To christians, does prayer help you?

Well I'm not christian myself, i've been looking into it though.

i haven't read alot of the good book but ive read bits and pieces of it and stuff so correct me if im wrong here.

it says in the bible probably in matthew or mark luke or john somewhere when jesus was around.

that when 2 people or more people come together in prayer that God will answer it.

or that if you ask in faith you will recieve.

and my christian friends claim prayer really does work in their lifes and that God helps them out when they ask with pure intentions. maybe not how they pictured or fast as they'd like but when they pray and life for god and stuff, things do happen.

what is your take on that? any personal experiences with it?

and i have some serious questions that i'd like answered, not to put down anyones beliefs its just well honest questions seeking honest answers you know?

what makes us think that God really cares about our requests of prayer when there are people all over the world going through much much worse things than ourselves that he would take the time to care about our smaller problems in life, when there are things like disease, hunger death and horrible things all over the world the he could change himself but he instead chooses to answer our personal requests of him?

and can he really help you? like i guess could could give you insight into things but he cant really help you in the sense of ask and recieve, you gotta do all the things yourself in life to get what you need.

i dont really have much faith myself, although i respect those who do, i pray and kinda in the back of my head am like well i think im just talking to the air honestly but maybe, would God answer any of my prayers or take the time to hear how i feel about life when im unsure abot the very act im doing to engage a conversation wit him, when im not even sure i believe he exists?


well i hope someone can answer my questions. it'd help me out alot.

peace everyone.

 

I was raised Catholic but quit practicing when I was 14.

I think prayer works but not as some people portray it to be. Things tend to manifest rightly in the long run, no matter what - but I think contemplating (praying, meditating, whatever you'd like to call it) your predicament will make things easier.

I don't think prayer is for "God" to hear, it is for us to think through and evaluate in our own minds. "God" doesn't exist more than what is on earth - for that is "God".

You do have faith, you just don't put it in terms that many christians or other religious people do...It's hard to explain but that's just some of my own personal belief

 

yeah man, that makes alot of sense.

cause, my christian friends say prayer helps them and when they pray good things start happening when they are in a bad situation.

they don't really consider other things behind the scenes like close friends and family maybe helping them out, cause they love them.

and i also was just praying and i had the thought in my mind that hey even if god aint realy or whatever this seems like a good outlet for my thoughts and feelings about how my life is going right now.

so i can hear em and kinda get a different point of view on em fromt a 3rd person persepective i guess, kinda like someone keeping a journal?

 

I think contemplation helps the mind sort through things consciously much as it does UNCONSCIOUSLY during sleep. That way you feel better - you feel more in control, prepared, and accepting.

God is simply a name tacked onto a force that humans have struggled to come to terms with since the emergence of the ego. From there religions have formed and complicated a very simple and natural human ritual

 

yeah man. ia gree again haah.

God is just a word, its not a special word, no word is really special, its just symbols and sounds pout together by some humans one species in the universe.

like i think God/gods or whatever is a concept by humans to either used to describe shit back along ago before they had physicsand shit to explain how shit works with gods behind everything.

i think now though God can refer to like the universe, and all the forces and laws in it that make it work, its not a being, it just is i guess? its not really supernatural, i dont believe in supernatural, if its here its part of nature its natural, just cause WE dont understand it dosen't mean its supernatural you know?

i dont konw, i dont believe in dieties, i think of god as a word to define a concept. not a special word, just a label for a concept or idea.

 

Good on ya.

No problem, I'll try to the best of my ability

It seems to me you are confusing two parts together. One saying from Jesus says that where two gather in his name, he will be present; the other being that if you even have tiny amounts of faith, you can move mountains with prayer.

I am kinda skeptical about "prayer working" claims in general because I don't quite believe in a fully interventionist God. I do believe god can pull some strings and nudge us in the right direction, but nothing major (or at least nothing seemingly major).

On the otherhand I do pray, and I do pray with intentions (if you know of a Catholic Mass we have a section called the Prayers of the Faithful where we petition God for certain things. A common one is peace). Why Do I do this type of prayer, well because even if God is not listening, it reminds us of problems in the world and it gets me thinking about what I can do to help slolve the problem.

Usually the type of prayer that I do is thanking God for the blessings (great and small) in my life. Properly this cannot really be considered prayer because the English word "prayer" literally means to ask. But after something like receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion I pray/worship God often in a combination of my own words and traditional Catholic prayers.

And interesting study I heard about was that catholics say they feel less pain when shown a painting of the Virgin Mary over another one of DaVinci's random women. Atheists when shown either we fairly constant in their pain ratings. Does prayer work, or is it the plecebo effect? Who knows. Maybe some day we'll find out for sure.

