Why People Think They Need to Pray

[Rhondazvous]

Indeed! I'd be very interested in any theist explaining away this problem. If God does answer a prayer, that means he did in fact have a way to improve his plan; or else he is now making his plan worse because of accommodating the prayer. I suppose the nearest thing to a solution here is that God changes his plan to another equivalently good plan that accommodates the details of the prayer. That's a bit ridiculous, I wonder if anyone will go with that? If by changing the prayer that makes the person happier than they would otherwise be, then surely that makes the plan better in of itself. If not, he must add a negative factor in some other area to compensate for this happiness bonus. So you're asking God to shift stuff about; this still amounts to telling him how to do his job.

If he is changing his plan repeatedly because of prayers, then his initial plan is pretty pointless huh.

I think what we're dealing with is the contradictory beliefs that God answers prayers; yet has an unchanging master plan. The cognitive dissidence allows the theist to believe both at once.

And even if z person only prays "Thy will be done," that's still suggesting that god's will won't be done unless we pray for it to be done. Otherwise what is the point? As in any other area, the theists only solution is a fiat insistence that no contradiction exits.

[Rhondazvous]

How true.

[Rhondazvous]

Dammit! I can't hold it in much longer.
I've been carrying a secret for 50 years and the guilt is killing me... I need to come clean.

When I was a wee little bugger, I prayed to God and asked him to stop involving himself with the affairs of others and to act as if he doesn't even exist.
It's all my fault ...I'm sorry everyone!

I saw it in your beady little eyes. Miscreant!

[Pyrrho]

Another reason why people pray.


Three preachers went on a fishing trip and while they were out on the water they decided to confess their sins.
First Preacher: My biggest temptation is drink. I just can’t stay away from it. I even keep a bottle in a drawer in the pastor’s study. I need your prayers.
Second Preacher: We’ll pray for you brother. Now my pet sin is lust. My personal time piece is broken on sex o’clock. I’m always thinking about it, even in the pulpit. I sure covet your prayers.
First Preacher: And we will pray for you.
Then there was silence. The first two preachers looked at the third preacher. He looked out at the water.
First Preacher.  Come on, Brother Tibbs. We know you’ve got something you’d like to get off your chest. Confession is good for the soul.
Brother Tibbs: Well.
Second Preacher: You don’t have to be shamed among us. We’re all sinners saved by grace. No sin is better or worse than any other in the sight of gawd. Come on man, ‘fess up. ‘Fess up.
Brother Tibbs: Well, my biggest temptation is…gossip. I can’t keep a secret to save my life and I can’t wait to get back to town. I’m gonna have everybody praying for you fellers.

That makes me think that the end of that story involves only two preachers making it home from the fishing trip, with the third one having an unfortunate accident.  The two survivors can pray for each other.

[Athene]

Because they don't want to be burdened with thinking?

[Neo-Scholastic]

Prayer is the gift of participating in the Divine Plan.

[Homeless Nutter]

Religious people need to pray sometimes, because otherwise they'd wank themselves into a coma...

[Ravenshire]

Based on this list, I don't think god will like if we pray to lower our blood pressure. God knows we have high blood pressure and if he wants it that way then that the way it should be.

Besides he gave us doctors and blood pressure medicine so we won't need to interrupt him with petty shit while he's doing important stuff like helping some pitcher get a save or that quarterback make that game winning throw!

[Ravenshire]

Prayer is the gift of participating in the Divine Plan.

Could you possibly find a more meaningless statement for this target audience?!?

[robvalue]

Indeed! I'd be very interested in any theist explaining away this problem. If God does answer a prayer, that means he did in fact have a way to improve his plan; or else he is now making his plan worse because of accommodating the prayer. I suppose the nearest thing to a solution here is that God changes his plan to another equivalently good plan that accommodates the details of the prayer. That's a bit ridiculous, I wonder if anyone will go with that? If by changing the prayer that makes the person happier than they would otherwise be, then surely that makes the plan better in of itself. If not, he must add a negative factor in some other area to compensate for this happiness bonus. So you're asking God to shift stuff about; this still amounts to telling him how to do his job.

If he is changing his plan repeatedly because of prayers, then his initial plan is pretty pointless huh.

I think what we're dealing with is the contradictory beliefs that God answers prayers; yet has an unchanging master plan. The cognitive dissidence allows the theist to believe both at once.

And even if z person only prays  "Thy will be done," that's still suggesting that god's will won't be done unless we pray for it to be done. Otherwise what is the point? As in any other area, the theists only solution is a fiat insistence that no contradiction exits.

Indeed!

No theist has even done that much in response so far. Maybe the glaring contradictory problems have hit home for some people.