do this for you. It's about you using this is some sort of tool to help yourself. My suggestion, start believing in yourself. Sometimes I feel like God is ignoring me. Sometimes I struggle to believe He is really there by my side. Then later on I realize how foolish I have been, I feel bad for even thinking such sinful thoughts. And always, it's over something that I am trying to control God over. "Why did you not do such and such for me?" "If you do not do this and that for me I don't believe you anymore!" Yes, there are downtimes in my faith, and I do struggle sometimes. The good thing is, God catches me, He pulls me through anytime I ever feel ignored. I am only a human, I am not perfect. I am not capable of being completely holy and righteous, I can expect to have struggles all along the way. God tells me this. Your own will to continue to believe is what's catching you. Not God. It's all about you, not the object of your prayers. These are things you are telling yourself. So in one sense, your faith has helped you some, but in my experience it is far more of a hinderance as it is taught in such a way as to create a dependency, rather than a tool to help you become a realized human being. You may think prayers are never answered, and I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, I certainly do believe my prayers are heard by God, the things I come to Him asking for, the things I praise and thank Him for, and the things I just tell Him. Prayers are only answered by the person who recognizes it's them who needs to believe in whatever situation they need to deal with. I don't pray myself as I don't find it necessary for me, but my past experience has shown me that everything about belief, about gods, about "supernatural" stuff, is all about man creating tools for self-realization. If there's any prayer that makes sense from a humanistic perspective it would be the serenity prayer about find the stregth in ourselves to accept an unchangable situation, the self-confidence to change things you can, and enough balance of reason to know the difference. I hear the individual in that, and "God" is simply an object by which to direct this self-prayer. I do all this in order to glorify Christ crucified. You do all this because you feel you need it. If you didn't, you wouldn't do it. (BTW, sometimes people outgrow systems. It's not a sin to grow). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Perseverence. It was important to show God that I wasn't gonna let my faith erode away. And offering up prayer after prayer, even though the last 100 of them went unanswered, seemed to be a tangible way of telling God that I still believed. Like the verse in Job - "yea, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" , or something like that. For a christian, it's important to act like you're full of faith, even when you're not. The only one you really end up fooling is yourself. Cause there isn't any deity to try and impress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 And so you pray. And pray. And tell god how much you trust him. And that you believe he'll answer. And that you have faith in his promises. Until the time when you finally get honest and ask him "why". Why won't you do this, God? And, that's the first little baby step towards freedom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShackledNoMore Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 There's also a matter of self deception involved. Say you go in for surgery. You pray, and your fellow xians pray for you. Thanks to medical intervention and the healing process, you get better. Only you attribute it to god answering your prayers. Combine that with the mindset that not all prayers are answered or at least don't seem to be and your perceived answers are plenty to keep you going the same way as an occasional pay off at the race track keeps you betting, only no prayer really needed to be answered, you merely needed to convince yourself that they are once in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lycorth Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 People pray because we've been ingrained with the Xian concept of prayer in western society. We've been encouraged to think that there's some spook in the sky who will give us what we want if we just ask him enough, and that sense of hope is hard to let go. Couple that with how deeply ingrained Xianity has been in this society and that should go a long way to explaining it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuinnTheEskimo Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Hindsight bias: is the inclination to see past events as being predictable and reasonable to expect, perhaps because they are more available than possible outcomes which did not occur. You guys can speak for yourself, but I don't believe anyone who actually prays does it because of your suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YDOAPS Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 I pray to talk with God. I sometimes ask him to bless me, to bless others. I something ask for healing of myself or for others. I sometimes praise His name and give him my thanks for everything He has done. I pray when I am sad or hurt about something, I pray asking for help in my life, or in others. I pray to seek Him more clearly, and I pray so that He may fill me with His Spirit. And you know what, sometimes I do not feel like my prayers are answered. Sometimes I feel like God is ignoring me. Sometimes I struggle to believe He is really there by my side. Then later on I realize how foolish I have been, I feel bad for even thinking such sinful thoughts. And always, it's over something that I am trying to