Well really the answer to this depends on what sort of God you choose to believe in. No debate will likely change your mind about what you believe a metaphysical reality to be. If you believe what the bible makes [sort of] clear about God then he does care about us because we are his children. Like any parent, if a child asks for something the parent will listen. If you are more Deisticly minded, then God really couldn't care much.

I hold the opinion that God can do whatever Gos wants to to. If God wanted me to sprout wings, I would.

Why God doesn't grant people lottery wins, or football championships I think comes with a major theoretical flaw with prayer. Yeah, prayer is technically about asking something, but as Derrida claims, too many people pray like ordering a pizza. They want a certain result (or pizza). Prayer should be like ordering a pizza like this (from what i can remember): Yeah I want a pizza. Any kind will do, you pick. I will wait for it, but it won't consume me. You bring it on your own time.

yeah you can ask for stuff, but don't expect a response.

Something I found is that even if you are unsure about somehintg, if you do it, you will find one of two things: either you will believe it or you won't. Believing could be a result of another two things. Either you honestly do, or you have convinced yourself. For example, I have started conciously receiving Communion on my knees out of reverence for the Real Presence of Christ in the host. Before this I stood. After a few times, I really recognized the importance of this act and it feels weird for me to stand while receiving now. Did I convince myself, or do I truely believe. I cannot really know I think.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

well ukr man. i liked your post to, you went through and answered all my questions.

i liked you pizza analogy, that is what ive heard about prayer, not that analogy.

but you pray, god will come with with results for oyu it just might not be how you expected it as fast you want it to happen.

and thanks for correcting me on the faith and prayer verses that jesus said.

when i talked about this in my original post, i was talking from the belief point of view of an interventionalist god, which i dont personally believe myself.

but seems most people around me that believe in christianity as their faith do. and seems what the bible god acts like to me. i could be wrong though.


i dont realy have a viwe honestly, i think beliefs are just well beliefs theyare not knowledge you know? like they;re ideas and concepts people attach themselves to strongly for whatever good reasons they got.

yeah thank yall both for the replies.

 

I dont call myself a Christian , But prayer is WONDERFUL !
Theres a comfort in pouring all my troubles and worries out to God , and Knowing that hes listening , and that he loves me no matter what.
He never gets tired of my crying on his shoulder , and he never runs off and tells all my secrets to others when my back is turned.

 

well when u pray one of two things happen:

1 what you are praying for happens and you thank god.

2 what your are praying for doesn't happen and you keep on praying because your convinced that god has a plan for you that may or may not involve what your praying for.

 

If that scripture was literally true, all war and injustice and hunger would have ended centuries ago. Plenty of christians with honorable motives have gathered together to ask for those things in prayer, hundreds of thousands of times, all over the world.

I used to be a christian, many years ago. Even then, I struggled with a big problem with the concept of prayer that I never could resolve. The problem is that if God has all wisdom and knowledge, then he always knows more about what is best for me than I do. In many cases, probably the worst thing that could happen is for me to get exactly what I want.

I have heard many people talk about prayers being answered, but what they generally won't tell you is how many of their prayers have not been answered over the years. Their stories prove nothing, since a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

There is a big difference, in my mind, between answering prayers and fixing problems.

you said it yourself, when you were a Christian (in hindsight) you praying and getting what you wanted was probably a really bad thing. You probably would have asked for the wrong stuff. God answering could be something like note giving you what you want. Remember the first petition line in the Our Father. It is "thy will be done". We are asking for fulfill his will. God may intervene to change the course of events if it is his will to do so. That does not mean that if he didn't intervene it was not his will, but that he has options. Other things (like everyone winning the lottery, or Team A winning the big game most likely are not god's will.

If our prayers are answered, we usually do not know it.

 

He already knows to do that.

 

What I believe is that god does answer prayers. I don't think he does as well as a 'God' should be indeed he does. Here's why.

When I was about 6 I moved to Elyria, OH. My dad married my ex-stepmom. After about 2 months I was grounded until they were divorced. I was beaten by my dad because she had him pussy whipped. But he beat me about 20 times a day with a belt on my bare ass. Every day I prayed to god that if I didn't get out of there I'd kill someone or myself. One day I had my mind set on killing my step mother (I was about 10 then, and I know I sound crazy but unless you've experienced something similiar you don't have any idea how bad it was). Then my dad woke me up, and said "Get some clothes, we're leaving". It only took god 4 years to answer my prayers but he did answer them.

So that's why I believe god listens, and answers them.

