Prayer

[KizlarAgha]

Do you really believe it does any good? I've seen so much call to prayer on these boards, as I suppose is to be expected. However, I've never seen prayer work for anything other than to assuage the emotions of those doing the praying. Do you guys honestly believe that if you pray for something that it's going to happen? It never happens. You can scream to god on the darkest most miserable night of your life, and when you wake up everything will still be exactly as it was before.

[kamiller42]

[quote name='KizlarAgha' post='1110007' date='Nov 3 2006, 03:16 PM']
Do you really believe it does any good? I've seen so much call to prayer on these boards, as I suppose is to be expected. However, I've never seen prayer work for anything other than to assuage the emotions of those doing the praying. Do you guys honestly believe that if you pray for something that it's going to happen? It never happens. You can scream to god on the darkest most miserable night of your life, and when you wake up everything will still be exactly as it was before.
[/quote]
I think you are confusing prayers with magic spells.

How do you know they don't work? Do you have insight into the mind of God and how He responds?

[Winchester]

I'm going to fall back on the ineffable mind of God defense.

Really it goes to the whole plan thing. I think He says 'no' a whole lot.

[KizlarAgha]

But, hear me out on this. God knows everything. He knows what you want. So, he has already made his mind up before you even ask - why bother asking?

Also, I think the whole "god's plan" thing is a major cop-out. I mean, yeah it makes logical enough theological sense, but to me it just reeks of an excuse for God not showing up.

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I turned in a paper today. Just afterward, I realized I'd accidently left out a key sentence AND the bibliography. The teacher is really strict. I said a prayer and felt better, although I was still worried. Yes, prayer can make a person feel better, but that's not the core of it. I went up to him after class. There was a line...the person in front of me forgot her bibliography. "Don't worry about it," he said, "it's not necessary for this paper." "Well," I thought, "that helps a bit." I told him my situation and he waved it off...said I could turn a revised version in later. Okay, so it's a small situation, but the odds of the other person having the same issue as me is pretty slim, I think.

Of course, there's also the time I prayed that I could someday marry a woman I'd never met but knew online...and four months later, she fell in love with me...and almost a year after that, we met. Now we're happily engaged.

Yes, prayer is powerful...but you have to put it in God's hands and trust Him, which is hard.

[kamiller42]

[quote name='KizlarAgha' post='1110015' date='Nov 3 2006, 03:31 PM']
But, hear me out on this. God knows everything. He knows what you want. So, he has already made his mind up before you even ask - why bother asking?

Also, I think the whole "god's plan" thing is a major cop-out. I mean, yeah it makes logical enough theological sense, but to me it just reeks of an excuse for God not showing up.
[/quote]
This is the advantage of the Catholic Church. Your first question is answered in the Catechism. "Why bother asking?" Faith is a response to a God who reveals.

Relationships are two way. He knows what he wants, but he also knows how important it is for us to make the effort to ask. We see this in our relationships between parents and child. If a parent provides all the answers for a child or gives the child all they want without a reciprocating effort, you end up with a spoiled brat. God wants a two way relationship, a free willed love.

I did not bring up God's plan. I brought up knowing his mind, which you apparently have a special connection with. I look forward to your answers to my questions.

[KizlarAgha]

[quote name='Raphael' post='1110017' date='Nov 3 2006, 04:32 PM']
I turned in a paper today. Just afterward, I realized I'd accidently left out a key sentence AND the bibliography. The teacher is really strict. I said a prayer and felt better, although I was still worried. Yes, prayer can make a person feel better, but that's not the core of it. I went up to him after class. There was a line...the person in front of me forgot her bibliography. "Don't worry about it," he said, "it's not necessary for this paper." "Well," I thought, "that helps a bit." I told him my situation and he waved it off...said I could turn a revised version in later. Okay, so it's a small situation, but the odds of the other person having the same issue as me is pretty slim, I think.

Of course, there's also the time I prayed that I could someday marry a woman I'd never met but knew online...and four months later, she fell in love with me...and almost a year after that, we met. Now we're happily engaged.

Yes, prayer is powerful...but you have to put it in God's hands and trust Him, which is hard.
[/quote]

Your argument is a case of post hoc ergo proctor hoc, Micah.