# Do prayer really answered?



## bahaushe (Jul 17, 2015)

Spending many years being prayed without answered are one of the main reason i turned against religion. Religions apologist i.e Islam, often claim muslim's prayer never got ignored provided it is constructive ones, but it may have three consequences. 1. It may be answered instantly. 2. It may delay to be answered. 3. Or the prayer would be change to the most compatible one.


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## Aribeth (Jan 14, 2012)




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## IllusiveOne (Jul 1, 2015)

Obviously praying does not work. I realized this when my prayers to the Pink Unicorn God were not being answered.


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## NerdlySquared (Jul 18, 2015)

I think even most religious people know their prayers won't work at some subconscious level, that's why you rarley see anyone praying that their leg grows back or a plane crash uncrashes or something off the wall like that.

The milk jug example above is apt, but I doubt it will sway many who don't really want to hear it.

I think prayer can provide a certain comforting release to many as it can give a sense of at least perceived agency in powerless situations; to others it's part of a rutine which plays a much bigger part in people's lives than they are willing to sometimes admit. But no of course it doesn't work, like most religious inventions it can span the spectrum from a waste of time to harmful. But it's important to understand why people do it and the context that brought them to it, nothing occurs in a vacuum.


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## undertakerfreak1127 (Jul 20, 2015)

If everything is God's will and he has a plan for all of us, what's the point in praying?


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## Hylar (Jul 15, 2014)

Whether prayers are really answered or not is impossible to know. It is true though that prayers often bring comfort and a sense of well being. They can make people feel better and more confident about certain things, such as facing a difficult situation. It will also focus your mind and likely help calm you down and reduce anxiety, much in the same way meditation does.
Personally I don't pray, but I can appreciate the advantages of doing so.


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## Mikko (Jan 21, 2014)

You can't just pray and wait for something to happen.
Ora et Labora.
You have to work your best too instead of not doing anything.
If you're lazy enough to work, then why should God answer your prayers?
Besides, if you are not praying wholeheartedly, it seems like you're just saying words and not prayers.


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## SelfCompulsoryIsolation (Dec 30, 2013)

undertakerfreak1127 said:


> If everything is God's will and he has a plan for all of us, what's the point in praying?


^ This guy is right. Assuming God exists, it's impossible to escape his will. Plus, he's all-knowing. Therefore, he already knows what you're going to pray for and has already come up with how he's going to answer it.

Basically, he's decided your life for you, and there's no escaping it. He does what he wants and doesn't take any input.

But this is obviously all hypothetical, as he doesn't actually exist.


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## markwalters2 (Mar 18, 2013)

Mikko said:


> You can't just pray and wait for something to happen.
> Ora et Labora.
> You have to work your best too instead of not doing anything.
> If you're lazy enough to work, then why should God answer your prayers?
> Besides, if you are not praying wholeheartedly, it seems like you're just saying words and not prayers.


Gather 100 of your most hardworking and pious people from your religious group. Surround an amputee and pray as hard as you can. When will the amputee's limb grow back? Will it ever grow back?


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## ljubo (Jul 26, 2015)

I asked for people to pray for me in christian groups on Facebook, some days later i got a strange feeling of love and my depression was gone. But i sinned again and the good feeling was gone.

I think it was the holy spirit.


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## Foh_Teej (May 5, 2004)

ljubo said:


> I asked for people to pray for me in christian groups on Facebook, some days later i got a strange feeling of love and my depression was gone. But i sinned again and the good feeling was gone.
> 
> I think it was the holy spirit.


With this standard, no wonder people believe in magic wizard love from above.


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## Sidhe (Jul 7, 2015)

One of the biggest reasons I turned from god was that he didn't answer me when I needed him most. I asked him to heal me, and he didn't. He let my sickness go on. I've been told by religious people that it "was all part of some grand plan" "that I don't comprehend the power of eternity" or that "other people had more important things to pray about."

