Has God ever really answered your prayers ?

Originally posted by ButterCookie
Long ago, back when I was delusional...oops....I mean 'religious', I saw that something was completely wrong.

I knew terminally ill people, who prayed to live but then died..
I knew impoverished people, who prayed to eat, but went hungry
I knew married couples, who prayed to stay together but then divorced
I (being a former Marine) knew SEVERAL military personnel, who prayed for peace but were sent to war and died.

SO

I logically formed the simple conclusion:

**Either god is incompetent or simply does not care**

and either way, he does not deserve any life-long worship

You neither understand Prayer, nor the God that I pray too.

All that Suffering which you have seen is perceived differently by True Christians.

We expect to Suffer in this life, we expect to face trials and difficulties and opposition to our Faith.

We rejoice in our Suffering and and instead of Praying for God to do what WE WANT, We pray that God will do what he Wants. This is how Christ taught us to pray.

True Christians Pray for Gods will to be done and rejoice no matter the circumstances.

We do not consider God to be a genie in a bottle who grants all our wishes. We view him as a King whom we serve and who shows us his will through Prayer. He helps us to ENDURE the struggles of this Life, he does not Remove all the struggles of Life. Certainly there is blessing in the here and now, but it pales in comparison to the Blessings that are to come.

Bottom line the Goal of a True Christian is not to live a comfortable and lavish life, free from all pain and suffering. It is to see that the will of God is done on Earth as it is in Heaven and this is precisely what true Christians pray for... not for a self serving wish list.

Soul

reply to post by MrUncreated
I could not agree more.I was brought up by a religious fanatic who tortured and humiliated me most of my childhood.I finally managed to break free in my 30s.I have never been more at peace.I cringe when I think about all the years wasted preaching and blindly following the FLOCK and the sociopathic monsters that lead them. Deep down I always new better I just didn't have the courage to question the ENLIGHTENED ones! So to answer the question has god ever answered any of my prayers. Any god that allowed that to happen to a child has my doubts about answering any prayers. And besides the rich don't need god they can buy whatever they need unlike the poor starving,diseased and dying fellow humans that inhabit our selfish and uncaring world.

reply to post by LastProphet527


One thing that bugs me in life is that people assume I am christian because I believe there is a god. I do not worship a book, graven image.

To answer your question, yes god has answered many of my prayers, but I believe prayer is nothing more than thinking. Ever hear the phrase god helps those who help themselves? Got a question? Think about it, ponder it, study it and you can find an answer. God created your brain. Scientists actually pray more often than christians and their prayers are often answered.

I agree with you about the conjured gods of many religions, they're actually his opposit. Supposedly the anti-christ would come in the name of god and raise armies that spread destruction and hate. Christianity and many religions came in the name of god and raised armies that spread destruction, hate and divided us against ourselves.

There is no such thing as god.

In fact, if youve ever thaught "god" watches you or answered your prayers, you are certifiably schizophrenic.

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that affects the way a person acts, thinks, and sees the world. People with schizophrenia have an altered perception of reality. They may "see" or "hear" things that don’t exist, speak to people who are not there, or feel like they’re being constantly watched.

reply to post by humphreysjim


You couldn;t possibly get your prayers answered, because you do not believe in God.

reply to post by kman420


You're the one living in a world rife with murder, hate, depression, famine, massive unbalance of power, war, greed, and intolerance. So who is crazy again?

Yes.

reply to post by LastProphet527

Has God ever answered just answered 1prayer in your entire life, in which you can actually say it was the good lord that answered it? Why is it that 100% of all humans’ prayers go unanswered every second of every body’s life here on earth, why? It was told to me that the God the populace conjured through a picture isn’t the God that you’re looking for or think your praying to, in fact ,the God that you look for is not yet created, therefore, I see why prayers go unanswered and no happiness dwells in this hell you call earth. What in the world did you humans summon from the depth of not heaven or good, is beyond me! So, what has this…conjured pretend God ever done for you ,besides throw you in a big pot of sin and wish you well on your journey in life in the flesh of rules that will always be broken. What God are you really praying to?

God didn't create humanity so He could spend the centuries solving our problems for us. In point of fact, 99% of our ills are of our own making and if we had a handy deity to pop in and wipe our butts every time we messed our drawers, we'd learn nothing.

