What good is prayer/chanting or what not?

Question

People pray for strength, courage, inner peace, hope and a number of other things that are purely internal. If an atheist can attain these qualities without faith, then what good is prayer? If your answer has something to do with my soul being in danger, please provide proof that A) I have one and B) it is in trouble without prayer. I am NOT trying to offend anyone. If you pray I want to know why. Thank you.

Answer 1

Prayer is the elevation of the mind and heart to God:
+ In praise of his glory
+ In petition for some desired good
+ In thanksgiving for a good received
+ In intercession for others before God

Through prayer the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church.

"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." (St. Thérèse of Lisieux)

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." (St. John Damascene)

But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? (Psalm 130:1)

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I look to the reasoning of the living first, I seek the answers of my Great friends and family and Ancestors as well, and then if I can not find another way...Hey! You might know what I seek to know.

I hear prayer is useful for seeking inner peace so the brain can get time to remember answers to the cause of any difficulty. Like, "Why didn't I remember to check the Spare tire before we started this trip? If I had just paused for a minute longer."

Chanting and praying not required, but it could give you just the correct amount of time to remember to turn off the iron or the toaster before you leave for your surf board vacation. Counting to ten works for that pause for a moment to make sure I did not leave anything else behind, like my wallet.

Maybe now you would like to discuss more daily life things, I may have some other answers for you. Or maybe you could answer one of mine. As soon as I have another one, that is.

Answer 3

personally i think that atheists have more faith than i as a christian

i only need to talk to God (that is what prayer means BTW) and trust in him to support me in all situations - an atheist has to make sure he can do it all himself which limits his options rather IMO

if iyo prayer doesn't make any difference then what does it matter that others DO pray and it makes a difference for THEM?

but on the other hand if prayer DOES make a difference then that is something that you would do well to address?

Answer 4

Prayer and chanting are useless. But the roman god of fire, Vulcan, is possibly very real. 80% of the time (and this is not and exaggeration), when I ask Vulcan for stuff, it happens!

Unlike his major competitors, Vulcan requires no faith whatsoever apparently. Just say his name when you want something and it happens.

Just say the name of Vulcan and he'll do the rest!

Tip: for best results, ask vulcan for something that is already very likely to occur, like hearing a popular song on the radio. :)

Answer 5

I pray for you while I spend the rest of my day eating good pasta cooked by a nice Italian lady.

May god protect your peanut butter!