If he was there and he heard me and he ignored me, then **** him. I don't want to be praying and worshipping and going on about how great god is when he left me to suffer the way he did. 

If he wasn't there...well, he just doesn't ****ing exist, does he? And I'm not worshipping something that doesn't exist just for the feel good.


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## vsaxena (Apr 17, 2015)

Fact is there is no grand plan. There's just randomness and luck of the draw, and we got some horrible, horrible cards.



Sidhe said:


> One of the biggest reasons I turned from god was that he didn't answer me when I needed him most. I asked him to heal me, and he didn't. He let my sickness go on. I've been told by religious people that it "was all part of some grand plan" "that I don't comprehend the power of eternity" or that "other people had more important things to pray about."
> 
> If he was there and he heard me and he ignored me, then **** him. I don't want to be praying and worshipping and going on about how great god is when he left me to suffer the way he did.
> 
> If he wasn't there...well, he just doesn't ****ing exist, does he? And I'm not worshipping something that doesn't exist just for the feel good.


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## Watching (Aug 7, 2015)

bahaushe said:


> Spending many years being prayed without answered are one of the main reason i turned against religion. Religions apologist i.e Islam, often claim muslim's prayer never got ignored provided it is constructive ones, but it may have three consequences. 1. It may be answered instantly. 2. It may delay to be answered. 3. Or the prayer would be change to the most compatible one.


Here's an outlook for you.

Most prayers are never answered, but sometimes you can pray for an answer.


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## GreyWorld (Oct 8, 2015)

bahaushe said:


> Spending many years being prayed without answered are one of the main reason i turned against religion. Religions apologist i.e Islam, often claim muslim's prayer never got ignored provided it is constructive ones, but it may have three consequences. 1. It may be answered instantly. 2. It may delay to be answered. 3. Or the prayer would be change to the most compatible one.


When I was a Christian, I did my best to pray the right way. I always prayed for others first and myself last, thanked God for listening, etc....but I never felt like God was really listening. It just felt like I was talking to the walls and God never heard me. None of my prayers were ever answered. God never cared when I was bullied at school. Good things happened and bad things happened, and it seemed like God had nothing to do with it. I became an atheist when I was 30, partly because of the lack of answers to my prayers.

Is it difficult to be an atheist in Nigeria? Do your friends and family know? Or do you hide it so they won't be angry or upset? I am glad to see people from other countries on these forums. Hope you are doing well.


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## eukz (Nov 3, 2013)

SelfCompulsoryIsolation said:


> ^ This guy is right. Assuming God exists, it's impossible to escape his will. Plus, he's all-knowing. Therefore, he already knows what you're going to pray for and has already come up with how he's going to answer it.
> 
> Basically, he's decided your life for you, and there's no escaping it. He does what he wants and doesn't take any input.
> 
> But this is obviously all hypothetical, as he doesn't actually exist.


This!!

I'm confident that most of adult believers deep inside are convinced their preayers don't work, and in church they kind of pretend just for the picture.

Considering this, I still don't understand how don't they get how tyrannical their god is...


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## reaffected (Sep 3, 2011)

No because you're praying to something that doesn't exist.


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## livetolovetolive (Jun 11, 2015)

I think prayer is a form of mediation. It allows the prayer to become more receptive to themselves and on some level they become responsible for the hopes they are praying for without realizing it, and making it come to be in some indirect way.

Or perhaps God really is receptive to the earnestness of people who pray. Or maybe it's somewhere in the middle of those two things.


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## bahaushe (Jul 17, 2015)

GreyWorld said:


> Is it difficult to be an atheist in Nigeria? Do your friends and family know? Or do you hide it so they won't be angry or upset?


Really, it is hardly to found an atheist in Nigeria though there is no way to confirmed because some people may hide it for fear of rejection.

Religion here in Nigeria being regarded with high superiority. I myself i tend to hide my apostasy, i never tell my family or friends that i'm atheist because i knew this will upset them, possibly i may even be assasinated by some extreme muslims.


