Praying - does it help?

[raskolnikov]

You go to the church, you kiss the cross
You will be saved at any cost
You have your own reality
Christianity
You spend your life just kissing ass
A trait that's grown as time has passed
You think the world will end today
You praise the Lord, it's all you say

Jesus saves, listen to you pray
You think you'll see the pearly gates
When death takes you away

For all respect you cannot lust
In an invisible man you place your trust
Indirect dependency
Eternal attempt at amnesty
He will decide who lives and dies
Depopulate Satanas rise
You will be an accessory
Irreverence and blasphemy


Jesus saves, no need to pray
The gates of pearl have turned to gold
It seems you've lost your way



Jesus saves, no words of praise
No promised land to take you to
There is no other way

That's a poem directed at a very fundamentalist view of Christianity - don't put us all into the one basket. I believe in God but I hate fundamentalism as much as the next person.

 

[Contra Mundum]

I love God I hate religion:

Stained glass windows keep the cold outside
While the hypocrites hide inside
With the lies of statues in their minds
Where the Christian religion made them blind
Where they hide
And prey to the God of a bitch spelled backwards is dog
Not for one race, one creed, one world
But for money
Effective
Absurd

Do you pray to the Holy Ghost when you suck your host
Do you read who’s dead in the Irish Post
Do you give away the cash you can’t afford
On bended knees and pray to lord

Fat pig priest
Sanctimonious smiles
He takes the money
You take the lies
This is religion and Jesus Christ
This is religion cheaply priced
This is bibles full of libel
This is sin in eternal hymn
This is what they’ve done
This is your religion
The apostles were eleven
Now there’s a sod in Heaven

This is religion
There’s a liar on the altar
The sermon never falter
This is religion
Your religion

 

[Best Coast]

Being christian is like a merry go round for me, I get tempted, fail, then come back to God for help.

 

[Asgardian]

Only if you attach a cheque to it, made payable to Jim & Tammy Baker

Seriously though, since I'm Asgard's Thunder God, I often pray to myself, a great way to have an intelligent conversation. .............. or is that conversion?

 

[3rdEchelon]

Praying does bugger all, repeat bugger all. Like there is some sort of magical force that makes your wishes come true. Otherwise i would be praying for Jessica Alba to knock on my door with a marriage proposal ages ago.

 

[Total Power]

Praying does bugger all, repeat bugger all. Like there is some sort of magical force that makes your wishes come true. Otherwise i would be praying for Jessica Alba to knock on my door with a marriage proposal ages ago.

Thats Gold

 

[raskolnikov]

Praying does bugger all, repeat bugger all. Like there is some sort of magical force that makes your wishes come true. Otherwise i would be praying for Jessica Alba to knock on my door with a marriage proposal ages ago.

God is not a big sugar daddy.

 

[bunsen burner]

His recovery was amazing and the doctors were all calling him the miracle man.

Having said that, that was a situation where God did answer prayer.

Do you really believe this crap?

 

[Rodion]

So you are an expert on every thing are you?
Or do you just look for convientent qoutes from the bilbe to back up your religious fanatisim?
Can you give us the enlightenment of your vast human knowledge and PROVE that prayer to ANY god (or is it only the jesus god we have pray to?) has ever changed ANYTHING.

Sorry, but I don't see anything fanatical in what Birdy wrote. Do you equate religion with fanaticism as a matter of course?

 

[JW Frogen]

Praying does bugger all, repeat bugger all. Like there is some sort of magical force that makes your wishes come true. Otherwise i would be praying for Jessica Alba to knock on my door with a marriage proposal ages ago.

There are many people in intensive care that say the same thing about exercise.

So you sit in spiritual intensive care laughing at the people playing in the park.

But you are right about one thing, praying for Jessica Alba will not happen, even God does not have the power to make Jessica Alba love the likes of you.

But God loves the likes of you.

 

[raskolnikov]

Do you really believe this crap?

Yes I do. I feel sorry for you Bunsen Burner. Your need to criticise others for their beliefs reflects a deep personal insecurity that I hope you can find some way to overcome. Book an appointment with a psychologist. You need therapy.

 

[bunsen burner]

Yes I do. I feel sorry for you Bunsen Burner. Your need to criticise others for their beliefs reflects a deep personal insecurity

Erm, I'm not the one who has a need to pray.

Now, answer me this:

We know that God can't do things. He can't stop plates crashing into each other. He can't stop all natural disasters. He can't stop all heart attacks. But you claim he saved your dad's life?

If God had the ability to save your Dad's life, then why didn't he save your brothers? Why didn't he save those other people who died in abulances or in hospital beds etc?

I think it's quite obvious that people such as yourself pray because it makes you feel better in some way. So out of people who have a need to pray and people who don't have a need to pray, who would you think would be more insecure?

 

[bunsen burner]

Yes I do. I feel sorry for you Bunsen Burner. Your need to criticise others for their beliefs reflects a deep personal insecurity that I hope you can find some way to overcome. Book an appointment with a psychologist. You need therapy.

Maybe you should pray for me?

