whats the point of praying?

Question

doesn't god have a divine plan? whats the point of having a divine plan if your prayer is gonna mess it up? and when prayers are denied the most common thing i hear is "its gods will", well if its gods will and hes gonna do what he wants to anyway why even bother praying?

*I've been atheist since i actually had a say in whether i wanted to go to church or not

Memetics you already won best answer for being the only person to know where i got that lol and i 100% agree with you

Answer 1

George Carlin FTW

Answer 2

None at all, save for the previously-mentioned placebo effect. If you are a religious person and you really believe that there is a god up there, then it makes YOU feel better, even though you
YET, in the bible, it says many times that, if you have the smallest amount of faith, the 'mustard seed' quote, you WILL be given what you ask for. Mountains will move at your request, etc.
This begs the question of why aren't mountains moving all over the place right now? Why are amputees limbs never ever restored? Why aren't innocent children saved from humanitarian disaster situations? Why isn't Grannie's cancer cured? So many similar questions that the deluded cannot answer other then the old familar rhetoric - "It is god's will" or 'God moves in mysterious ways".
All total nonsense, of course, but, via intense indoctrination of impressionable children by dumb-witted but well-meaning parents, the myth of this archaic belief system persists and any old fabrication will answer the question of why prayers are not answered at all. praying is just like talking on the telephone when there is no-one on the other end. You are talking to YOURSELF!!
This indoctrination (translate as brain-washing) is even more so in Islamic countries, where each child WILL be a muslim. There is NO choice in the matter and do not DARE to question anything, especially if you are female.
There is no god.
There is no divine plan.
It is all wishful thinking.
It is all in your head.
Prayers are a waste of time.

Answer 3

Hi.

I read your question, and I had to tell my story. This is completely true, BTW.

I have never been big on prayer. I have never been a very religious person, but I still believe in God and Jesus. I never prayed at my bedside. Never wished on a star. I never prayed at a dinner table, or before any other meal. And most of all, though I hate to admit it, I never really pray at church.

On thursday, my dad suffered from a heart attack right at home, in his office. My mom got home only 3 minutes before it happened. She was there through the whole thing. Once he went unconcious, she started chest compressions within 30 seconds. She is a cardiology nurse. My mom got 911 on the line during all this. My dad died that night. I ran outside when I heard that he had no pulse, and he wasn't breathing. I prayed and prayed. "God", I said,"please let him be okay! Just give him one more chance! He doesn't deserve this!" I prayed. And prayed. and prayed. I felt crazy and desperate, and I felt a warm sensation through my body.

Soon enough, the paramedics arrived. They shocked him 3 times and intubated him. They finally got a pulse! He is now alive and well. I can tell you now, I am a firm believer that miracles do happen, and prayer does indeed have its purpose.
God decided that day that my dad deserved a second chance. He never did anything wrong, and I am so grateful that he can start over now. It looks like he has a nice long life ahead of him. I couldn't be more thankful for this.

Answer 4

Prayers are affirmations. The idea is to keep your focus on the goals and plans for your life. Religion has a way of placing some meaning on our expectations. Put good ideas in your mind and good things can and do happen. When a person is real sick I notice they pray and maybe it is just to make sure they have all the bases covered.

Answer 5

I've put a lot of thought into philosophy and theology in my life. I was born and raised Catholic, but am now agnostic. I respect all religions, especially the Catholic faith, because of all the assaults they put up with today in modern society.

Moving on...

About God's divine plan: The plan starts at the beginning of time, and ends at the end of time. So essentially, His plan IS the coarse of time. Everything that has ever happened will affect his plan. But since God is everywhere and always, he is all-knowing as well. (I'm assuming here you're talking about a Judeo-Christian God.) It of course is God's will, in that, if he answered all of your prayers, there would be no challenges left in life. Helen Keller said that "A happy life is not a life with no hardships, but a challenge to master those hardships." If God answered every prayer, there would be no living in life.

Praying is not so much a form of asking, as much as it is a form of meditation. I've had my share of sh*t in my life. There were many times where I had such a strong urge to kill myself, but realized that the only thing that kept me alive was the idea of what it would do to my family and closest friends.