Not a damned thing.

It is the life experience that is the gift and from it we either grow or we waste.

But as for the prayers? Yes, I have had prayers that were answered. Sometimes it was in my favor, sometimes the answer was no. That's the other thing... because there is no promise that every prayer is going to get a standing ovation. Sometimes we need to toil and plow a tough row. That's part of that experience thing.

How do I know that it was God that answered my prayer and not some random coincidence? That's where the word 'faith' comes in and it is a very personal thing. You may have no faith in any deity but... that's your life and your choice.

One man's poison is another man's feast, ya know?

Have a nice day

reply to post by LastProphet527


No prayers ever go unanswered, but they continue to be unheard. What are the intentions in the prayer being said because God sees and viewpoints and words which are in the heart. Only those who want to hear will hear. But there are those who will not accept what God wants to say, simply because they deny His Word, and they will continue to deny It and take part with those who killed Him.

reply to post by cecilmeyer


Those who treat children poorly are themselves simply passing on the misery the world we created handed them. Moreover the misery handed to them by this world of ours will be returned to those who handed it in the creation of monsters such as serial killers and rapists. The rich are only the rich because the poor support them. The poor and the rich alike worship an inanimate object called "the almighty dollar." If the poor did not worship the dollar the rich would have no power to subjugate them. The poor bring their own misery by worshipping an inanimate object. The rich too are miserable, if they were not frightened every moment of their lives then why all the body guards?

Originally posted by LastProphet527
Has God ever answered just answered 1prayer in your entire life, in which you can actually say it was the good lord that answered it?

Why is it that 100% of all humans’ prayers go unanswered every second of every body’s life here on earth, why?

It was told to me that the God the populace conjured through a picture isn’t the God that you’re looking for or think your praying to, in fact ,the God that you look for is not yet created, therefore, I see why prayers go unanswered and no happiness dwells in this hell you call earth.

What in the world did you humans summon from the depth of not heaven or good, is beyond me!

So, what has this…conjured pretend God ever done for you ,besides throw you in a big pot of sin and wish you well on your journey in life in the flesh of rules that will always be broken.

What God are you really praying to?

God has one flaw,and thats, the '' flaw of never being flesh ''

edit on 4-5-2012 by LastProphet527 because: (no reason given)

edit on 4-5-2012 by LastProphet527 because: (no reason given)

Yes, prayer does work. It is not the prayer that does not work but the faith that is broken. People pray for things that are not from the spirit. Prayers of the flesh our not answered by the lord of the spirit. Money, wealth, power, theses please the flesh but do nothing to build up your spirit. Therefore these prayers remain unanswerd because they were prayed for out of greed and lust.

Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you and that God's will be done in your life. Pray this everyday and expect that God will answer, for this is the type of prayer he promises to answer. Any prayer outside of this is purely based on faith.

People pray for the healing of the sick but they don't believe it will happen. Therefore it will not happen. Why are we praying for the healing of the sick? Is there spiritual value to the healing? Pray for healing of the sick, believe without doubt the sick will be healed, and know that there is spiritual value to healing, and it will be done for you. The missing ingredent in prayer is faith and the bible makes it clear that faith is the only ingredient necessary. So without faith one should not expect any answers.

Again pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, listen and do what it says. It was Abraham's deed that was credited as rightousness, not simply the fact that he believed in God. He did what God said and that was considered rightous. He was a sinner just like the rest of us but he listened to the Holy Spirit and did what it said. The Holy Spirit speaks to you, but you must listen, believe and do what it says.

PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT FOR THIS IS THE "ONLY" PRAYER THAT GOD PROMISES TO ANSWER WITHOUT CONDITION.

reply to post by Murgatroid


saying Jesus Christ or God Damn It when we're angry is like saying, 'Bless You' when you sneeze, its been ingrained in our heads from literally day 1. They are just words. Like Santa is a word or Krishna is a word. # is a word that has a whole bunch of meanings. If we say Jesus Christ! when we're mad, its not using the word as Jesus Christ son of the only christian god, no we mean "Jesus Christ" as in "#!"