 

Prayer comes in many varieties. Petitionary prayer (asking for stuff) is one form--the one most people seem to have in mind. God is like the department store Santa, and they're presenting Him with their wish list. I think that kind has been well-covered on this thread. When God answers those prayers, the answer may not be what we expect--we may not get what we ask for, and that may be for the good. Other kinds of prayer are petitonary in form but therapeutic in function. The Lord's prayer reminds us that it's not all about us. "Thy kingdom come,Thy will be done..." We get to ask for our daily bread (sustenance), forgiveness, not being tempted, and deliverance from evil. And are reminded to forgive others as we ask to be forgiven. Another prayer that I say is the Serentiy prayer, asking for serentiy to accept the things we can't change, the courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference. We're asking for spiritual blessings that will enable us better to cope with the world. In my experience, both of those prayers are typically "answered", and have helped to nourish and heal my soul.

 

I pray/talk to God everyday, throughout the day...
I cannot imagine life without it, and still the going is not even supposed to be easy.
However, I have lived long enough and gone through "phases", and seen and experienced a lot of life.
And I'm telling you - those who pray are much stronger and able to face reality and cope than one who doesn't - of course, that's JMO.
Personally, I've seen things come to pass that I knew could be nothing but answers to my petitioning prayers.
Others have addressed that there are really different types of prayers - and I agree. (In that I am a "tattletale" to God - I lay out All the facts, as I see them for Him...I bring Him in on many, many things.) The only type of "short-order" type thing I do in prayer is when a situation is laid upon my heart, and I will petition in prayer to affect this situation. I have found this to be wonderfully (and almost strangely ) effective.
I Always begin in prayer by thanking the Lord for what He has given me etc. I am daily overcome by the beauty of this, His creation - the earth. It is almost spring and quite beautiful around here, so I guess I feel especially awed by the greatness of the Master Designer...
Prayer is just another word for talking to Him, I believe. And I Know it works.

 

well all thanks again for the answers.


about gods will thing, well would go wills for my life be something i would be happy with, or something he would want form e that i wouldn't relaly enjoy lifing my life under his will. cause if im not happy than gods will for my life really wouldn't mean much to me if i was sad.

and if god knows all your thoughts and stuff, i mean why does prayer matter, if he knows you feel remorse, then why pray for forgiveness?

if he knows you are thankful for somthing than why pray to him that you are? if he has a good will for you, and knows you would want it, why not just give it to you?

more questions. sorry! im just very curious.

and i like the answers so far. made me think, but still makes more questions, just as any topic would!

peace everyone!

 

I think prayer is more for us, as humans, than "for" God...
The act of prayer makes us feel stronger, I believe. And Okiefreak mentioned the (imo) #1 prayer of all time - the Lords prayer (Matt. 6:9-13). In many circles this is considered a most powerful prayer.
I'm just saying that to pray/ meditate (whathaveyou) to God (or whatever another belief's equivalent is) is nothing new.
For me, feeling remorse and praying for forgiveness, helps me feel better. About praying for His will thing - that is all I personally do. I don't ask for "His will" and then tell Him to tailor it to some specific demands - tho' I know of those that do.

 

This is the kind of prayer story that bugs the shit out of me. God allows something horrendous to happen to an innocent victim and then gets credit for doing something great when it comes to an end. To me, that is an example of looking much too hard to find something good to say about a bad situation.

 

I can see how it honestly seems that way when you look at all the bad things that have happened in the world , and all the innocent people that get hurt , babies that die , and natural disasters that destroy so many lives.
But , my take on it , and im not saying that im right , is that God has to allow a certain amount of tragedy in order to weed out those that will curse him from those that will hang in there and still love him and have faith that all will be well.
As for those people that are hurt , and worse yet , killed , they are rewarded with a much better life for the one they lost here.
Maybe im way off , but , thats just how I deal with all the ugliness here on this Earth.
I sure hope maybe a little of it makes you feel a tiny bit better about it all.

 

I definately believe prayers work. I don't believe in the human-like personal God that grants wishes, but in the universal machine which's sole purpose is to allow us to create.

Prayer is nothing magical, simply wishing something and knowing that you can achieve it. Going through college and attaining a PhD is prayer. Competing in competitions and knowing that you'll win is prayer. The first step to getting anything in life is asking. You draw out what you want in your mind, and keep that image in your mind every day. Let that thought pervade through all of your activities, and it will manifest.

Prayer is simply desire, given awareness, and then manifested. I've for 7 months had as sinus infection, had the flu for 2 weeks, and internal bleeding. After I stopped being so caught up in life and realized that what I really wanted was good health, I prayed on it. Everyday. And now I'm feeling 100x better physically/mentally than before. God didn't magically send me a cure. The universe bends to my will, showing me the right information, leading me to the right people, to the right medicines, to make me feel better.