control God over. "Why did you not do such and such for me?" "If you do not do this and that for me I don't believe you anymore!" Yes, there are downtimes in my faith, and I do struggle sometimes. The good thing is, God catches me, He pulls me through anytime I ever feel ignored. I am only a human, I am not perfect. I am not capable of being completely holy and righteous, I can expect to have struggles all along the way. God tells me this. You may think prayers are never answered, and I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, I certainly do believe my prayers are heard by God, the things I come to Him asking for, the things I praise and thank Him for, and the things I just tell Him. The rsseasons I go to church are that we are called with a mandate to encourage eachother and speak to eachother the gospel. We are called to be witnees to eachother. We are called into fellowship with eachother. I do all this in order to glorify Christ crucified. I pray to talk with the milk jug. I sometimes ask It to bless me, to bless others. I something ask for healing of myself or for others. I sometimes praise Its name and give him my thanks for everything It has done. I pray when I am sad or hurt about something, I pray asking for help in my life, or in others. I pray to seek It more clearly, and I pray so that It may fill me with Its milk. And you know what, sometimes I do not feel like my prayers are answered. Sometimes I feel like the milk jug is ignoring me. Sometimes I struggle to believe It is really there by my side. Then later on I realize how foolish I have been, I feel bad for even thinking such sinful thoughts. And always, it's over something that I am trying to control the milk jug over. "Why did you not do such and such for me?" "If you do not do this and that for me I don't believe you anymore!" Yes, there are downtimes in my faith, and I do struggle sometimes. The good thing is, the milk jug catches me, It pulls me through anytime I ever feel ignored. I am only a human, I am not perfect. I am not capable of being completely holy and righteous, I can expect to have struggles all along the way. God tells me this. You may think prayers are never answered, and I am sorry to hear that. On the other hand, I certainly do believe my prayers are heard by God, the things I come to Him asking for, the things I praise and thank Him for, and the things I just tell Him. The rsseasons I go to the supermarket are that we are called with a mandate to encourage eachother and speak to eachother about calcium. We are called to be witnees to eachother. We are called into fellowship with eachother. I do all this in order to glorify milk poured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkyone Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 There's also a matter of self deception involved. Say you go in for surgery. You pray, and your fellow xians pray for you. Thanks to medical intervention and the healing process, you get better. Only you attribute it to god answering your prayers. Combine that with the mindset that not all prayers are answered or at least don't seem to be and your perceived answers are plenty to keep you going the same way as an occasional pay off at the race track keeps you betting, only no prayer really needed to be answered, you merely needed to convince yourself that they are once in a while. I don't like it when people say how God provided something when it was really a person doing it, or when a person survives an accident or heart attack and say it was answers to prayer and they don't seem to take into consideration that all those well-trained medical personnel had a lot to do with it or just a concerned friend wanting to share something. Sparkyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaman Posted January 11, 2007 Share Posted January 11, 2007 If prayers are not working for you then please don't even try to pray or want to know what it is.. Curiousity will bring you a step closer to God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sage Nabooru Posted January 12, 2007 Share Posted January 12, 2007 I've had prayers work for me. Not as a Christian, not when I'm begging and thinking about how worthless I am and how I so don't deserve what I'm asking for and how God knows I don't deserve it and how God is probably just thinking about all the sins I've committed and here I am with the nerve to ask him for something. I've also prayed in that kind of Benny-Hinn way, when you're still worthless but now you're washed in the blood of the lamb - glory! - and God will grant you your wishes - glory! - provided you go to the right televangelist to get the message through to Him for you. Because you can't do it by yourself. In and of itself, yes, prayer as a supplication is useless. As long as you ask for something, and beg, and plead, you're giving the universe the impression that you don't already have it. When you don't expect an answer, you won't get it. When you expect someone else to get the answer for you, you won't get it. (That's why prayers for others can only go so far.) For me, prayer is a direct meditation, a command going out to the universe that this is not simply the way things are going to be - it's the way things already are. That's the reason Deepak Chopra and Tony Robbins make millions of dollars selling books. The power lies within you! as they say. It's up to you to pray appropriately and up to you to have the universe bring forth what you want, in a cooperative effort. It's hard for me to explain appropriately. There are others who have written on this topic a lot better than I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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