I frequently use 'Sagan' in the place of God when swearing. If its something people are used to they won't change a stupid insignificant speech pattern because they no longer believe in the fairy tale the god originally came from.

And to ease your mind. Allah, that's Arabic for the word: God. So Allah, is the same god as the christian god. So that's a myth. Buddha, actually lived. He wasn't a god, but claimed enlightenment.

And the list of gods and figureheads you listed, be at peace, for they are all myths. All corrupt and all wrong. Christianity gets the brunt of the attacks because it is arguably the largest and most in your face religion of them all.

And remember, all the amazing things you think your god has showered you with, remember all the prayers of the starving children whose sounds fall on deaf ears. You think getting that job or being able to pay that rent is more important than the life of an innocent child? Apparently god does, because he ignores the hell out of them daily.

Maybe he is annoyed at all the begging? Maybe he doesn't care? Or, maybe like we seem to want to believe, god loves the USA more than any other country...whatever it is, its all suspect and all a little too coincidental.

Originally posted by wtbengineer
reply to post by LastProphet527

 

Probably many times, indirectly or through circumstances that I could explain away as coincidence, but once, I can say without a doubt that He answered my prayers in a profound way. This was 32 years ago and it was a life or death situation. I was praying fervently and He actually spoke to me. I'm not sure if it was audible or just in my mind, but it was unmistakeable. My oldest son is alive now as a result.

Two years ago I would have told you that you are crazy, but it happened to me too. I'm still trying to cope with the experience. I have a "scientific" mind that doesn't believe in anything that isn't based on atoms. But when you come to a point where your ego completely surrenders something happens. I've never had a hallucination in my entire life, and I've been in scary situations, so I don't think I imagined things.

There is "something" that deeply cares about us. There is something beyond the material world (atoms) that science is ill-equipped to deal with.

Personally i would say no.
But maybe he has answered some people, but not me.

I have asked him many times to stop pointless threads like this......Well here we are so I would say NO!!!!!!!

Originally posted by LastProphet527
Has God ever answered just answered 1prayer in your entire life, in which you can actually say it was the good lord that answered it?

Why is it that 100% of all humans’ prayers go unanswered every second of every body’s life here on earth, why?

It was told to me that the God the populace conjured through a picture isn’t the God that you’re looking for or think your praying to, in fact ,the God that you look for is not yet created, therefore, I see why prayers go unanswered and no happiness dwells in this hell you call earth.

What in the world did you humans summon from the depth of not heaven or good, is beyond me!

So, what has this…conjured pretend God ever done for you ,besides throw you in a big pot of sin and wish you well on your journey in life in the flesh of rules that will always be broken.

What God are you really praying to?

God has one flaw,and thats, the '' flaw of never being flesh ''

edit on 4-5-2012 by LastProphet527 because: (no reason given)

edit on 4-5-2012 by LastProphet527 because: (no reason given)

I like how you say " 100% of all humans’ prayers go unanswered" like you know me!, you have got no idea of who I am, or what i have prayed for!
On a side note which God are you referring too? cos a lot of people pray to a lot of different God's that's one of the the greatest thing's about being "Human" we have a choice!

All I will say is that i have no need to tell you or anyone else for that matter what i have prayed for! that's the great thing about prayer, it's different for everyone.

It was told to you was it! by whom? the movie's! your friend!

Also, you talk like you are some sort of being, not of this world, as you refer to us as "you Humans" like were some sort of specie not like you! (TPTB come to mind!)

Try and spend some time being positive and accepting to others, instead of trying to ridicule someone's belief!

"no happiness dwells in this hell you call earth." Try telling that to millions of Mothers and Fathers seeing their child for the first time after being born, clearly you have not experienced the love and happiness that comes from such an event!

Prepare for a TLDR.

Hello. I’ve read most of the thread, but regrettably not all of it. 20 pages of the constant back and forth is a bit much too tack, especially when all these arguments have been made already.

First off, I will say, yes my prayers have been answered. I will not, however, go into details over that.

My reason for that is how do you define and answer? The argument has been made on the thread already that anything that could be attributed to God can also be reasonably and logically explained away. If someone says they heard a voice telling them to step out from danger, people would say he was just hearing his own internal voice, or that he was just hearing things. If someone says they had a vision, others would say it was just a dream or a hallucination. If someone says a disease was healed, others would say, it was only natural. And so on and so forth. So it’s clear the argument can’t be answered there. There is no way to answer it there because there is no accepted answer.

