First off, I understand that many ppl have incredibly varied beliefs in this issue, so no name calling, personal attacks etc. That said, feel more than free to have an opinon, cos thats what forums are for! Okay, so my question is thus: Do you believe in the power of prayer. Do you believe that a god will take your prayer into consideration and act on it? What effects do you think prayer has? Do you believe in standardised prayers, where people pray the exact same prayers (eg the Hail Mary, the Our Father etc (sorry I dont know any from other religions, but you get the point i hope))? Do you believe in group prayer? Okay, so Ill go first; I don't believe in the power of prayer at all. I believe that a god (I don't like to capitilise it, cos really it's not the god's name, it's just a classifier, plus when you say God, you automatically go to a masculine figure, whereas god is gender neutral, which I believe fits more) basically created the universe and everything in it with The Big Bang, and from that he left us to our own devices. However, I also believe that in every scenario there is only one thing that could and will happen. For instance, if there are two balls in a bag and you have to take one out, the one you take out will depend on the way you move your arm, the way they are placed in the bag, the way you clasp your hand etc. These are simply variables. Complicated variables which probably can't be calculated with the scienc/technology we have today, but variables which give way to only one solution. Taking this into account (that I believe in predetermination) I find it difficult to believe that if you pray to a god, the god will change something in the world to give you what you want. For instance, if you pray for money to get medicine to make someone better, that money has to come from somewhere and someone else has to either lose that money or give it to you. Therefore, I believe that that person would give it to you regardless of whether you pray for it or not. From this, I conclude that prayer does not achieve what the person hopes to achiece by praying. But don't worry, it's not all doom and gloom as far as I'm concerned, i do believe prayer has some effect. I believe that prayer gives the pray-er the self confidence to get what needs to be done, done. For instance, if a person prays to do well in a job interview, the person would feel self-assured that a god is in their corner, therefore giving themself greater self confidence, so they could do better in the interview. Okay, so that's my view (that prayer does nothing, but reassure a person and give them self confidence), but more importantly, what are your views? (hehe i just realised I used the word "Okay" three times to start a sentence, my bad)
I'm not going to bother arguing with you but you said you dont use capitals on God but you did straight after. >_> I believe that praying to God can have effects. =) Of course it could just be coincidence... There is no proof. And whats wrong with people believeing that a prayer works?
I don't believe in prayer the way some religions believe in it. For instance, if you pray for more money, God is not going to drop a money bag from heaven. I think how it works is you send up the intent for more money then you keep that in your thoughts while working to make sure it happens. Wah lah....more money. I think if somebody is ill and people are praying for them or sending up good thoughts, that it can definitely help because positive healing energy is going to that person. Thoughts are energy and energy is what makes things happen. It's all very New Age....but hey that's me!
Oh yeah Beaky makes a good point that I forgot to mention. I hate talking to people that say "oh god isnt real i tried praying and nothing happened" and if you ask them what it was and it turns out to be something selfish then you would know why God wouldnt help. (praying could be something like wanting to get a good mark on a test and if u dont get it and you just blame it on god then maybe you just didnt work hard enough for it! Dont expect extreme miricles)
I have nothing to add to Davo and Becky, this is roughly my way of thinking; predestiny and the power of positive thought. Just one reason why I think this, although we might accept that god is almighty I think it rather arrogant to think that our little problems of 'OMG i've got spots I'll pray them away' takes precidence over all the natural catastrophies that occur almost everyday, the thousands of people dying of aids, starvation, malnutrition etc. Our little problems pale into insignificance when put on a world scale, would god or anyone to that matter really take the time and energy to fix all these little irritations?
I'm not a praying person, but I do think that positive thoughts create positive actions. If people want to think that it is because of God that positive actions and deeds come about then I see nothing against it.
Sounds like you may identify with Deism, i have a good friend who is deist. ......i dont really have a point. lol sorry. Such is the misunderstanding about "magick" (the Wiccan equivalent of prayer), people think we wave about in a trance and say something fancy latin and all of a sudden poof!, like something out of a Harry Potter movie, some sort of extreme physical (or visible) transformation. But no, it's actually just asserting yourself with intent and manipulating your own energies rather than the energies of that around you (or in this case, above you). I agree with you completely on this one, i personally think its not what it's made out to be, although not completely pointless.
I pray because it gains my hope, who say hoping is a useless thing. But when teh hope wont come then I do it myself' For me there are 2 types of praying, one is religiously, one is for me, my way is to hope, I also pray religiously cuz as growing up as a child, parents taught me to pray, going to church taught me to pray And sometimes it's like you pray about something when you can not do it on yourself, it's like wishing
I believe that prayer is an absolutely nonsensical waste of time and there are far better thing you can do to remedy the situation that you are praying over.
30 seconds sitting in bed before you go to sleep is a big waste of time, you could be staring at the roof instead! I totally agree with you.
I think this is the only time I did use capitals, and I did it to contrast the two words, God and god. I meant to show that by using capitals, our mind (or at least mine) automatically goes to a masculine, Zeus like robed, white haired, bearded figure, that has been beaten into me by my Catholic school, whereas when you use lowercase, "god" that has not gender, and no predetermined image in your mind.
Again, you came in here and said exactly what I wanted to! We must think alike. I believe prayer's a placebo at best. I know I've heard it explained as hope, but I think that's a false hope at best, which can be dangerous. I hate to see prayer used in place of something productive to solve a problem.
At this point, I believe there is a God, but I don't believe he directly interacts with the world. However, I do see some value in prayer, as I believe that there is an intrinsic balance to the universe. Occasionally, the universe gets out of balance, and if it gets too far out of balance, God will come along and shove it back in the proper direction. Having said that, I tend to see prayer more as a way of pointing out to God that the universe might be out of balance and asking him to kick it back in the right direction. I've personally felt the influence of God in my life, but it's usually in my darkest hours. As always, take from this what you will, since everyone's spiritual journey is different and equally valid.
we have to pray every morning at school i always chose the shortest pray that dosen make sence we dont pray cause we belive in it just cause we have to do it..... I think praying cant help do anything cause i think everything was decided from when the earth was created ... in my belief through the big bang then i have no clue what was there before it.... and i dont think it would be God's place to medal with things and favor people that belive in him because they pray to him... im not going to say praying is silly cause its everyones right to belive what ever they want i just dont belive in it..
Hmm depends on what you are praying for, I think. I of course, pray sometimes but it's true sometimes there are many better things to do, while you are praying. But that's not always the case I think. I would say that there is a god, but I don't think he is gonna do something just because you prayed. Well, that's just my opinion tho:rolleyes:
I only pray if something bad has happened to somebody and I'll do anything to try and help them,I always hope it will help even though normally I don't believe it will