 

[Dippers Donuts]

Does it?, has it ever, it always makes me wonder whenever a disaster or tragedy occurs that people say they are prayin' for the victims, the sick etc, and I can't even imagine how many people are praying at the moment and nothings happening, is it?

If prayer helps you, in whatever way that means, then yes, it helps.

It's as simple as that really.

 

[3rdEchelon]

There are many people in intensive care that say the same thing about exercise.

So you sit in spiritual intensive care laughing at the people playing in the park.

But you are right about one thing, praying for Jessica Alba will not happen, even God does not have the power to make Jessica Alba love the likes of you.

But God loves the likes of you.

You see? Praying won't make any of our wishes come true. Exercise on the otherhand can make you fit. Let's face it, religion is all due to someone who has made up some wonderful story that people over the ages have believed and cling onto as some sort of true story. May the gods smite me for saying this .

 

[raskolnikov]

Erm, I'm not the one who has a need to pray.

Now, answer me this:

We know that God can't do things. He can't stop plates crashing into each other. He can't stop all natural disasters. He can't stop all heart attacks. But you claim he saved your dad's life?

If God had the ability to save your Dad's life, then why didn't he save your brothers? Why didn't he save those other people who died in abulances or in hospital beds etc?

I believe I already answered that. Selective reading.

I think it's quite obvious that people such as yourself pray because it makes you feel better in some way. So out of people who have a need to pray and people who don't have a need to pray, who would you think would be more insecure?

When did I say I pray? Again selective reading.

 

[demon_dave]

praying is for the weak gives them a degree of self satisfaction

 

[Goldenblue]

Prayer is never in vain, God is pleased when people seek Him and come to repentance. We are told that God will hear our prayers if they are according to His will.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Blind is this world. Few are those who clearly see. As birds escape from a net, few go to a blissful state

 

[bunsen burner]

When did I say I pray? Again selective reading.

So why do you need to believe that God had a hand in both your Dad and brother's near death experiences?

And do you or do you not pray? (not asking if you have mentioned yet or not, just asking if you do or you don't).

 

[raskolnikov]

So why do you need to believe that God had a hand in both your Dad and brother's near death experiences?

The circumstances of my father's recovery indicate that there was some supernatural element involved. As I said even the doctors, who I don't even know professed a belief in God, were calling him the miracle man.

And do you or do you not pray? (not asking if you have mentioned yet or not, just asking if you do or you don't).

I join in prayers in church services but in my own private life I wouldn't say I'm much of a prayer. But that doesn't mean that I don't believe that it works. I just don't believe that prayer works in the way that some on here suggest it should(i.e if we want a new car just pray and God will get it for us).

 

[bunsen burner]

The circumstances of my father's recovery indicate that there was some supernatural element involved. As I said even the doctors, who I don't even know professed a belief in God, were calling him the miracle man.

Ahh, the ol' "can't explain how it happened therefore God must exist" routine.

I join in prayers in church services but in my own private life I wouldn't say I'm much of a prayer. But that doesn't mean that I don't believe that it works.

So just what was the point in pointing out you had not yet mentioned you prayed? I made an assumption that was correct. If I was incorrect you may of corrected me. But I was correct so you really didn't need to point that out.

I just don't believe that prayer works in the way that some on here suggest it should(i.e if we want a new car just pray and God will get it for us).

From what I can tell, this is how prayer works:

- praying cannot literally change events and circumstance
- praying can help the individual who prays because it makes them feel better, i.e. it's all inside their head.

Now I have no problem with this. If it makes some people feel better then that's good for them. But these peole a) shouldn't try to pass praying off as if it actually works outside themselves, and b) that they are in no situation whatsoever to accuse someone else of being insecure.

 

[raskolnikov]

What proof do you have that it doesn't work? I have lots of evidence that it might possibly work. I agree with you that we can't prove for certain that it works. As for your statement "can't explain how it happened therefore God must exist" what is wrong with that statement, except I would change the "must" for a "could".

 

[bunsen burner]

What proof do you have that it doesn't work?

I don't, but it is undeniable that at times it hasn't worked. Common sense tells us that it's highly unlikely "God" can answer prayers.

I have lots of evidence that it might possibly work.

Absolute nonsense. Please supply any evidence where it's feasible to make the leap that God has answered a prayer.

As for your statement "can't explain how it happened therefore God must exist" what is wrong with that statement, except I would change the "must" for a "could".

I have no problem with "could" but the fact of the matter is that many religous ppeople make the "must" connection. Completely ridiculous. Religious people don't have a habit of using words like "might", "could", and "possible". They prefer to use the words "definite", "is", "proof" etc. And they wonder why people give them a hard time.

 

[kirky]

Prayer = Insecurity. Can't accept that the possibility that their is no God. Why would a God allow 150,000 to perish unless of course its the old adage - sh*it happens!!!

 

[bunsen burner]

Prayer = Insecurity. Can't accept that the possibility that their is no God. Why would a God allow 150,000 to perish unless of course its the old adage - sh*it happens!!!

I like peoples' excuses: "Don't even start to wonder how God works, but he's doing the right thing" etc etc. How about people just admit that if God allows this to happen then it's doubtful that he exists or has any control. Act of God, my ass.