What Makes Prayer Work? (Does any of this explanation making any sense?)

[BurtWorm]

This is from the National Day of Prayer Foundation's website. It all seems like utter nonsense to me. But one intended reading of this bullshit does seem clear: the foundation to promote a national prayer day seems to think only Christian prayer works. How else to interpret those weird final two paragraphs below?:

http://www.ndptf.org/bga/Index.cfm?Entity=12&Department=15&Dept_Order=1&This_TopicOrder=1&This_SubtopicOrder=1#1


It's all about a relationship!

God has created mankind so that we naturally hunger for a relationship with Him. He has built that yearning for Himself into our frame; He has encoded eternal longings in our spiritual DNA structure. The Scripture says, "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men" (Eccl. 3:11). The famous theologian, C.S. Lewis, wrote "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." (Mere Christianity)

Prayer is the bridge between Heaven and Earth. It is the conduit through which the spiritual realm is brought into our everyday lives. Prayer is the way our spirits breathe. Just as our lungs require oxygen and are designed to seek it out, so our spirits require the presence of God and are designed to seek Him out. Without His presence, we are left gasping for meaning and desperately seeking our purpose in life. We find ourselves trying our best to pray because it is as needful as air for our lungs. Prayer is the method God uses to provide not only our daily needs from food to shelter but also comfort, strength and guidance. The late E. Stanley Jones, missionary and preacher, wrote, "Prayer ... is the opening of a channel from my emptiness into His fullness." (Abundant Living)

Answers depend on the relationship!
You find yourself drawn to prayer, curious about prayer, or even desperate for prayer. Maybe you've tried prayer ­ and prayer has failed you. Maybe you can point to unanswered prayer after unanswered prayer, proving that prayer doesn't work.
Does that describe you?
Welcome! You are at this Web site because God wants you to understand how you can have a fulfilling relationship with Him that will turn prayer from a fruitless exercise to an exciting adventure.

Prayer = Love
Prayer works in the context of relationship. Once the relationship is established, you will find that prayer is its natural expression. It is simply speaking and listening to your Heavenly Father. God wants to answer our prayers. Answered prayer is how He manifests Himself in our life and makes this relationship personal "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." Prayer is the intimacy that flows spontaneously from a loving relationship.

Imagine that you went into a restaurant with your father. Imagine that you and your father ordered your meals, and when the waiter brought them to your table, he said to your father, "That looks delicious. I want to try a bite of that!" Then imagine the waiter picks up a fork and helps himself to a bite from your father's plate. It would be inappropriate. You would be offended. You would demand an apology.

Now imagine that you and your father ordered your meals, the waiter brought them to your table, and you said to your father, "That looks delicious. I want to try a bite of that!" Imagine that you pick up a fork and help yourself to a bite from your father's plate. It would be natural. Your father would be happy to share his meal with you. It would be an accepted intimacy.
What is the difference between the two scenarios? Not the words. Not the actions. Not the intention. The difference is the relationship. The child has access to the father that the stranger does not. (Adapted from Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean)

[MilesColtrane]

1. They must be eating at one of those weirdo ethnic restaurants.

Not a good, Protestant Applebee's.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Power of thought. n/t

[crispini]

3. The last two paragraphs made me think of some experiment I heard about once.

A guy decided that when he was in a restaurant he would just randomly ask strangers for a bite of their meal. He did so politely, of course. Some incredible percentage of people, like 80%, granted him his request for a bite of their meal. Most of them even gave him their own fork. LOL! (I think I heard about this on This American Life or something like that.)

Anyway, I find it hard to believe that God would be less gracious and generous than total strangers in restaurants. Prayers go unanswered for some other reason.

Edit: Even found the story!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11610408

[lisa58]

4. God's not supposed to care if you're a waiter...

...I thought God loved everyone.

This is extremely divisive and makes it look like you've got to "join a club" in order to get access to God.

Ridiculous

- my opinion

[JerseygirlCT]

20. I share your opinion

I think that IS a very Christian-centric viewpoint, and in fact, a particular subset of Christian thought.

I don't subscribe to it, myself. If God is the father in that little story (might as well be the mother, too), then the waiter would be happily welcomed to the meal, in my view. "Son, move over, and make some room so that we can share!"

I do not believe access to God is only through Jesus, or through a Christian view of divinity.

[johnlal]

5. Praying for abundance.

I have always wondered about people who counsel us to pray for abundance. If you look at the Lord's Prayer-- how Jesus taught us to pray-- we are very limited on the tangible things we can ask for:

"Give us this day our daily bread".

I take this to mean that we cannot ask for abundance. We can ask for enough bread to eat for this day. Tomorrow we will have to ask again. There's no security in that prayer formulation, except for the faith that God will provide for us.

And about that bread-- God doesn't deliver the bread to us, nor does he pay for it. God doesn't bake it. Nor does he make the flour or harvest or plant the wheat. Man does that part. And if we do all of that, and God looks favorably upon us, the result will be our daily bread.

I'm not really religious. But it seems to me that Jesus had a dim view of people who were praying for riches. I have a dim view of people who think they will get material wealth by praying.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Could you post some evidence that prayer does work?

[BurtWorm]

8. I pray you will respond to this post.

:bounce:

[BurtWorm]

13. I knew it wouldn't work!

:evilfrown:

[Ian David]

28. I pray every night that I not die in my sleep. I haven't died... even once!

If it ever stops working, I'll let you know.





