ForumsWEPRDoes prayer even help?

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Paarfam
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Paarfam
1,558 posts
Nomad

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.

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OperationNilo
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OperationNilo
3,937 posts
Shepherd

God has nothing to gain if we go to heaven or to hell. it benefits ourselves

like in the story that the king asks the poor for something and returns it in gold. he gains nothing, it is us that gain... much. we are priviledged

Nurvana
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Nurvana
2,520 posts
Farmer

You know you would tap that. ^.^


Must... resist...
To most people, it would be throwing your little brother out of your house for trying to be like you.


I could see how people would think that, but when your little brother recruits all your other little brothers to overthrow you and crown him king, it gets a bit dicey.
Our ability to think is a privilege....?


I'd say you prove that. Blee.
Paarfam
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Paarfam
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Yes, God can be scary. It may seem quite (umm... How do I word this?) negative, but isn't the entire world and the universe dark, cold, and depressing? Very much a turn-off huh? Perhaps God has abused his power at one point or another but who is there to tell him different? He's at the top, we are all puppets in his world. Or universe that is.

Paarfam
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Paarfam
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Nomad

Our ability to think is a privilege....?

I'd say you prove that. Blee.


God can easily take that away from us if he wanted to. We're free thinking puppets, we can imagine a different world, but unless we play by God's law, well all end up tortured.
314d1
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314d1
3,817 posts
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God has nothing to gain if we go to heaven or to hell. it benefits ourselves


Good to know I benefit from torture.

like in the story that the king asks the poor for something and returns it in gold. he gains nothing, it is us that gain... much. we are priviledged


When the king asks something like "Let me sleep with your wife, kill your kids, and castrate you." Then the answer is "No", and then the king starts torturing the poor man for refusing, that is a sadistic king.

Yes, God can be scary


Fear the god of love!

It may seem quite (umm... How do I word this?) negative, but isn't the entire world and the universe dark, cold, and depressing?


Nope. Not unless you are looking for only bad, ignoring the good. It is a melting pot. There is good and bad everywhere.

Perhaps God has abused his power at one point or another but who is there to tell him different?


So lets say this is like a father-son thing. This would be like the father violently abusing his son on many drunken occasions, why would you say "Well who are you to tell him any different?". You seem to have battered woman's syndrome.

He's at the top, we are all puppets in his world. Or universe that is.


I thought we where like children?
MageGrayWolf
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MageGrayWolf
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Farmer

From my own results with metaphysical workings I find magic spells work far better then prayer. They both are pretty much the same thing where you communicate with a god. with a magic spell there is a bit more of a ritual action involved. But with a magic spell you are to weight the pros and cons of what you want and act in accord to the spell. So you don't just ask for it to happen and it either does or does not you still have to actively make an attempt. In this way it's more effective. The spell supposedly just supernaturally improves your odds.

TackyCrazyTNT
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TackyCrazyTNT
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Peasant

Oh, no, you DIDN'T, Nurvana. XD
So if he doesn't gain or lose anything, why send us to Hell for eternity? It doesn't really seem like a learning experience.

Kevin4762
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Kevin4762
2,420 posts
Nomad

There is no way of knowing if it does help spiritually at all, but mentally and emotionally, it does.

If you know that a mysterious force is aiding you, even if it is all in your head, it helps.

The mind believes what it wants to believe.

loloynage2
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loloynage2
4,206 posts
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I don't think so, I just think God makes himself seem like he makes mistakes to test our faith.

Ah, so a sadist?

but isn't the entire world and the universe dark, cold, and depressing?

Actually when I look in the sky (at night) or in space, I see it like quite the beautiful thing. There are lots of beauty in darkness.

Perhaps God has abused his power at one point or another but who is there to tell him different? He's at the top, we are all puppets in his world.

Would you respect a blood thirsty oppressive dictator? If no, then you know why even if god existed, I wouldn't respect him.
Paarfam
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Paarfam
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So lets say this is like a father-son thing. This would be like the father violently abusing his son on many drunken occasions, why would you say "Well who are you to tell him any different?". You seem to have battered woman's syndrome.

At least in that case scenario we can outlive it, with God we either choose to be with him or tortured. We can't tell him differently or we're screwed.

I thought we where like children?

Yes, we are. Children have very little power in our world.
Nope. Not unless you are looking for only bad, ignoring the good. It is a melting pot. There is good and bad everywhere.

I suppose I do look for bad in a lot of cases.
314d1
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314d1
3,817 posts
Nomad

At least in that case scenario we can outlive it, with God we either choose to be with him or tortured. We can't tell him differently or we're screwed.


Then tell him differently, since we would be screwed anyway.

Yes, we are. Children have very little power in our world.


But enough power to say "Dad, what you are doing is wrong. It hurts me when you get drunk and beat me. Please stop it", which would be effective if the father actually loved his son.
OperationNilo
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OperationNilo
3,937 posts
Shepherd

you are missinterpretating what I said. do you think Im a sexual ******* that only thinks about sex and castration?

Paarfam
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Paarfam
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Nomad

@314d1
I was looking at it in a very broad scale, not just the father-son thing. Children have no choice in how our world is run.

iMogwai
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iMogwai
2,027 posts
Peasant

but isn't the entire world and the universe dark, cold, and depressing?


Not really. I think the world, at least the part of it where I live, is a great place. I can't remember the last time I was depressed, really.

And now, let's assume there actually was a God. Why would we worship him?

The fact that he has done nothing to prove his existence could mean one of the following:

a) He does no longer pay attention to this world. Maybe he went of to create another world on some distant planet, or maybe he got a new hobby.

b) He does not care about individuals. Maybe he's still around, keeping the world spinning, keeping them asteroids from blowing us up, and making sure global warming doesn't turn us all into ashes, but that doesn't mean he has an active part of every person's life, nor that he cares about what they do or think of him.

c) He created the world simply to watch it go. Like an ant farm or something. You put the ants there, give 'em what you need, and you let them go on with their lives. You don't magically heal an ant because he has indigestion, and you don't want the ants to pray and shout your name once a week.

Basically, what I'm saying is that, even though I don't believe there is a God, even if there actually was, I'd see no point in worshiping him.

If so many things in the Bible which have been disproved were supposed to be metaphors and taken figuratively, how do we know heaven and hell wasn't too?

In fact, how do we know God wasn't a metaphor too? Someone who watches you, takes care of you, and someone you should trust and do anything for. Sounds like God could be a metaphor for the government or something. Perhaps Christianity was just invented as a way to control the masses?
TackyCrazyTNT
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TackyCrazyTNT
1,936 posts
Peasant

If we're his children, then we really shouldn't get experimented on. :/

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