BUT KNOW THIS:

My philosophy, more than anything else in this field, is that God HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES. I think that God serves as a kind of phenomenal force, whether it's the Judeo-Christian God, the Hindu God, Buddha, or anything of that sort.

See, we're all looking for answers. But that's the thing about life. Life is a quest for knowledge. We're never gonna know everything. We can learn almost everything, but we will never be sure of the existance of a higher entity.

Some thoughts I think about the existance:

-The big bang started the universe (in theory, of which I believe), but what triggered it? Where did the singularity come from? If there is no space, there is no time. So at the beginning of time (the singularity's explosion), what began that?

-What created the spark of life? Every animal has a parent. But who was the parent of the first living creature? It was obviously a microbe, but that also has a parent. It's not like a rock suddenly split and half of it started reproducing. You can't really create life without using a biotic ingredient (for lack of a better term). Of course, there's more planets out there very similar to Earth. If they're inhabited by anything alive at all, I wouldn't know. But if there was a God that created life, I don't think he would have created planets like that without putting life on it. But of course, God is very unpredictable. I've only asked him really for one thing in my life, and he never answered. Not a single sign.

Back to the subject:

Prayer. God helps those who helps themselves. As much as I hate to say this, we have no free will, when you think about it. If the future is already determined, then what you do now will of course affect it, but the future has already been determined, so what you do will affect the future, but God already knows what you're going to do, and plan accordingly. So you can pray, ask God to give you a sign, to help you make a descision, but He won't do your grudge work. God helps those who help themselves, you know.

Answer 6

god does have a divine plan, however, he is perfect, and he makes no mistakes, the point of praying is to tell god how u feel and wat u need, if ur prayer did not work its not bcuz of gods will, its us, god does not control us, we control our lives and hes only there to guide us, prayers dont always happen simply bcuz if everyone could pray and wish for something then life would b too easy, and god does not like that, he put man in the world to prove him that that person belongs in heaven.

prayers do not mess up god's plan, it gives him ideas, he is too powerful he can change anything in less that seconds.

Prayers that involve material stuff is too materialistic and thats why god does not answer ur prayer when u want somethin...

Answer 7

Firstly Im also not religious in any way - but I believe people pray because they have such a strong belief in their particular faith and praying helps them deal with life or what ever they are going through at the time or it just may make them feel good - whats the harm?

Answer 8

authentic prayer isn't reciting a itemizing of needs or desires, yet a sort of communion with source...very like calling up a chum to maintain the friendship's value. that's an confirmation of dating to the Divine, allowing us to stir our hearts' embers into small bonfires of union. As we pray we extra relatively understand and unite with our author, by using regardless of call that's observed as. basically as though we've been to forget approximately approximately a chum, the dating could slip faraway from us, so, too, ignoring our source starts to douse the fire of friendship and loving union with the Divine. i'm Sirius

Answer 9

There is no point, really. Research has shown that prayer doesn't work. It doesn't raise your chances of getting your desired outcome any more than not praying, and you are wasting time that could be spent doing something productive.
It does make people feel good, but isn't that false hope?

Answer 10

Your prayers are never denie, but they are not to be greedy or selfish or to be used for the wrong purposes, the point of praying is a time of finding your inner self with God, it is a way to step out of the flesh (Sin) Prayer should not only be at church, but at morning, or night, or at anytime that you are alone, do not hold back your emotions, just let your emotions erupt, and flow through God, and he will answer you, I promise, he will not just give you what you want, he will give you the oppurtunity to choose to have it or not, "The oppurtunity" think about that carefully, he will give you the oppurtunity to change your ways, or to apply your faith, or to accept his gift, choose your prayers wisely my friend...

God Bless you

Love you

Answer 11

Perhaps our prayers are part of his grand plan. Praying is a good way to keep in touch with God. To ask for His help, understanding, and forgiveness. It is also a way for us to thank him for what He has given us. No prayer go unanswered, it is just that sometimes we don't how that fits into His plan for us. As trite as it sounds, it is God's will. I guess you have be of a spiritual nature to understand.