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## 7th.Streeter (May 11, 2011)

I honestly feel prayer... It helps us to rely on God and puts us in a position that shows God is indeed God and not the other way around. 

I feel if anyone desires to be a Christian, you have to get that scripture: " your will be done" into your head and heart... 

We don't always pray to change events,god knows what we need and want ( and w/o even praying BC I dont pray all the time...infact I haven't in a while... God still gives us what we need BC he's that generous) 

We pray BC he tells us to..god is very big on obedience... 

Plus people all around the world need prayer, from Syrian refugees to the abused in our homeland...

Anyway I hope I don't sound preachy...bc everything in saying I telling myself in a way... I've been mad at God... BC of my life and other things I don't understand...i get it...but at some point you just have to trust him...( which is hard..i kno) 


As for prayer...not all have been answered but the ones that have been I recorded in a journal so I can remember that God does see me . 


I hope this helps 😊


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## TicklemeRingo (Jan 11, 2013)

In show business there is a saying about reading reviews of your work, which goes along the lines of:

_"If you believe it when they compliment you, you'll believe it when they insult you"_

Similarly, if you believe that a god is rewarding you/answering your prayers when good things happen to you, you'll believe you are being punished when bad things happen to you.

^In other words, faith is a double-edged sword. It can lock you into a cycle of anxiety -> temporary relief of anxiety through prayer -> more anxiety.


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## GreyWorld (Oct 8, 2015)

> I feel if anyone desires to be a Christian, you have to get that scripture: " your will be done" into your head and heart...


See, this is something I don't understand. Isn't God going to do his will, anyway? In that case, why pray for his will to be done? Why pray for anything? God has a plan for our lives, we are told, but then we are told to pray whenever something goes wrong and ask God to fix it. Maybe God's plan involves your child dying of cancer. Praying for the child to get well means you are trying to subvert God's will or change his mind. You are basically saying that God's plan isn't good enough and you should beg for him to change it. Prayer makes no sense to me. It makes people feel better, I guess, but it actually accomplishes nothing at all, and even goes against their own teachings.


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## ManicXenophobe (Nov 8, 2013)

the only prayers that are answered are self-fulfilling prophecies, things that would happen anyway, or coincidences.


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## theotherone (Sep 1, 2015)

If someone can't wait on God and go against him that is there choice. Nobody anything is as easy as what's thrown at us in society. They give us everything that makes us empty but 

We were created by someone who gave us life and the source to feel complete... only thru God.

And for those who don't believe ur world is still missing well.... everything without a God.


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## ND 123 (Jan 10, 2016)

GreyWorld said:


> See, this is something I don't understand. Isn't God going to do his will, anyway? In that case, why pray for his will to be done? Why pray for anything? God has a plan for our lives, we are told, but then we are told to pray whenever something goes wrong and ask God to fix it. Maybe God's plan involves your child dying of cancer. Praying for the child to get well means you are trying to subvert God's will or change his mind. You are basically saying that God's plan isn't good enough and you should beg for him to change it. Prayer makes no sense to me. It makes people feel better, I guess, but it actually accomplishes nothing at all, and even goes against their own teachings.


 very well said. A lot of common sense in this post.


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## roxybudgy (Jan 26, 2015)

They say God works in mysterious ways... which to me sounds like a lame cop out.

People who have faith tend to rationalise supposed action/inaction to their prayers in that God has helped them somehow (for example: pray to pass a test, you study really hard, pass, attribute success to God answering your prayers) or if you don't get what you prayed for, then they assume that God knows best and has his reasons for not giving you what you want.

Reminds me of this joke:



> So there's this huge flood one day, and an entire town looks like it's going to be swallowed up by the waters. And the Police and Rescue Agencies are running all over the place trying to get people to safety.
> 
> So they send the rescue boat over to this house where a guy's sitting on the roof with the water lapping around his ankles and they say "Come on, quickly, there isn't much time"
> 
> ...


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## TheGuardian (Jun 20, 2015)

I believe praying has a placebo effect.


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