Why do people pray?

[jmac2222]

Why do people pray?

If you believe that God is omnipotent, then what is the point in praying?

I grew up in Kentucky, in a farming community amoung very religious people. We had a severe drought in 1987, no rain the entire summer. I remember everyone getting together at the local church and praying. Why? If there is a God, then God knows it not raining! God knows what this does to corn.

Can a prayer effect God's will? In Iraq and Afghanistan men and women are being put in harm's way everyday. Surely God knows that they dont want to die or have a limb blown off. Is it necessary to voice these concerns? If so, why?

Giving thanks to God is also a common practice I dont understand. Doesnt an omnipotent God know that you are thankful?

Not wanting this to become a thread about the existence of God

But assuming God does exist, then why pray? Doesnt he/she/it know everything you're going to say and feel anyway?

[buccaneer19]

God doesn't want a part of our lives. he asks for all of our hearts, all of our souls, all of our minds, and all of our strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience, and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires your full devotion, not little bits of your life. A Samaritan woman once tried to debate Jesus on the best time, place, and style for worship. Jesus replied that these external issues are irrelevant. Where you worship is not as important to why you whorsip and how much of yourself you offer to God when you worship. There is a right way to worship and a wrong way to worship. The Bible says, "Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please Him." The kind of worship that pleases God has four characteristics:

God is pleased when our worship is accurate.

God is pleased when our worship is authentic.

God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful.

God is pleased when our worship is practical.

"The Purpose Driven Life"
Rick Warren

BUCCANEER

[Breeze]

I'm not the most religious guy in the world, but I do believe in a higher power. Praying is a way of showing respect and acknowledging that you don't have all the answers. People who think they have the world by the balls and have all the answers are fools.

[majoradams]

People who beleve in god are fools, What proof do you or anyone have of such a thing, its called propaganda, used to scare people for centuries into being civil to one another, they think they have to have faith in some higher power to exist. Its weak minded bullshit, I have faith in myself and my abilities, when i die, i will be put in the ground and that is where i will stay until the last of my bones rot away. Tell me what god has ever done for you or anyone you know. If im wrong and there is a god, then he hates us all.

[Face]

Well, I think there probably is a higher power and if people believe and it gives them hope through the difficult times, then it can't be a bad thing. And to be honest majoradams, I think humans would be civil to one another (well most anyway) regardless of whether they believe in god or not. Doing bad things preys on your conscience; and believe me, you don't have to be religious to have one of those.....

[jmac2222]

Not about whether there is a god or not.

Why do people pray? What is the point if God is ominpotent?
If you do something, he knows you were going to do it. If you dont, he already knows that to. If you feel it, he knows it. If you are going through something, he knows it. Why do we have to voice our concerns?

[LiquidEL]

Because the Lord has given the precious ability to make choices in your life. To make decisions that you yourself find to be right and wrong, without anyone else having to tell you whether these decisions are right or wrong according to someone else.

Ever felt guilty or bad for choices you have made without anyone else even knowing what you may have or have not done? Why would this instinct (if thats what you choose to call it) play a role in what decisions you make?

The same can be said for making choices that are good-natured and charitable. If noone but yourslef knows about it, people should not have a good/warm/happy feeling if they do not benefit from it and noone else knows about it. But people will feel good about thier actions regardless.

You choose to question.

Major chooses to ridicule.

Many choose to not have faith.

Many choose to believe.

And those that choose to believe also make choices beyond the original precept of just believing or having faith. And one of those actions, that some always know as being right, is the choice of prayer.

The Lord allowed us to have autonomy and now we must make our choices accordingly, that we know to be true to ourselves.

[jmac2222]

Please answer the question.

Why if God is omnipotent, do we have to ask for anyhing or give thanks?

Just answer the question. If you are praying everyday, there must be a reason you are doing it. What is that reason?

[LiquidEL]

God is omnipotent.

God has given you the right to make choices.

Now if you choose to not follow God, that is your choice.

I choose to love God and thank him for the many wonderfull gifts he blesses me with everday.

I pray because I know its the right thing to do. I did not need any teaching, church or religion to tell me that. Its between me and the almighty. Pretty simple.

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by LiquidEL
The Lord allowed us to have autonomy and now we must make our choices accordingly, that we know to be true to ourselves.

this statement is logically impossible. you cannot ALLOW someone to be independent. allowing means that it can be taken away which negates the meaning of autonomy itself. I will not get into the debate obviously because religion is ticking time bomb with people, LOL.

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by LiquidEL
God is omnipotent.

God has given you the right to make choices.

Now if you choose to not follow God, that is your choice.

I choose to love God and thank him for the many wonderfull gifts he blesses me with everday.

I pray because I know its the right thing to do. I did not need any teaching, church or religion to tell me that. Its between me and the almighty. Pretty simple.

Okay I lied, I will debate. So if no one ever taught you one thing about god or prayer and you were brought up in a cave, are you saying that you would still know what prayer was and that it was the "right" thing to do? You pray BECAUSE people have told you it is the right thing to do, you make it sound like you just started one day but everything has a reason and usually the reason is that people are scared or guilted into believing something.

ONE OTHER THING. IF THIS GETS OUT OF HAND IT WILL BE LOCKED AND BANNINGS COULD BE HANDED OUT. SO KEEP IT CIVIL AND RATIONAL, or SAY BYE BYE!!!!

[DOUBLE J]

Great thread

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by DOUBLE J
Great thread

Your BANNED!!!!!



:rofl:

[jmac2222]

Originally posted by LiquidEL
God is omnipotent.

I choose to love God and thank him for the many wonderfull gifts he blesses me with everday.

I pray because I know its the right thing to do. I did not need any teaching, church or religion to tell me that. Its between me and the almighty. Pretty simple.

OK...if god is ominpotent, then doesnt he already know how much you love him? Doesnt he already know that you are thankful? Just asking.

Please do not think that I am ridiculing you. I am not. I will not call you names. If this thread was about "belief" then it would be a totally different story. I just see so many people pray for so many things. I do not question thier beliefs (ie who or what they pray to). I just wonder, given the assumption that whatever they are praying to is omnipotent, why do we need to voice our concerns?

Why people pray (just thoughts written down):
1. They are letting God know something
2. They think they can effect God's will
3. Tradition
4. Self benefit (it helps the person sort things out in thier own head, much like meditation or a fishbone diagram)

If you can think of something else please let me know. I agree with Stonecold, please be civil. As far as shutting it down; It is a hot button topic but the thread title tells you that its going to be about religion and it's in the general chat section. If you dont want to hear what people think then you wont open the thread. It's your site though so if the topic is too heavy to be discussed...

[Stonecold54]

Originally posted by jmac2222

If you can think of something else please let me know. I agree with Stonecold, please be civil. As far as shutting it down; It is a hot button topic but the thread title tells you that its going to be about religion and it's in the general chat section. If you dont want to hear what people think then you wont open the thread. It's your site though so if the topic is too heavy to be discussed...

I am just going on how the last few religion threads have turned out.