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Why People Think They Need to Pray
#1
Why People Think They Need to Pray
A few years ago my mother came out to visit and we spent the night at my sister’s place. The next morning was Sunday and I awoke with a bad headache. They asked me if I wanted to go to church with them. I did not and they both knew why. But neither did I want to sit in my sister’s apartment all morning with nothing to do but think about my aching head. So I went.

While sitting in church the ache began to spread to the back of my head, my neck and shoulders. Even my stomach decided to put in its $.02 of malaise. I wanted to lay down so bad but was sandwiched between my mother and sister in that crowded church. I couldn’t move. The pastor sounded like Obama right down to the “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” I decided to listen just to take my mind off the pain (before I go any further, this is FNOT a testimony about the blessings of going to church. Hie did not convince me that Christianity is true. But I took my own non-religious mental encouragement from his message.

On the way home, it dawned on me that my head no longer hurt. I realized that if I had prayed, I would have been convinced that the prayer was responsible. There would have been nothing anyone could have said to disabuse me. It was my relaxing and letting my body heal itself as it always does.

We’ve heard the testimonies of how god answers prayer, but unless god himself steps in and claims agency for the things that we experience, what we have is not proof, but mere interpretation.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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#2
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
They believe that wishful thinking works like prayer. People pray for lots of things like the headache on i guess you were delusional enough to believe prayer works your body well brain would release a endorphin to make you feel better.
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#3
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
People pray because they think god's current plan could be improved with their suggestions.
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#4
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
(October 11, 2015 at 1:54 pm)dyresand Wrote: They believe that wishful thinking works like prayer. People pray for lots of things like the headache on i guess  you were delusional enough to believe prayer works your body well brain would release a endorphin to make you feel better.

Please read the op again. You may notice that I did not pray. The whole point was if I had been a Christian and had payed I would have thought it was the prayer that made my headache go away, but I did not pray and it went away anyhow.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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#5
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
(October 11, 2015 at 1:54 pm)robvalue Wrote: People pray because they think god's current plan could be improved with their suggestions.
Smile
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.

I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire

Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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#6
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
(October 11, 2015 at 1:54 pm)robvalue Wrote: People pray because they think god's current plan could be improved with their suggestions.

I remember thinking about that as a child, when I was still a Christian.  Prayer seemed like blasphemy to me, as it would be doing just what you are saying.  I realized that people around me had this religion thing wrong, but it took a bit longer to realize that all religion is wrong.

Your point illustrates how irrational and inconsistent people are when it comes to their religion.  It does not take a genius to see that most religious people are inconsistent and therefore wrong, no matter what the truth is.  If one wants any hope of being right, one needs to be consistent.

"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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#7
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
(October 11, 2015 at 1:52 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote: ...

On the way home, it dawned on me that my head no longer hurt. I realized that if I had prayed, I would have been convinced that the prayer was responsible. ...

The latin name for the fallacy that would be committed in such a case is post hoc ergo propter hoc.  It means "after this, therefore because of this."  People commit this fallacy all the time with home remedies for illnesses and in many other contexts.  Here you can read a bit about it if you wish:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc

You can also search online for post hoc ergo propter hoc for more on the subject.

"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
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#8
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
'Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy.' - Ambrose Bierce

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#9
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
Praying it doesn't work as it is wishful thinking. I don't get why people pray it is selfish so why pray for something to get better
instead of making it better. I believe it is that well.. christians who pray for something to get better are to lazy to make it better.
Atheism is a non-prophet organization join today. 


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#10
RE: Why People Think They Need to Pray
[Image: 5c987ddbf4c4d536a5dc54dd25c052dc.jpg]
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