Random Musings as I poke through the Bible.

prayers will never work for those who seek selfish gain, or dont follows the lord's teachings.. you can get all the resources you want but you cant understand the bible with no knowledge of God bro

@Zhero the tests and statistics involved people who were ill and clergy prayed for them to become better. Not exactly selfish reasons, it just had some oversight. There were no differences between the control group and the ones that were prayed for.

but your sitting up here telling those who read this that prayer doesnt work, forreal im happy that you can read the bible, but your reading it to find what you can that makes sense to you and if something doesnt make sense you persecute it.

It doesn't work! Prayer does nothing! It's all superstition, like praying to a horseshoe.

What we find is that God never answers impossible prayers - even if the prayers are incredibly worthy. For example:

* Pray to God to levitate a car and hold it floating in the air for ten minutes. It will not happen, even if you are praying to levitate the car because a drunk driver has run over a college freshman and she is currently pinned under one of the wheels.

* Pray to God to let you fly through the air like Superman. It will not happen, even if you are praying to fly like superman so that you can rise up to a tenth story window and save two children from their burning apartment.

* Pray to God to fill your basement with $100 million in small unmarked bills. It will not happen, even if you plan to donate the $100 million that God gives you to a worthy and deserving charity.

* Pray to God to restore the amputated limbs of a deserving, penitent believer. It will not happen, no matter how sincere you are in your prayer.

None of these prayers will ever be answered. We know that with certainty. If they were answered, we would see people flying thought the air like Superman on the evening news. We would see amputated limbs regenerating all the time. Every Christian charity would be fully funded and there would not be 10 million children starving to death every year. [ref]

Dude, half of that stuff u jus named is ridiculous lol, like my point bro, selfish prayers, not living in the word of god. Just trying to get what u want outta god for yourself, and God knows our hearts he knows our intentions in prayers

@Zhero: Ridiculous? Yes, that's the point. If only ambiguous prayers are answered, then why believe in them? You get the same results out of a horseshoe.

Plus, you can statistically study prayer and find no higher numbers amongst those prayed for than amongst those that are not.

ok, then let me know something truly.. numbers only prove stats from studies. People of the flesh can simple understand humanistic ideals..People dont believe in prayer because God doesnt work on your time he works on his, so if you pray about something and expect immediate results with you serving him u jus gonna get disappointed

@Zhero: Read my story I posted. It is true, even if I don't have third party witnesses, since it was an ordeal I was working through.
http://forums.narutofan.com/blog.php?b=1436

My points still stands, read the links I gave you in the original blog post.

Look bro, i had nightmares also, the worst nightmares ever when i first became a christian. Im the type of person to believe that sometimes dreams can mean something inside your mind or subconcious.. pardon my spelling. I think the difference between you and I is that Instead of being scared I fought back in my dreams, when i was scared I prayed for God to give me an ability to take control of my dreams. It took a while but it worked eventually, I fought back against w/e i had to fight in my dreams. So the way i took it as that satan can attack us in our dreams to make us flee from God. He wont bother us, if we stop believing because he has completeled his agenda thru you. I continued to fight and fight in my dreams.. and as I started defeating my enemies in my dreams it would manifest to something in my daily life

You're actually going to tell me that prayer works? Prove it. I have proof that it does not, the burden of proof is on you. Scripture references for how prayer is /supposed/ to work.

In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says:

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says:

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. < Do note that I just proved that God will not answer impossible prayers.

In Matthew 21:21:

I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

The message is reiterated Mark 11:24:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

In John chapter 14, verses 12 through 14, Jesus tells all of us just how easy prayer can be:

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." [ref]

In Matthew 18:19 Jesus says:

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

In James 5:15-16 the Bible says:

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

In Mark 9:23:

All things are possible to him who believes.

In Luke 1:37:

For with God nothing will be impossible.

If you would like additional proof, gather a million faithful believers together into a giant prayer circle. Have them all pray together in Jesus' name that God cures every case of cancer on the planet tomorrow. Pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this completely heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways. Now, we certainly have two or more people gathered together, and they have asked in Jesus' name, and we have not one but a million faithful believers who, by definition, have faith and believe. We have fulfilled every one of Jesus' requirements.

Will Jesus answer the prayer now? Of course not. Your prayer will go unanswered, in direct defiance to Jesus' promises in the Bible. In fact, if you pray for anything that is impossible, your prayer will always go unanswered.

I was still a believer, I simply stopped praying for that particular event. It was, however, a large seed of doubt that I still refer to.

I cant judge you, apparently the proof your asking i cannot give and im sorry for that. but jus like your last post, the enemy planted a large seed of doubt into your mind. Its your choice if you want to exstinguish that doubt

@Zhero: I will stay an Atheist then. I can only accept what I can see and hear, and scientific proof. I will not accept a religious book written almost 2000 years ago, based on scriptures written ~1000 or more years farther back than that.

I will not accept "goddidit", because, if I were to accept that, then I would have to accept all of the other religions out there.

Hey, just so you know the James 5:14 scripture is referring to anyone spiritually sick. Those who can't stop sinning and want forgiveness, those with wrong desires and need council blah blah....