People pray because they believe in god, does not matter which one. But there are also many who just like to show off or want to just get benefited from it.

If you do anything with belief, it is going to work. but if you are just doing it for sake of something then i dont thing it will work ever.

If you dont believe then dont pray but do not criticised(?) it....

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I think that that's an interesting point. God knows what you think and therefore knows when you're lying. So what good is praying lies to God when you don't mean it? I'd imagine that just annoys God because it completely undermines the entire point of prayer. Prayer isn't designed to "keep God at bay". Prayer isn't a chance to give some time to God before contridicting it in your lifestyle.

If people do only pray when they are in trouble then that is also annoying God, not becuase it's not benefiting Him in any way, but because it's not benefiting you! Do you think that the kind of relationships that last the longest are a) ones where the two people care deeply about each other or ones where one partner seeks only to gain personally from the relationship. The answer is a), and links into prayer. If you seek to only gain personally from God, or by only giving a few seconds of prayer in your "time of need" then the whole thing falls apart.

[QUOTE]praying when you don't feel it it's useless, because you are throwing away your own saliva[QUOTE]

By the way, do you spit while praying?

Back on point, my school is pretty traditional and we are forced (enphasis on the forced - they haven't yet introduced electric cattle rods ) to go to both Christmas and end-of-year services at the Abbey lasting a couple of hours each. My RS teacher is of the oppinion that there should be lessons provided a school for those who don't want to go. Although this would probably be not very many people, it means that people of other religions and Atheists etc. could stay out of worshiping a God they don't believe in or feel comfortable in worshipping in that way. The other point is that the attitude amongst people in the school about the services, and therefore Christianity in general, is one of boredom and traditionalism. Prayer that is only used at the last minute instead of every day (/regularly) is prayer probably used by people with the stern traditionalist viewpoint on Christianity. Am I right?

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i agree, praying when you don't feel it it's useless, because you are throwing away your own saliva, i think people that prays when they're in trouble is because they need "extra-moral support" =)

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firstly i'd just like to say that it's absolutely awesome to see how many Christians there are out there! go team!



Phillip Yancey says in his book "Rumours of Another World" that the only catch to being human is that we have to worship something. When you take God out of the equation, other insuperior things come in instead like sex (actually that's probably the most common one these days) and money. You end up with a sick, twisted world.

Also someone before (can't remember who, sorry) said that there is no scientific evidence to prove that there is a God. by the same token, it can't prove that there isn't a God, either.
If there was proof, the whole thing about faith would become completely irrelevant. You're never going to find concrete evidence if you're not looking for it.

as for the evidence that convicts me (actually just the most easily explanable part)... get off your computer. go outside and take a look at nature. I reckon that the world we live in is AMAZING (understatement) and then you consider the fact that we are able to appreciate it as well. I personally couldn't call that random chance.

Even the intricasies of sex and the reproductive system. I can't see that all that evolved from one creature, the differences that fit together so perfectly.

and then you realise that we are having an incredibly intelligent conversation about God... if we weren't created, i don't think that we would be able to dream up something as complex as Christianity or even think to the level at which we can.

sure, there's no scientific evidence, but when the evidence is all around us in everything we see, everytime we breathe, scientifc evidence isn't needed.

Peace out

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On the contrary, genuine sincere Christians that have really been saved (and they are out there, even if you don't meet them too often) pray because they already have faith and hope. It's simply God's chosen way for sinful man to communicate with Him, and as Christians for us to present our petitions to Him, worship Him, etc... The Lord is utterly real. Someone once said something like you can't prove God exists, you can't prove God doesn't exist, and we all know He does exist. God has given us evidence of a master design in creation. It's amazing that scientists can see the design and not think there's a designer. God has also left us evidence in our consciences, and even the people most resistant to the idea that God exists generally accept that they can't explain why we have this desire for justice, for good and evil, and to know God. God has planted things in us that might well convince us all by themselves if we'd look at them. I tend to think most atheists are people who have never really bothered thinking about the great matters of life nor have truly examined themselves and who they are before either. Prayer doesn't have to be for others, it can be for relationship quite often, to get us in touch with the One to whom we owe all, the greatest relationship we can have on planet Earth.

Hope that helps,

jz

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