Do you pray?
JulieF11
Posts: 387 Member
Do you think your prayers are heard? Why or why not?
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No, because I don't believe there is a god. depending on why you pray I can see how it could be a valuable therapeutic tool to promote catharsis or calm anxiety but if you don't believe there is anyone listening at the other end of the line you'd get as much from meditation or a walk with a good friend.0
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i'm ambivalent about there being a deity. i do like to take some personal time for reflection. a very good friend of mine killed himself when we were 17 years old. since then i do spend time talking to him. i sometimes ask for help, but for the most part i just use the idea of him as a sounding board.
i guess it makes me feel less crazy then if i was just talking to myself
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Last night on the road we came apon another car that had just hit a cat. I don't know if it was a prayer but I directed my energy to wishing for peace for the cat as well as the people who accidentally hit it. My family says a type of gratitude prayer before dinner. I try to use positive self-talk as affirmations. A funny one that often brings me peace when getting ready to go to an event is just a reminder to myself that this event is not about me so I don't have to obsess when getting ready. I think that if there is a deity, praying for something in the hopes for some kind of intervention would seem kiss-*kitten*, but that's just me . . .0
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If nothing hears our prayers, do you think that the proclaimed "miracles" some people experience are bogus, or perhaps some are influenced by their strong thought waves (meditation for example)? Just curious....0
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I haven't heard of a "miracle" yet that couldn't be explained by non-supernatural means. There is some evidence to say that prayer can produce a placebo effect which is usually a result of positive thinking about your outcomes. basically the evidence says if you are in good spirits you will do better if you are depressed or thinking things will be bad they will go badly and then the wide variety of in between. I don't believe in any sort of magical mind power any more than I believe in any sort of magical being. So basically when the mother came forward to say her daughters tumor had been cured by Mother Theresa, I believe the doctor who says he took it out not the mother who says it just disappeared, especially since he had the medical report to back up his side of the tale and all the mother had was a priest eager to canonize Mother Theresa. But again to each their own if someone really needs to believe in miracles to get through life that's their right.0
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Nope, that'd be like talking to myself. Miracles are nothing but coincidences.0
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Yes, I do pray and it has helped me through the years.0
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no, i do not pray. I take action.
and prayer can not cause the gods to break the laws of nature, anyway..
For example, gods won't help amputees.
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If nothing hears our prayers, do you think that the proclaimed "miracles" some people experience are bogus, or perhaps some are influenced by their strong thought waves (meditation for example)? Just curious....
fascinating.
Please cite one.
Not a subjective, "I was worried, and then i prayed, and i felt better emotionally from focusing on something (gods) that i have been taught are good."
CUZ there IS something to be said for self-hypnosis and distraction, as well as the mere passage of time to soften our upsets.
but, do list an actual documented "miracle"?0 -
Why would you equate prayer with miracles. Pray is a conduit to the creative intent found in the universe. Whether you personalize this intent as God or sit quietly with it in meditation, I do not think it is there to serve our desires. I do think we are here with a purpose even if we do not know what that purpose is. And, that we have to act conscientiously with good and kind intent, doing the best we can if we are to find that purpose.
A miracle is what happens when our efforts fulfill our desires. Though on occasion, something occurs which is an unexpected blessing. In that case, I think in perfectly reasonable to give thanks. 0 -
Why would you equate prayer with miracles. Pray is a conduit to the creative intent found in the universe. Whether you personalize this intent as God or sit quietly with it in meditation, I do not think it is there to serve our desires. I do think we are here with a purpose even if we do not know what that purpose is. And, that we have to act conscientiously with good and kind intent, doing the best we can if we are to find that purpose.
A miracle is what happens when our efforts fulfill our desires. Though on occasion, something occurs which is an unexpected blessing. In that case, I think in perfectly reasonable to give thanks.
Who is the "you" in your 1st remark?
??
Yes, i have pals who describe this creative intent, and tell me when they meditate, they are "putting the intention out there".
It's a lovely idea,
but, absolutely zero evidence for this as effective in changing anything.
I believe humans CAN " act conscientiously with good and kind intent, doing the best we can"
without prayer,
and without feeling we can take our inner thoughts and somehow, "send them out into the universe".
but, there is little harm is such thinking,
unless the person doing it actually feels he has "helped" someone by doing it and does nothing else. I do not fully understand the difference
between meditating to "put the intention out there"
and
wishing...
Instead of wishing, I find more active, real ways to help others in need, than sitting and imagining my inner thoughts are floating out of my brain(?)
into the air around my head,
and thus, changing results.A miracle is what happens when our efforts fulfill our desires
Your own definition of the word "miracle" IS a lovely idea.
But, i feel this is the result of hard work, or effort, and sometimes, bits of luck, as well.
Doctors can work on you, when you arrive unconscious,
and you wake up cured of a dangerous health issue. No intention or wishing from you was done at all.Though on occasion, something occurs which is an unexpected blessing.
Interesting.
can you give an example?
And who do you "thank"??
If it is gods you thank, i must admit, i sometimes find such "thanks" a bit selfcentric,
that the person praying feels some good thing
was a result of gods intervening to help THEM
when so so many others suffer..........seems kind of conceited to me at times.
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Replace "you" with the more grammatically correct "one".
This is only an opinion, no matter how we may discuss and re-discuss this topic we will never know the "truth" until we die, and perhaps not even then. So, believe what gives you comfort.0 -
Replace "you" with the more grammatically correct "one".
This is only an opinion, no matter how we may discuss and re-discuss this topic we will never know the "truth" until we die, and perhaps not even then. So, believe what gives you comfort.
Thanks for reply .
I so agree! :drinker: I dislike religious ppl saying with authority that they "know" what happens when we die. Cuz they don't.
I also agree, and said same thing myself on some other thread in another of MFP's atheist groups
that if believing we go to a dead ppl party or eternal firepits,
comforts a person, go for it, (even though there is ZERO evidence for this notion)
especially if focusing on such a belief does NOT cause the person to have irrational behaviors or fears in THIS life. (which, it often does, really)0
