Why do people (christians, specificly) pray?

Question

When you pray to god to give you courage or strenght, its not him that does it. You give that to yourself. When you think "i prayed for a good day today, so it must be true", you really do have a good day, but god didn't give it to you. Your mind is focused on positive things because you believe your day is going to be great. If you believe you're happy, it is true.Praying for other people certainly does not work at all. They will do what they please wether you pray or not. And if it just so happens that it does work, its either a coincidence or because you talked them into whatever you thought is right (which is so typical of christians). If you pray to god that you can survive after an accident, and you do, it isnt because you prayed, it is because you believed you will survive. Its not god's power that helps you, its the power of your mind. Praying will not get you anywhere. Weak minded people need to pray because otherwise, they don't believe in themselves. But what about the rest?

P.s. satan has nothing to do with this.

Answer 1

Prayers to God are like wishes to a genie or wishing upon a star.

Answer 2

" Its not god's power that helps you, its the power of your mind. Praying will not get you anywhere. Weak minded people need to pray because otherwise, they don't believe in themselves. But what about the rest?"

Whose to say that praying=being weak minded? What is being weak-minded anyhow? Can it really be defined?
If this is how you feel, then just keep believing in yourself.
I don't mind God's power in my life though, so I will stick with it. Even if it means that some people will assume I am weak-minded because of it. I don't know you, but I doubt that your life is anymore superior than mine, so if I am getting along fine in life and have a lot to be grateful for, what's the problem?
Prayer isn't just making requests for things. It's a conversion with God. So you talk to yourself and I talk to God. What's the big deal.

Answer 3

I really believe that you have a misunderstanding of prayer. Many times when we pray, we think our prayers should be answered right away, and if they are not, we began to lean to our own understanding. Basically, there is no room for patience. Sometimes, things may happen by coincidence and others could happen by prayer. There is no way to know because God is not going to act like us to prove himself. He has no reason to. He is God, whether we believe him or not. As far as believing, that is a part of faith. If I pray after an accident and I believe that I will be healed and it happens, then I have exercised my faith. Faith and believing is one in the same. This is one reason why God really can't work in our lives. We don't give him the chance and we question everything. We want logic to everything, which leaves no room for understanding.

Answer 4

You make some very interesting and good points. As a christian, i pray alot, and sometimes it doesnt work, and sometimes it does. I always just figured that God will answer my prayers. When he doesnt, it is for the best. I pray, not just to ask for favors though. I pray to give god praise, and to glorify him. I think that this is a common miss-conception of christians. The point of praying is not to ask for things, but to talk to God. I give thanks, praise, and ask for help in my everyday life. Praying is a two way street. If you want God to answer your prayers, you must be living for him, and glorifying him. I have prayed for many things that may seem impossible, but they have happened. I dropped out of highschool, and some college decided to take a chance on with me. How many highschool drop outs go to college? I used to be very poor, and God provided a way for me to go to said college. However, i do agree that the mind is a powerful thing, and you can decide your own future if you think you really can.

Answer 5

Do you talk to your friends? Your parents? How about your spouse if you have one? I assume you talk to them because you love them, right? Same with Christians. We talk to God because we love Him.
When my daughter was 10 months old she had a clogged tear duct that made her get eye infections all the time. Her eye doctor was really harping on us to let him do the surgery to open up the tear duct. My husband & I didn't want to have her put under at such a young age, so we opted not to have it done. Had it been life (or eye) threatening we of course would have allowed it. But, at church that Sunday, I asked someone to pray for her to be healed, and she was!! Now I ask you - was it her positive thinking, or God? Since she didn't have a clue what was going on, I choose God.


Much Love and I hope you can find a reason to praise God yourself!!

Answer 6

We don't pray to God to get stuff. God isn't a genie, nor is he a vending machine (insert prayer, get a candy bar). We pray because we want to communicate and stay connected to God, just like how one might spontaneously talk to friends on their cel phone to talk about their day or whatever. Often we pray to recieve gifts from God, but that doesn't mean he'll give us what we ask for; he simply wants us to talk to him and so we respond to that call to prayer.

I'm a Christian and I definitely wouldn't call myself weak-minded. I am a very intelligent, talented individual and I believe God gave me these gifts to make a difference in the world. I believe in God. He believes in me. I believe in me. He believes in himself. It all works.

I hope someday you will realize God's power. Meanwhile, whatever you believe, I hope you strive to make the world a better place.

Answer 7

You are not in control of all that you do, everything happens because the Lord lets it happen to shape his divine plan and fulfill the scriptures, he knows the past present and future of our little short lives,as for praying for others, if you want god to hear and answer you, you have to know how to pray........

Answer 8

i'm an atheist to boot. i determined after I have little ones i'd not inforce my belive in the route of them. i'd let them choose any faith they prefer. Your father and mom are appearing very immature and disrespectfull. in the journey that your previous sufficient you would possibly want to bypass out yet you do not prefer to lose them so it is more desirable to sit down which include your father and mom and characteristic a lengthy chat about this difficulty. they might want to be by your area each and each of ways no longer critizing your have self belief. Atheists have the region on being judged by christians besides the undeniable fact that it type of feels it is oppisite at your kin. In all merely refer to them. If it would not artwork merely except it.

Answer 9

The significance of prayer lies in one's maintaining a continuous link to God five times a day, which helps the worshipper avoid misdeeds if he/she performs the prayers sincerely. In addition it promotes discipline, God-consciousness and placing one's trust in Allah alone, and the importance of striving for the Hereafter. When performed in congregation it also provides a strong sense of community, equality and brotherhood/sisterhood.

Answer 10

Christians don't view prayer as a "tool" that "Works" or "doesn't work" -- prayer is a conversation with God. We believe that God exists, and we want to talk to him. Thats why we pray.

If you don't think God exists and/or don't want to talk to him, then I can see how you would think this is silly. I would too. But the answer to the question remains the same: We think God is there, and we want to talk to him.

Answer 11

could`n agree more
praying is nonsense as bible is
imagine if Einstein when he was about to discover the theory of relativity , if he wasn't positive about it but pray for it , the whole space and universe we know today would be still isolated and priests would have telling us that god is watching us from the clouds above the sky.... or what ever...