I'm not for or against prayer requests in any way and usually I will just ignore them but I do wonder, does it make any difference if 1 christian prays because your cat Mr. Fluffers hurt his paw (or whatever) or 20 christians? What about 2000? 2,000,000,000? Does God listen better when more christians are asking for the same thing?
If that is so why aren't you all praying to God to end hunger, or malaria, or AIDS, or something important rather than the health of your cat or something equally selfish?
If not, why bother with prayer requests at all?
2007-04-25 02:09:11 · 27 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
sansfear, desiree and deke: you guys slay me.
2007-04-25 02:14:26 · update #1
birdsflies: what is a "milliennium"? If you mean "millennium" you know we just moved into a new one, right? Couple of years ago?
2007-04-25 02:21:28 · update #2
Wow, Rose, way to totally NOT answer my question. Also, I do not think I will ever pray, I wouldn't know what to pray to. Sky daddies don't do it for me.
2007-04-25 02:40:20 · update #3
I think it's really about them wanting people to "spare them a thought".
It feels good as a human being to know that someone is thinking of you, and that's how i generally treat it when a friend or family member says they've been praying for me.
If someone tells me they're worried about something happening at whatever time, I'll happily tell them that I'll be thinking of them. A christian will tell them that they'll pray for them.
Underneath it all, I think the sentiment is basicly the same.
2007-04-25 02:37:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
I always thought prayer requests were silly, even back when I was a Christian...now that's saying something.
But you know why they pray about their cat's paw instead of praying for their god to end world hunger don't you? It's because the cat's paw will heal and then they can praise their god for it. Whereas with ending world hunger they'd actually have to go out and do something about it. It's not going to end just because people are praying. They want answered prayers so they focus in on something small that they can actually attribute to their god.
2007-04-25 09:35:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
i believe that prayer is just a way of sending positive energy. any good energy is helpful.
as long as someone isn't praying for god to make me see the "light" i never turn down prayer.
the thing a lot of people don't understand is all the prayer in the world won't help without some kind of action behind it. you can pray all you want for a new job, but if you don't go out and look you're never going to find anything.
i'll always try to send some positive energy to anyone who needs it.
eclectic pagan
2007-04-27 18:39:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think most prayer requests are frivolous. I think prayer is for us, to focus our thoughts & lead us good decision making or to peace with a situation.
Praying for fluffers sore paw will not make God alter the physical reality of the orderly universe. Fluffers needs to learn to keep his paw out of the mousetrap. If fluffers would pray for widsom, perhaps he would be led to that conclusion.
2007-04-26 12:25:46 · answer #4 · answered by G's Random Thoughts 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
LOL at Mr. Fluffers! That's as cute as Mr. Barky von Schnauzer.
My cats are the only things I'd actually consider making a prayer request for. Purely out of superstition.
Being an atheist, I shouldn't really answer this question, but I couldn't resist Mr. Fluffers.
2007-04-25 09:30:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 1⤋
The thing i don't understand is why do they bother praying at all if there's a good chance god won't even grant their prayers anyway!?
They say unanswered prayers are "god's will"..... god won't grant wishes oops... i mean prayers.... unless it's in his "master plan"..... So, if you pray once for something & you don't get it..... why bother getting more people to pray for the same thing? Are they hoping that if enough people get together & pray for the same thing that it will change god's mind about what HE wants?
My cat is dying..... everyone pray for it & maybe god will make my kitty better so he can be with me longer! How lame.... If it's the cat's time to die... why would god go against that for your purpose? You know? it's all selfish wishing..... like wishing to a genie but the genie is invisible & hasn't even told you he's going to grant you any wishes...... And if by some coincidence your wish does come true.... they automatically assume it's god who granted their wish when it's really just a coincidence that they got what they wanted. In fact, they probably made it happen themselves. If you get a raise at work... it's not god's work... it's your work that makes your boss recognize you and give you the raise! There's no miracle involved. It's convenient that they say "god helps those who help themselves"..... So mr. worker helps himself at work by being a great employee so god helps him by giving him a raise? No, his hard work got him that raise... but he thinks it's god because he's been brainwashed to believe that god only helps those who help themselves.
2007-04-25 09:17:25 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 1⤋
Fortunately, in spite of the so-called public prayers we hear in church, prayer is actually among the most intimate of activities.
Prayer is the communication which we hold with ourselves, and with the 'Divinity' within us, or however one might imagine the transcendent or 'God' etc.
The activity of prayer has more to do with how it shapes and effect us, rather than how it could possibly persuade and change God -- of course the Bible, like many other scriptures, says that God is unchangeable 'with no shadow of turning' -- so it seems impossible to persuade or change God in this context.
It's possible that prayer is the way that humans plant seeds of forgiveness and interdependence in our lives.
In this context, no prayer is too trivial, and no request too large for that Power, whatever it is or isn't, which inspires so many . . .
2007-04-25 09:31:50 · answer #7 · answered by Kedar 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Maybe I should round up 100 Christians and hold them at knife point so they can pray for God to give me $10,000,000. Or do I need 567 Christians for that amount of money.
2007-04-25 23:03:35 · answer #8 · answered by Sarcasma 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually when you pray god is supposed to answer yes,no, or wait. Given those choices it's better if people just save their breath and time and just go ahead and fix their own problems instead of waiting for the sky daddy to do it.
2007-04-25 09:16:27 · answer #9 · answered by Armand Steel 3 · 6⤊ 0⤋
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnT0S.vmRVL.IIihqHD2JR0J5wt.?qid=20070423154501AA8n9Wo
This kind of says it all for me. "I have so much respect for my God that it's appropriate to offer Yahoo points to whoever gives me the best reason to pray for them."
I've never pretended I don't have a problem with prayer requests in R&S, but I just can't be bothered even trying to point out what's wrong with them anymore. It's a battle I'll never win, and I've got more important things to worry about.
Like who will be the next to convert to penguinism, that kind of important thing!
2007-04-25 09:51:44 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