Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Pray about it.

One universal beliefs of all sects of Christianity (except maybe Christian Scientists, which I don't really understand) is the belief in prayer.  Christians believe that prayer can cause or inspire miracles to happen, from the mundane to anything at all - the sky's the limit.

I contend that prayer is useless, boring and gives people false hope.  As evidence, I submit the following Bible verses (since the Bible is where the whole idea of prayer comes form anyway).


 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!

Did you notice the subtle caveat in this scripture?  No?  Read it again.  Still can't find it?  Me neither.  This scripture says that if you pray, you're going to have your prayer answered - period.

How about this scripture:


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.

Nothing will be impossible - nothing.  Not even moving a mountain - literally.  The Bible doesn't say it will be like moving a mountain - it says you will command the mountain to move and it will move.

Prayer has never been answered.  The Godless Geeks put it this way in their list of proofs of God's existence:

ARGUMENT FROM MIRACLES (I)
(1) My aunt had cancer.
(2) The doctors gave her all these horrible treatments.
(3) My aunt prayed to God and now she doesn't have cancer.
(4) Therefore, God exists.

Christians tout this kind of "answered prayer" all the time.  But, nobody seems to give credit to the doctor who attended school, studied, learned and applied the right kind of medicine to give the aunt the best chance she could have.  No, it was God.  So why even give her the medicine?  Some will say "the medicine is God's way of curing her".  What a cop-out!

Three times this week people have offered to pray for me.  In retaliation, I offer to think for them.

Prayers are never answered because God does not exist.

5 comments:

  1. The problem is your just taking snipits out of the Bible without understanding the whole context. Theses verses don't mean that if I ask God for a million dollars it will be so. Because prayers like these aren't coming from someone who believes in God but someone who is selfishly asking for something. A true Christian is someone who seeks to glorify God in everything. Prayer isn't about wants and asking. It's about having a relationship and seeking guidance. As a Christian I don't pray for a bigger house or a better job, because these things don't really matter instead I ask that he use me in my current job. As a selfish human I do ask for these things and that he help me to get there but I know that I'm only going to get there if 1. It is his will and 2. That I put in the work to get there. Prayer is not about things being handed to you.
    As far as moving mountains go. Is it likely to happen-no. Is it possible yes. Gods not going to move a mountain on a whim, what purpose would that serve. And if your not going to believe all the little signs your just going to doubt a mountain moving. It's also silly in my mind that people can believe that the universe apperared from an accidental explosion and that led to a one celled organism evolving into a million different creatures but can't believe that a mountain can move by the one who created it all.
    Also as a Christian and a nurse I resent your comment about not giving the doctors credit. I dont pray for cures I pray that the doctors hands be blessed and that he can use all his knowledge to help that person and that Gods will be done. Whether that person lives or dies, God can be glorified in either. If that person is cured I thank the doctor for using their knowledge and experience. I also thank God for using the doctors to cure them. Is it the doctors experience and knowledge and the medicine he used what cured that person. Yes. But medicine is not an exact science. Things don't always go as expect and many times things are unexplainable. No matter how much knowledge and technology we have, Gods will will be done. If he is calling them home, no amount of medicine will help, if he's not done with them yet you may just see a miraculous healing. There is a reason that doctors never give a 100% guarantee because quite frankly no matter how much they do the outcome is not their decision.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matthew 7 is not talking about the recieving of physical items but about recieving salvation. You should try reading the whole chapter before assuming it's meaning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous - you have been mislead. Matthew 7 talks about receiving whatever you ask for. I didn't write the Bible - so if the author meant something else, neither you nor I can prove it.

    However, since I assume you think the Bible to be perfect, then it means what it says.

    You are incorrect.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nope I'm not incorrect. You can ask pretty much any Christian (though I won't speak for all, however, all the Christians I know see the same meaning in the passage) and this passage refers to salvation. Ask and you shall have seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask for salvation and it will be given, seek it and you will find it, knock on it's door and the door to salvation will be open to you. Just looking at the passages surrounding it you can see that it is not talking of physical wants but of salvation. In fact this passage is followed up by a passage on entering the gates of heaven.

    And your assumption is wrong. I do not assume the bible to be perfect as it stands today but as it's meant to be written. Why do you base your argument on your assumption of what I think?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Because you have revealed yourself to be a fundamentalist Christian. In fact, that will be the topic of my next blog - why Christians are so hard-headed.

    ReplyDelete