Yes, I'm kidding.

[StClone]

7. Believe in Prayer, not Evolution

[Beregond2]

10. Most Christians

accept evolution, you know. It is only the paranoid fundamentalists who make an issue out of that. Even the Catholic church affirms evolution.

I think you are all missing the point about the "parent/child" relationship between God and people discussed here. The point of the story wasn't that the waiter wasn't Christian; I don't know where you got that. The point was that all humans are children of God, and therefore able to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him/Her, in the same way that a child enjoys an intimacy with his or her parent that a stranger wouldn't.

[edhopper]

27. Not in this country.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/22/opinion/polls/main965223.shtml

Poll: Majority Reject Evolution


"White evangelicals (77 percent), weekly churchgoers (74 percent) and conservatives (64 percent), are mostly likely to say God created humans in their present form."

[Goblinmonger]

29. two things

1. got a source for that claim because I think most polls show that most americans don't "believe" in evolution.

2. that's a bullshit interpretation of the story. If that is the case, who is the waiter in that little allegory? Pets? Robots? It was about exclusion of those that don't believe.

[damntexdem]

11. And if prayers works, then that should give you a survival advantage.

And ultimately, your descendents will take over.

;-)

[damntexdem]

9. I see: God only listens to the Elect.

The version as told by those who believe themeselves to be among the Elect.

Well, I just thank God that I'm an agnostic. ;-)

[Hydra]

12. The big problem with this theory is always which god to pray to

The answer you get is always "MINE!"

I've studied enough psych and even some hypnosis to conclude that any benefit comes from the altered chemical state you create by setting an artificial mood, not unlike taking a deep breath when you are upset. Besides, involving a higher being that may or may not like you in your problems always struck me as a BAD IDEA.

[cosmik debris]

14. Do you tip the waiter who brings a meal to your imaginary friend?

Who leaves the tip? You? Or your imaginary friend?

What is the custom in your country?

[Ron Green]

15. Prayer at its most profound is just the connection with the Higher Self

that's always there, but so infrequently accessed. It seems that "special relationships" such as the father and son rather than the father and waiter are LESS profound than real prayer, which would indeed connect with the waiter, the son, the other diners and everybody else in the same manner. Any special relationships would thus be more "of the world" and less "eternal" or "infinite" than the ideal practice of prayer seeks.

[JerseygirlCT]

21. I agree nt

[Dorian Gray]

16. I know that this will sound hokey to anyone who doesn't believe in God

but when I do petition Him for something, it's about providing me with the strength to carry something out... not about getting three wishes and poof, I've got it.

So, petitioning prayers may be a way to focus and ready oneself to some sort of action. If there are studies in prayer overcoming illness, I have no idea how that would work. But when it comes to overcoming
obstacles in life, I can see how it would sort of psych someone up.

(Having said that, I try to keep my prayers more meditative rather than petitionary.)

[JerseygirlCT]

23. Yup, yup, yup. nt

[Goblinmonger]

30. Just like literature

When a character goes on a journey, what they are looking for is unimportant but what they learn in the process is. That is true about The Odyssey and Superbad alike.

Just an understanding nod from a fundamentalist atheist English teacher.

[John Gauger]

17. "The most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

I lol'd.

[uberllama42]

18. When I read Lewis last summer, I was amazed that his life,

pre-1944, had encompassed the entire range of possible human experiences in the natural world. He must have done a lot of drugs to find out that no worldly experience can fulfill the human soul.

Come to think of it, I'll bet that explains the "Trilemma" and his justification for believing in the Trinity, too.

[John Gauger]

24. I think that the central working principle behind the trilemma is fear.

Fear of blasphemy. He sets up the three possibilities (Lord, liar, or lunatic,) knowing that two of them would be extremely unpopular if anybody chose to argue them. After all, there is no real logical or evidential reason why Jesus could not be a mendacious con man or a schizophrenic. The only strength in that argument, the only way that we arrive at the conclusion of "Lord," is that we are afraid to argue the other two. Of course, this rules out the most obvious explanation, (not to mention Occam's favorite,) that none of it ever happened. Of course, since every one of his arguments was predicated on the assumption that the bible is the literal truth, that would leave Lewis without a book to write.

[westerebus]

19. Lightning mostly. n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

22. From a purely physical point of view

prayer often works as meditation. Slowing the heartrate, calming the mind... So there's value even at that level to both the emotions and the body.

Does prayer "work"? That would depend a whole lot on what your definition of "work" is. For me, it's as simple as an ongoing conversation with the divine. A recognition of the divine at work in our world and in my life. And that sense of relationship - to God, to others - is what I'm after with prayer - so that's how it works.

For those seeking "a Mercedes Benz" as Janis sang... well, that sort of thing I'm a whole lot more skeptical about.

[knitter4democracy]

25. I've never liked any explanations of prayer.

I think it's too personal of a thing to ever explain fully and too much of a mystery to understand. For those of us who believe in prayer and praying to a higher power, it helps us deal with life's crap. For those who don't, it doesn't make sense. It's a mystery, and I'm okay with leaving it at that.

[Tesha]

26. Prayer doesn't work.

Never waste time trying to figure out a mechanism for
an occurrece until someone has proven that the event
actually occurred.

Prayer has *NEVER* been proven to have more efficacy
than a placebo so there's no point trying to figure
out by what mechanism "prayer works"; it doesn't

Tesha