Yukon Cornelius

I think all of us have said a prayer for someone, or ourselves. Assuming the outcome was good, was this prayer answered? Could the same outcome have happened to a person who had not been prayed for? Is this good luck? Is it just a boost of moral for the person in question giving them more confidence to complete the task, or get better? Could it just be that when people hope or pray for another person some of their energy is given to the person they have hoped for?

I have always personally felt that with or without these prayers the outcome wouldn't change.

With that said the floor is open.

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RVCA

Billions of prayers are made every day. Either God is ignoring most of them, or nobody is hearing them.

That's how I feel, anyway. People asking their imaginary friend in the sky for a favor.

Freebase Dali

I came across a video a while back that offered a pretty interesting (however simple) observation of how prayers are answered/not answered.
It's an atheistic view regarding coincidence and how it fits into prayer, substituting god--as the deity being prayed to--for a jug of milk...

While it's not exactly chock-full of references and supported by much, it's a short video that I thought made a good example for the illusion of answered prayers.
If any of you would like to check it out, here ya be:

glastonelle

That guy had a really irritating voice. Otherwise, buzzy video..

Freebase Dali

Yea, his voice got on my nerves too.
The way he pronounced "milk" especially.

Melk


Seriously? Melk?

Janszoon

Hahaha! That's how I pronounce it too. My brother has given me shit for it my entire life.

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Astronomer

This is pretty much how I feel about the concept of prayers and praying.

But I also learnt a bit about positive visualisation a while ago and how it can help you achieve things in your life. It's not some magical, spiritual crap - it's just the notion of visualising something you want to achieve, thinking positively about it, and then achieving it. The positive thinking of "this WILL happen" gives you encouragement to complete the task and get what you want. For example, if I think "I am going to fail this assignment" I think I will be more likely to fail the assignment because I'm already placing a prophecy on myself that the assignment is not going to be achieved. If I think to myself, "I am going to pass this assignment with ease!" I would be more likely to pass the assignment.

Of course, this wouldn't 'work' in a whole heap of scenarios but I think sometimes this is how praying works for some people. By verbalising and visualising what they want, they have more of an idea of how to go about getting it, and may achieve their goals.

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Freebase Dali

@ Kate

Well, I think there's a fundamental difference between a person praying to god to fulfill a need and a person self-motivating to achieve a goal.
While I agree that a positive attitude is more conducive to achieving a goal than a negative one, I think that a prayer for a goal to be achieved is the act of a person submitting that they can't do it on their own and admitting to god that they need his help. To arrive at the point where a person admits need of divine influence is to admit that they are incapable of doing it alone, which is negative thinking.
In essence, prayer itself is the antithesis of positive thinking and personal esteem in the regard you're speaking of.

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

i can't believe he took almost nine minutes to say that little.

Freebase Dali

Yea there was a lot of extra info that didn't need to be included.
But it's spelled out for a wide audience.
I thought it was funny, but because I don't like milk, I pray to Satan.