Has anyone prayed to a God you don't believe in...

[roomy]

...and had your prayers answered?

 

[KittenKoder]

Nope, by logic you won't get answers because if you believe in a god then non-answers will also appear as answers. But if you don't believe in the god then even answers won't look like answers.

 

[roomy]

Nope, by logic you won't get answers because if you believe in a god then non-answers will also appear as answers. But if you don't believe in the god then even answers won't look like answers.

You may be wrong.I am an athiest, I asked the question for a reason.

 

[KittenKoder]

You may be wrong.I am an athiest, I asked the question for a reason.

Fact of the matter, all 'answers' are usually just everyday events. But when a person has prayed for it prior to that to anything it is really easy to make the assumption that it was from a god. My religious belief has a simple explanation to this: None of the gods really care about your day to day lives, they gave you problems to overcome and don't like whiners.

So it strips the illusion that the gods answer the prayers so when they do happen we are able to step back and say: What caused this to happen? Which allows us to make certain we are giving credit where credit is due.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

...and had your prayers answered?

used to pray to nothing and sometimes something would happen. cause and effect has yet to be established. now i just wait for things to happen and debate whether to credit all those happenings to the prayers of others ... others who keep saying they are praying for me. cause and effect is still yet to be established, but things happen for a reason don't they?

 

[KittenKoder]

used to pray to nothing and sometimes something would happen. cause and effect has yet to be established. now i just wait for things to happen and debate whether to credit all those happenings to the prayers of others ... others who keep saying they are praying for me. cause and effect is still yet to be established, but things happen for a reason don't they?

LOL Better things happen to me when no one prays.

 

[roomy]

I have been at a low ebb and as a last straw prayed to the christian God and the outcome wasn't Godly and miraculous so it confirmed my atheism.Recently my much loved Grandson was seriously ill in hospital and I must admit I did it again.Much to my relief the little lad is home and well.




I need to find out where faith comes from and can it come to me?
I wish I hadn't done it now and just relied on the Hospital.

 

[KittenKoder]

I have been at a low ebb and as a last straw prayed to the christian God and the outcome wasn't Godly and miraculous so it confirmed my atheism.Recently my much loved Grandson was seriously ill in hospital and I must admit I did it again.Much to my relief the little lad is home and well.




I need to find out where faith comes from and can it come to me?
I wish I hadn't done it now and just relied on the Hospital.

Many religions teach that faith in your own power can result in more good than faith in anything you don't believe in. There may be merit to this just because you wanted something good so strongly that it gave just enough of a boost to the treatments to make it happen.

 

[roomy]

Fact of the matter, all 'answers' are usually just everyday events. But when a person has prayed for it prior to that to anything it is really easy to make the assumption that it was from a god. My religious belief has a simple explanation to this: None of the gods really care about your day to day lives, they gave you problems to overcome and don't like whiners.

So it strips the illusion that the gods answer the prayers so when they do happen we are able to step back and say: What caused this to happen? Which allows us to make certain we are giving credit where credit is due.

I admit I was whining and indeed crying at the time and asking for a personal favour, the wife was crying herself to sleep at the time.

 

[KittenKoder]

I admit I was whining and indeed crying at the time and asking for a personal favour, the wife was crying herself to sleep at the time.

It's sarcasm really, basically it's saying that if you don't believe in your own power first that nothing can help you. It matters not what you call that power, but you cannot expect any gods to want to help or you will miss out the chance to find the answer.

 

[roomy]

Many religions teach that faith in your own power can result in more good than faith in anything you don't believe in. There may be merit to this just because you wanted something good so strongly that it gave just enough of a boost to the treatments to make it happen.

I have to tell you I have explained it to myself atheistically and am happy within myself but I think I understand a little better.I always credited myself with religous tolerance but now I am more inclined to believe it is a frailty inbred in us.?

 

[Anguille]

you cannot expect any gods to want to help or you will miss out the chance to find the answer.

Good point.

 

[Anguille]

I have been at a low ebb and as a last straw prayed to the christian God and the outcome wasn't Godly and miraculous so it confirmed my atheism.Recently my much loved Grandson was seriously ill in hospital and I must admit I did it again.Much to my relief the little lad is home and well.




I need to find out where faith comes from and can it come to me?
I wish I hadn't done it now and just relied on the Hospital.

I'm so glad your grandson is doing better.

I think faith can come to anyone. None of us is immune to mental illness.

 

[xsited1]

I haven't, but then again I don't believe in Atheists.

 

[dilloduck]

I haven't, but then again I don't believe in Atheists.

Well they're mighty proud about--got tell everyone, ya know ! I guess it's a disclaimer.

 

[xsited1]

Well they're mighty proud about--got tell everyone, ya know ! I guess it's a disclaimer.

Imagine how irritating a gay atheist would be. They'd probably have to broadcast who they are to the entire Universe.

 

[dilloduck]

Imagine how irritating a gay atheist would be. They'd probably have to broadcast who they are to the entire Universe.

Ain't it the truth-----sooner or later they're bound to find some one to give em hell.

 

[alan1]

...and had your prayers answered?

I only pray to the all-powerful jug-o-milk,
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk6ILZAaAMI[/ame]

 

[RodISHI]

I have been at a low ebb and as a last straw prayed to the christian God and the outcome wasn't Godly and miraculous so it confirmed my atheism.Recently my much loved Grandson was seriously ill in hospital and I must admit I did it again.Much to my relief the little lad is home and well.




I need to find out where faith comes from and can it come to me?
I wish I hadn't done it now and just relied on the Hospital.

Roomy, why do you struggle? Faith comes from within you as it did or you would not have prayed the first time. Rod

 

[Diuretic]

I have been at a low ebb and as a last straw prayed to the christian God and the outcome wasn't Godly and miraculous so it confirmed my atheism.Recently my much loved Grandson was seriously ill in hospital and I must admit I did it again.Much to my relief the little lad is home and well.




I need to find out where faith comes from and can it come to me?
I wish I hadn't done it now and just relied on the Hospital.

It's an old problem and it can be found in animals other than humans. Fred Skinner found similar behaviour among pigeons:

One of Skinner's experiments examined the formation of superstition in one of his favorite experimental animals, the pigeon. Skinner placed a series of hungry pigeons in a cage attached to an automatic mechanism that delivered food to the pigeon "at regular intervals with no reference whatsoever to the bird's behavior." He discovered that the pigeons associated the delivery of the food with whatever chance actions they had been performing as it was delivered, and that they subsequently continued to perform these same actions.

One bird was conditioned to turn counter-clockwise about the cage, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another repeatedly thrust its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. A third developed a 'tossing' response, as if placing its head beneath an invisible bar and lifting it repeatedly. Two birds developed a pendulum motion of the head and body, in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return.

Skinner suggested that the pigeons behaved as if they were influencing the automatic mechanism with their "rituals" and that this experiment shed light on human behavior:

The experiment might be said to demonstrate a sort of superstition. The bird behaves as if there were a causal relation between its behavior and the presentation of food, although such a relation is lacking. There are many analogies in human behavior. Rituals for changing one's fortune at cards are good examples. A few accidental connections between a ritual and favorable consequences suffice to set up and maintain the behavior in spite of many unreinforced instances. The bowler who has released a ball down the alley but continues to behave as if she were controlling it by twisting and turning her arm and shoulder is another case in point. These behaviors have, of course, no real effect upon one's luck or upon a ball half way down an alley, just as in the present case the food would appear as often if the pigeon did nothing—or, more strictly speaking, did something else

.

B. F. Skinner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia