People often complain about how their prayers always go unanswered, and I was just wondering what the AG community thought about this topic. I was also interested in where your opinions where on asking God for something.
To me, prayer seems to help not necessarily because your problems are solved, but because you are addressing said problems and airing them out for speculation.
You can do that without prayer. It could even be more effective in getting your own problem solving skills working since your not fooling yourself into thinking some magical being might help you out.
it can keep up your morale, give you something to think about and turn to in a tough time. if you pray for your problems to be solved then go on doing nothing, then naw.
How does it keep you moral? Also if it's the "go solve your problems for yourself" part that actually does something then why not just skip to that part?
Maybe praying doesn't actually DO anything but it gives you hope. Like, I can do this if God is helping me through. Because (i know this is cheesy) but if you believe you can do it, you actually CAN!
So basically it's no better than wishful thinking?
When I was young and naive, I prayed for a Bible. I got one two days later. I tried praying for other things. A better life, perhaps. My parents divorced some time later. (Years, granted. I don't blame prayer for that, just noting it anyway.)
If your God is real, people. He only likes it when you ask for religious items. Anything else is too much, apparently.
How does it keep you moral? Also if it's the "go solve your problems for yourself" part that actually does something then why not just skip to that part?
MORALE, not moral, keeps your spirits up, not your capacity to be a good person.
and because not everyone can just "skip to that part." some people, in fact, most normal people i know of, like to have someone or something to turn to if they are in a time of need. for some people, that someone or something is prayer. even if they're praying to ears that will not grant their every wish, it lets a person feel like they have someone to be there in tough times.
i'm not gonna force you to believe that God is there listening, because honestly, i can't make any of you believe especially over the internet, and ESPECIALLY on armorgames, because armorgames is the internet center of all the most stubborn, abrasive atheists on the whole **** internet. all i'm saying is that prayer can help people feel like someone is there to help them out. if they rely on prayer for everything to do happen, then odds are they'd be lazy and rely on others even if they were an atheist.
In my opinion, God would carry out His will through the actions of man.
So passive prayer may help, as it could cause others to act; but really, in the end, it is the action of man and not his hope or prayer that betters the world.
I causes people to think they have done something when they really have done nothing.
Well, I meant more that if such a deity exists as the link and collective embodiment of our souls, we could pray to it and it in turn could influence others of us to act in such a way that would carry out the prayer. It's a very transcendentalist concept :P
And when you look at it, you're right, it all comes to the same thing: If you want to see change, act!
"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Gandhi was never more applicable.
Well, I meant more that if such a deity exists as the link and collective embodiment of our souls, we could pray to it and it in turn could influence others of us to act in such a way that would carry out the prayer. It's a very transcendentalist concept :P
That can be hard to judge given the vague definition of God. If we consider a God with a plan already set in place then how would an individual praying have an actual effect? The actions produced by such a being would already be preplanned regardless of if you ask for it or not.
