Why do you pray?

The ineffectiveness of prayer has been scientifically exposed but most people still pray anyway. Do you do it out of habit, a need for comfort, or some other reason?

 

What the H are you talking about?

1) a lot of what prayers are about can not be scientifically tested. what "scientific" tests are you talking about?

2) Actually, it has been scientifically proven that prayers may have positive effects on health and healing.

Besides, your statement/question really doesn't work because people who do pray don't have the opinion that prayers don't work. So they don't pray "anyways", they pray because they believe it "works" - which I find a funny word in regards to prayers....
What do you mean by "work" btw?????

I never pray to ask for things, most people generally don't, I pray because I'm thankful. I want to give my thanks.

 

lippy does not pray often and not out of habit...when i am calling god i want him to know that it isn't about something silly...if i am praying it is something very important to me and not ever concerning material things...

hot on my prayer list is a young mother dying of cancer...i pray for her health and for her son to find some type of peace and understanding of what is happening...

meaningful prayer gives me comfort in times of a heavy heart

 

Couldn't say it better myself. So sick of atheists lately. If you don't believe keep that shit to yourself.

 

That's like saying 'its been scientifically proven that there is no God'.

Really?

Where is the proof and by what evidence did you come to this conclusion?


Science is LIMITED and can only 'prove' so much as fact.

 

Not to mention there's always new findings that dispute once proven facts.

 

Given how he started the question, in combination with his sig (tells me immediately what his intention is)) - as well as his history in discussions regarding the topic.
He is not interested in why, really - he just wants to tell people that they are wrong and why.

I don't see any difference in his way of dealing with it (from his past posts) any different from bible thumpers trying to shove their beliefs down my throat - they are just the same, only the message is different - the approach identical.

 

Why do you care? You continue to not. I will continue to. If in the end it is found to be helpful I will put in a good word for you so you don't get overheated.

 

Why do I pray? For the same reason I talk to my my family and friends - I'm communicating with those I love and who love me. Why wouldn't I respond the same way to my Heavenly Father, who loves me with an unfailing love? I pray because I have something to say, and because He listens. And answers!

 

It has? lol

I didn't realize prayer had an intended measurable effect.

 

i don't pray and i dont believe if you do anything will change ..
but then again if someone feel better doing this good for them
that is not for me

 

Who cares? Prayer provides comfort to many, as does chocolate. Nobody disputes the existance of chocolate.

 

Ineffective is a bit different from nonexistent. As George Carlin put it: if there is a God, you have to at least admit that he's incompetent when you realistically observe the state of things on this planet.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/04.06/05-prayer.html

One thing that I like about the Bible is that it actually has a lot of testable assertions within it.

 

I don't 'pray', but I do meditate, which is the same thing.

There is proof that meditation is beneficial, so it doesn't matter what the words are, as long as your spirit is in it.

 

I suppose you could call prayer a meditative activity but it's essentially something quite different from meditation.

 

I have to call BS on your claim if this is your evidence. From the article:

Dusek and his colleagues are quick to say that the study results do not challenge the existence of God. Also, the investigators did not try to address such religious questions as the efficacy of one form of prayer over others, whether God answers intercessory prayers, or whether prayers from one religious group work better than prayers from another, according to the Rev. Dean Marek, a chaplain at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

The prayers came from three Christian groups, two Catholic and one Protestant. The investigators report that, "We were unable to locate other Christian, Jewish, on non-Christian groups that could receive the daily prayer list required for the study." Such lists provided the first name and initial of the last name of the patients.

The intercessors could pray in any way they wished but with limitations. Prayers started at a standardized time, lasted a given duration, and included the message "for successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications." This system provided a practical way to conduct the research, but limited its results to one type of prayer.

Also this particular study, which differs from many others in outcome, was also specific to *one* particular issue: Whether or not the specific prayer request,
"for successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications." was effective in coronary bypass patients when prayed for by the specific religious groups outlined.

In no way, shape or form is this "conclusive" evidence that prayer does not work.

For the record, I do not pray. I just hate crappy logic and poorly evidenced claims.

 

Studies often are specific in order to decrease some of the variables. There have been other studies on different types of prayers but I didn't cite them because they're not as legit as this particular study.

Scientifically speaking, it's not conclusive. But for a logical minded person who's humoring the superstitious it is.

 

How did you determine that this study is more legitimate than others?

No, it's not conclusive. Not remotely. It's as impossible to prove the non-existence of deity or the existence of deity. In either case, it's assumptive, based on personal analysis of whatever facts one takes into evidence. The same can be said of the results of energy work, meditation or prayer. For every fact that says they don't work, another fact can be stated to show they do. People who don't believe won't accept the facts that people who say they do work as facts, and vice versa.

Some things are not currently objectively quantifiable.

 

Some of the other studies seem to not have enough variables or meet the modern standards of scientific study. Galton reasoned that because royalty were prayed for more than other members of high society, they should have lived the longest, but in fact lived the shortest. That's not nearly as thorough as the cited study.

What I often fail to do is to let people know that I'm addressing Judeo-Christian beliefs, as those are the ones that I'm most familiar with. According to Jesus, you can ask him for anything and you shall have it. That's an easily disprovable claim. Although prayers and gods may not be as quantifiable as more tangible things, the Bible simply fails to live up to its claims and provides us with much testability.

 

This about sums it up.

What's the good of having all that logic, if you can't humor the superstitious.