What do religious people think they are doing when they pray?

[Nails]

i once had a problem taking off a nut off the axel from my car, and i said Lord Please, PLEASE LORD ALL MIGHT allow me the power to release this stubbern NUT, and it came loose, THen i asked PLEASE lord PLEASE no more crack babys, and the lord said NO, CRACK BABYS make the world turn, now finish fixing your car my son

[Nirvana]

[The True Adonis]

I'm trying not to sound like preachy jerk. It's funny though everyone who denies god as soon as they hit rock bottom or their life is in serious danger or a family members life is in danger they 90% of the time find god.

Not really.  Complete myth.  
Take it from Pat Tillman`s brother.  Pwning Mccain and other religious schmucks at his brother`s funeral:

[Nails]

amen. one bad car wreck and the first words out of their mouth are begging God for forgiveness

So what your saying is God likes people to grovel at his feet, thats why he makes them have bad car wrecks so he feel more important then he already is 

[Lundgren]

You infidels will die when Allah comes to save you from deliverences. But I digress.

[tbombz]

there is something out there beyond our comprehension

existence is beyond our comprehension. material, matter, the very thing of which everything is made, doesnt make any sense at all. energy, the driving force of all existence, is really nothing more than matter. but matter, anytihng solid, is by definiton infinitely divisible. so the atom, the basic building block of all matter, the smallest unit of matter before it explodes into energy, is itself made up of infiniteyly divisible material. think about the membrane, the skin of the atom. what is this solid material covering the outside of this basic unit of matter? and once the atom is split, and it 'transforms' into energy, what then happens to this skin material that was the outside shell of the atom? what is it made of?

thats only the beginning of the beginning

[Mr. Magoo]

amen. one bad car wreck and the first words out of their mouth are begging God for forgiveness

I'll try not to get involved in this thread too much, but you are wrong

A lot of people stop believing in God WHEN something bad happens to them. Because God is suppose to be omniscient (all knowing), omni benevolent (wholly good), and omnipotent (all powerful). So for these 3 to be true, the idea that evil can still exist in the world is not logical.

Example: I'm a grown adult. I walk by a lake. A child is at the edge of the lake drowning. I stand there and watch the child drown. Someone asks me "why didn't you help him?" I reply "I knew he was drowning, i didn't want him to drown, and I could have prevented him from drowning". Your first response would be to think that i am lying about one of those, because those don't make any sense if I still let the child drown, correct?

So for evil to exist in the world with that type of God, God had to have been able to prevent it, seen it coming, and not want it, yet evil exists in the world. 3 options for pro God people to avoid this paradox. They can either deny one of those omnipredicates and say that God isnt all knowing, or wholly good, or all powerful. Or they can deny that evil exists in the world. Or they can use the theodicy argument.

Gayer than typing out philosophy on getbig

EDIT: the type of "God" i am referring to is the God of theism: judaism, islam, christianity

[Lundgren]

You guessed it I have no idea what you fucks are saying as its just as postless as me trying to increase my post count.

[FREAKgeek]

I'm trying not to sound like preachy jerk. It's funny though everyone who denies god as soon as they hit rock bottom or their life is in serious danger or a family members life is in danger they 90% of the time find god.

Why would that be funny? I think that would be pretty remarkable. Remember, you have "felt god's presence" so you are enlightened and know otherwise.

[tbombz]

Or they can use the theodicy argument.

theodicy= justification of god

thats way too vague


evil exists because good exists. everything is dependant upon its opposite.

[#1 Klaus fan]

the human brain responds to prayer in a unique way, a way only activated by prayer. whther or not you realize the necessary existence of God, its an undeniable fact reveleaed through science that the human brain contains a segment devoted to communication with God. take it for what its worth

We could repeat the process and make people pray for the squirrels of the forest instead and the results might be similar. Prayer is the ultimate conditioning tool, in which a person believes he is communicating with something and can change his future life. Of course that affects parts of the brain that aren't usually activated. Person uses all his mental power to make himself believe that the prayer works.

[Army of One]

the human brain responds to prayer in a unique way, a way only activated by prayer. whther or not you realize the necessary existence of God, its an undeniable fact reveleaed through science that the human brain contains a segment devoted to communication with God. take it for what its worth

Im amazed nobody picked up on this Gem, care to post those scientific studies, stud?

[Mr. Magoo]

theodicy= justification of god

thats way too vague


evil exists because good exists. everything is dependant upon its opposite.

okay Augustine. God is all powerful so he could make a world where there was only good, correct?

Theodicy is not that simple. Theodicy says that yes evil exists in the world, yes God could have made the world without evil, but for reasons we as humans cant understand (this is the loophole) evil is necessary. Like an ugly spot on a painting that is ugly by itself but when we see the whole painting, it's necessary to make the painting as a whole beatuiful. This idea comes from Leibniz.

[Lundgren]

Cognitive training(praying) is actually a useful tool for altering peoples lives. Tricking your brain into believing that theres order or purpose in this universe is a very important part of survival. Science nuthuggers do this all day long, grab hold of theories they know nothing about. They only difference is people that believe in science think no one else knows what they know.

[#1 Klaus fan]

Im amazed nobody picked up on this Gem, care to post those scientific studies, stud?

I assumed his post as truth, but yeah some kind of link to those studies would be nice.

[Ursus]

I have never needed to 'find God' as to me he was never lost.