I argue that there could be an angel, complete with hair like the brightest white, voice like thunder, and the earth shaking as he spoke, who came to a group of people and said ‘Yea there is a God!’ and at the end of the visitation, there would be people who claimed it was either technological trick by TPTB or an advanced alien trying to brainwash everyone.

There is no one answer that will satisfy everyone, and why would there be? Not everyone is ready to believe or have faith.

If in religion, faith is important, how would we cultivate faith if all our prayers were answered in such a way that there was no doubt left in anyone’s mind? It wouldn’t be faith then. Faith isn’t knowing something without a shadow of a doubt, though with honest seeking it can become that, but to those that don’t take the journey willingly, it will never seem to be a knowing, because they’ll be intent on explaining it away.

So why not just answer everything in such a way that there’s no doubt? If God really wants us all to come to heaven, why doesn’t he just give us all the answers we want right when we want them? Why doesn’t he do everything for us? Well simply put, because he loves us enough to let us learn. If you have a child who’s learning to ride a bike, and you are parent, you run along and hold the bike, or you put on training wheels. When the child is ready, you let go, or take off the wheels. But the child may get injured! You can’t just let them go, they’ll get hurt. It must be better to hold on for a bit longer or to leave the wheels on. What harm is there in that? The harm is, they’ll never learn to ride the bike. If you never let them figure it out on their own, they’ll never be able to ride the bike.

If God were to shock you every time you sinned, it wouldn’t take you long to stop being bad, but that’s not the point of life. The point of life is for us to learn between right and wrong, and then choose the right. If every time you did something wrong you go that shock, it wouldn’t be a choice. There would be no choice to make.

So how does this relate to prayer? Well it harkens to faith, and our faith in God to choose the right in the face of impossible odds. If we knew without a doubt what our choice would end up causing, then there would be no choice. We pray for guidance, using faith that God is real, and we can sometimes receive guidance. If we don’t receive guidance, then we can make the choice and ask God to confirm it’s the right choice. Sometimes we don’t get a prayer answered, sometimes we are left to our own devices, not because God isn’t real, but either because we are on the wrong course, or because it’s something God wants us to learn on our own. So how do you tell the difference? That’s something for each person to come to terms with. Everyone is different.

So then what about all those people who die needlessly in the world? If God is real, why not just stop all war and hunger and thirst and disease in the world? Well my counter question is, as a Human being, why aren’t you doing something about it? God allows this because he wants us to learn to care and try and fix it, and be sure, if we focused our efforts and stopped being so petty, we could fix it.

But surely God letting so many people die for the sake of a lesson just makes him some cruel God who only cares about those he chooses to let live. Not so. Remember that if there is a afterlife, as most people who believe in God claim, then there is more to existence and whatever misery we may feel in this life. I am a believer in the concept that God does not judge someone as condemned to hell simply because they never had the chance to hear about God, or simply because they never had the chance to be baptized. That would be needlessly arbitrary to judge someone over circumstances that they had no control over. So those people in Africa, millions perishing every year, they will be judged of their heart, not their circumstances.

(Contd' from above)

But that must never be reason for us not to help. The whole point of suffering and trials is twofold, one; its t strengthens us, for it’s in the depths of our greatest trials that we find our greatest strengths. And two; it’s so that we can learn to love and help one another, for it’s when we help each other that we show to God that we understand and love him. For how can we not love him if we work to uplift and strengthen his children? If you believe in God, do good for the less fortunate, because it shows you love him. If you don’t believe in God, do good for the less fortunate, because someone needs to.

I saw a picture of a sign out in front of a church. I honestly agree with it. It said ‘God prefers kind Atheists to angry Christians’, as I said, God judges on the heart, not the circumstances.

reply to post by LastProphet527


I don't ever remember hearing or reading that praying to god he will answer you. Kind of beats the point of free will if we have a big bag god that could do everything for us if we just ask.

reply to post by LastProphet527


God has literally answered thousands upon thousands of just my personal prayers,

And a few he's answered in a pretty big way, miraculous, quite frankly.