Evidence God Exists

[Watson]

Not at all. But praying isn't about praying for a specific thing; it is about seeking an answer, searching for something which will reveal to you what comes next or what you are to do in light of certain circumstances. You don't ask God to shit out a gold bar and expect results; you ask God to show you where the bar is, and, if you're paying attention well enough you will find your answer.

[Edwardo Piet]

How is being shown "where the bar is" any less specific?

[Watson]

Because it isn't like God goes and gets the bar for you and does all the work. You are the one seeking an answer, searching for that 'gold bar.' You have to be in that state of mind and actually open to whatever answer you find. Say you ask God why a family member died, and how you are meant to cope with such an event...the answer is within you and God will guide you to it, you just have to be willing to listen. You still don't ask God to actually make things happen just because you want them to happen, unless of course it's meant to happen that way, and if things don't go your way then you ask God how to deal with that. Which shouldn't really be too hard on your own, anyway; you can't always get what you want.

[Edwardo Piet]

So how do you tell when it's God?

[Watson]

Well there's this little thing called 'faith'...

[Edwardo Piet]

Why do you think faith works?

[Watson]

Because it has proven itself to be beneficial to me throughout life, in fact, it has worked. Not only that, but lacking faith has proved to me in the past to be detrimental to me as a person.

[Thor]

And how many times must Christians point out that the effectiveness of prayer cannot be proven with scientific studies or tests?

What a load of crap. We can do studies to determine if prayer is effective. And these studies have shown that prayer has no effect whatsoever. But keep telling yourself that these studies are meaningless. I'm sure it makes you feel better.

God will not allow it to happen.

And you know this..... how?

Think about it: If God wants belief in him and prayer to be based solely on faith, why would he allow any scientific test to yield accurate results?

So your deity won't answer prayers to a statistically significant degree because he doesn't want to let us know he's answering prayers? So if you're praying for something and "God" has met his quota, you're screwed?

In fact, even if a test wasn't specifically conducted, but a random sample was taken later of people who prayed and people who didn't, God would know ahead of time and would nullify such study by equalizing the results.

So "God" knows everything that will happen? Then what is the point of our existence? Obviously, your deity knows what each and every one of us will do during our lifetime. What is the point in having people be born when "God" already knows which ones will be packed off to an eternal firepit?

Even if everyone died, it's because God had determined that their time on earth was up.

So when "God" decides your time on Earth is over he sends a bunch of lunatics to hijack the plane you're riding in and drive it into a building full of people?

If God wanted to save you, he would have found a way to keep you from getting on that plane.

How comforting for the people who lost loved ones on 9/11. "You see, God didn't want to save your son/daughter/brother/sister/husband/wife/friend. Otherwise, he would have found a way to keep them off that plane."

Uhh... 'possible scenarios' don't need any evidence because they are in fact... 'possible scenarios.'

Here's a "possible scenario".... There is a community of devils playing Yahtzee, and every time one of them hits a "Yahtzee" they get to choose a person for death. There are billions of these devils and they play Yahtzee all the time. This is why so many people die every day. And if a devil hits TWO yahtzees in a row he gets to cause some cataclysm that kills hundreds (or thousands) of people! So when a plane crashes, or a bomb goes off, or a mine collapses, you can be sure some devil got a double Yahtzee!

And this is just as likely as any scenario of yours.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

Prayer always works when done in complete kind and understanding. A certain state of mind is required.

Right now, I have no reason to believe that the 'certain state of mind' is 'unquestioning faith.'

Not at all. But praying isn't about praying for a specific thing; it is about seeking an answer, searching for something which will reveal to you what comes next or what you are to do in light of certain circumstances. You don't ask God to shit out a gold bar and expect results; you ask God to show you where the bar is, and, if you're paying attention well enough you will find your answer.

And this is different from self-determination, how?

Because it isn't like God goes and gets the bar for you and does all the work. You are the one seeking an answer, searching for that 'gold bar.' You have to be in that state of mind and actually open to whatever answer you find. Say you ask God why a family member died, and how you are meant to cope with such an event...the answer is within you and God will guide you to it, you just have to be willing to listen. You still don't ask God to actually make things happen just because you want them to happen, unless of course it's meant to happen that way, and if things don't go your way then you ask God how to deal with that. Which shouldn't really be too hard on your own, anyway; you can't always get what you want.

So how exactly is "the answer is within you and god will guide you to it" different from "the answer is within you and you can guide yourself to it"?
The idea of god appears to be entirely superfluous.

Because it has proven itself to be beneficial to me throughout life, in fact, it has worked. Not only that, but lacking faith has proved to me in the past to be detrimental to me as a person.

I'm sure that means you've a great deal of self-determination, even if you think it means that you think it's because your invisible friend is helping you.

[Welsh cake]

And how many times must Christians point out that the effectiveness of prayer cannot be proven with scientific studies or tests?

What part of scientific studies demonstrate the ineffectiveness of prayer do you not understand?

God will not allow it to happen. Think about it: If God wants belief in him and prayer to be based solely on faith, why would he allow any scientific test to yield accurate results? In fact, even if a test wasn't specifically conducted, but a random sample was taken later of people who prayed and people who didn't, God would know ahead of time and would nullify such study by equalizing the results.

You don't get a more pathetic all-powerful god concept than the one who discourages investigation and has to hide from his own creation.