I say a few private prayers each day and I go to Mass. This may sound silly but I do find and feel peace and optimism for being religious. Is this God or simply endorphins through some sort of self-hynosis? Who knows. Either way my beliefs have never caused others harm or impinged on their life.

I believe in God. I do not try to make others do so.

[tbombz]

okay Augustine. God is all powerful so he could make a world where there was only good, correct?

Theodicy is not that simple. Theodicy says that yes evil exists in the world, yes God could have made the world without evil, but for reasons we as humans cant understand (this is the loophole) evil is necessary. Like an ugly spot on a painting that is ugly by itself but when we see the whole painting, it's necessary to make the painting as a whole beatuiful. This idea comes from Leibniz.

you cant understand why evil is necessary? well, if god DID create a world without evil, we were all born 100% morally virtuous people in a world free of pain, tradgedy, discomfort of any kind, would we appreciate our lives? would we have any idea that our lives were good? we would not know that we experienced no pain or discomfort, because we would have no ideas what those things even were.

im a huge fan of leibniz..  he is probably th emost accurate philosoper as to the true nature of existence. as the modern age ended and we moved into the postmodern era, philosphers persuaded by the emperics logical pragmatism became afraid of making any kind of affirmation, and lost any contribution there philosophies may have made in the process.   pragmatists tend to forget that the very heart of their system lies one fundamental fact= nothing can be proven logically undeniable..   neither induction nor deduction is valid.. and thus by taking the pragmatist position they would be better off just submitting a blank piece of parchment..  anyways, i digress...

[HTexan]

I'll try not to get involved in this thread too much, but you are wrong

A lot of people stop believing in God WHEN something bad happens to them. Because God is suppose to be omniscient (all knowing), omni benevolent (wholly good), and omnipotent (all powerful). So for these 3 to be true, the idea that evil can still exist in the world is not logical.

Example: I'm a grown adult. I walk by a lake. A child is at the edge of the lake drowning. I stand there and watch the child drown. Someone asks me "why didn't you help him?" I reply "I knew he was drowning, i didn't want him to drown, and I could have prevented him from drowning". Your first response would be to think that i am lying about one of those, because those don't make any sense if I still let the child drown, correct?

So for evil to exist in the world with that type of God, God had to have been able to prevent it, seen it coming, and not want it, yet evil exists in the world. 3 options for pro God people to avoid this paradox. They can either deny one of those omnipredicates and say that God isnt all knowing, or wholly good, or all powerful. Or they can deny that evil exists in the world. Or they can use the theodicy argument.

Gayer than typing out philosophy on getbig

EDIT: the type of "God" i am referring to is the God of theism: judaism, islam, christianity

off the top off my head, i can see a few key variables you're not counting.
1.) Job 1:7 says that satan roams the earth, and the gospels clearly show Satan temping humans. So if Satan is on earth, what stops him from doing evil? Which brings us to.
2.) If God helps those who ask, why is it his fault for not sticking everyone of us in a protective garden? He tried that already, with brings us to.
3.) original sin. Man's punishment was disobeying God was pain in life.

[Army of One]

I assumed his post as truth, but yeah some kind of link to those studies would be nice.

Yes, Id be interested in these studies that prove that part of the brain is for communication with God!!Did those scientists find Gods phone number, email and facebook page in there?Cumdrizzle is basically saying we proved the existence of God and we now know how to communicate with him, do you really expect those studies to exist?!

[tbombz]

Im amazed nobody picked up on this Gem, care to post those scientific studies, stud?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997741

[#1 Klaus fan]

Lets say you have kennel full of puppies you are trying to raise. Do you challenge them with something to make them appreciate their lives more, like kick them or step on them or do you pet them and give them all the love you can? If you do the latter, you are better than god.

[Mr. Magoo]

you cant understand why evil is necessary? well, if god DID create a world without evil, we were all born 100% morally virtuous people in a world free of pain, tradgedy, discomfort of any kind, would we appreciate our lives? would we have any idea that our lives were good? we would not know that we experienced no pain or discomfort, because we would have no ideas what those things even were.

im a huge fan of leibniz..  he is probably th emost accurate philosoper as to the true nature of existence. as the modern age ended and we moved into the postmodern era, philosphers persuaded by the emperics logical pragmatism became afraid of making any kind of affirmation, and lost any contribution there philosophies may have made in the process.   pragmatists tend to forget that the very heart of their system lies one fundamental fact= nothing can be proven logically undeniable..   neither induction nor deduction is valid.. and thus by taking the pragmatist position they would be better off just submitting a blank piece of parchment..  anyways, i digress...

I'm avoiding a huge list of homework by being on here, so I'll type this and leave for a few hours. God could have created us with that appreciation already built in us. God could have given us that lesson and appreciation already and not need evil if he is all powerful, correct? You're saying that without bad we wont appreciate good. Why cant God make us appreciate good without bad?

[HTexan]

amen. one bad car wreck and the first words out of their mouth are begging God for forgiveness

"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
                Luke 15:7

[Genius]

The Invention Of Lying... with Ricky Gervais comes to mind when reading this.

"The Man In The Sky".

Try this one, then: http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=X9omBYO9T7E&feature=related

[FREAKgeek]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=110997741

"from Christians who speak in tongues to Buddhist monks to people who claim to have had near-death experiences"


The inherent problem with all of this, tbombz, is that everyone's perception on what god is, is entirely different, influenced by your environment and upbringing, which is strong evidence that it's all just wishful thinking.