Does prayer help

[ElderKingpin]

Can mental belief strengthen you

Does prayer help. In anyway, like does it give hope, does it give the chance that it will cure someone? Thats up to the people debating, i know what my standpoint is, and im not going to post here either unless it involves the condition of the discussion in general.

The discussion started http://www.thehelper.net/forums/showthread.php?t=133380 and it took up most of the talk about it x_X

Its pretty controversial to me x_X

 

[undeadorcjerk]

Anything could give a person hope. And if you've got nothing to work with except hope, prayer is one of the easiest things to turn to. That is only if you have nothing to work with. The guy in that article is insane.

Can it cure someone? Miracles do happen that (reference to your avatar) science can't explain. But you probably have a better chance at winning the lottery, in which case, go buy a ticket because if you do win, you won't have to rely on prayer.

In my rant, if I offend anyone I apologize, but religion irritates me.

 

[vypur85]

Prayer alone is completely useless. That daughter killer is just a complete jackass.

A lot of things can be explained in science. If you have cough, you get bacterial infection in the throat, drink a lot of water and grab some antibiotics. Or, let it heal by itself through your own immune system. If it gets worse, take the suggested medication. Or should you just pray? The bugs are still there. Some prayers won't just kill the bugs. If it works, then it's your immune system that killed the bugs, not prayers.

However, in the case of 'no cure', prayers can be useful at times. Though I tend to disagree that 'prayer' alone helps to cure your 'incurable disease'. In fact, it's your state of mind which helps a lot. Prayers make you feel relaxed, and more confident. Sometimes, I feel that it's the way you think which helps prevent/cure chronic diseases.

So,
Prayer like what the daughter killer did = Rubbish.
Prayer alone to cure disease = Nonsense.
Prayer + Medication to cure disease = Fine.
Prayer to hope to cure for incurable = Fine.

 

[CatCat]

I doubt we can debate on this, only argue.

 

[ElderKingpin]

theres a thin line between that.

 

[Geelottaja]

Works about as well as any other placebo effect.

If you've got time, better use it on something else than prayer. Simple meditation or calming down, for example, can be more effective.

 

[LurkerAspect]

The way I see it, religion and prayer is a pathway to unlocking the internal spiritual power of every human being. If you can believe in something so completely and so devoutly, that's when miracles happen.

If you can believe in something with all your heart, mind, body, and soul, then you will wield your spiritual power. But I have yet to see that happen myself, and the recent daughter-killer story just emphazises the common paradigm of "I believe in what I see, and everything else is just mumbo-jumbo"

So from me, I believe that prayer can help, but don't expect it to cure AIDs or cancer, or to end the Korean War.

 

[Sil3nt]

It's the thought that counts. Other than that, no - it does nothing.

 

[Dr.Jack]

Alright I'm going to step-in and change a few things here. Firstly a debate over a belief is not a debate. Asking if prayer works is like asking if gods exists. However the debate can be "Can mental belief strengthen you" or something along these lines.

So ElderKingpin please change the debate's topic to fit it better with the description.

theres a thin line between that.

This is so very wrong...

 

[Zakyath]

>Miracles do happen that science can't explain.

No they don't. But on some occasions someone with enough knowledge hasn't been nearby to explain it. That means that "miracles" has happened when there haven't been a person with enough scientific knowledge to explain it. To say science can't explain it, because of that, is wrong. Everything has a logic explanation. I can assure you that. I'm positive that there is nothing that has ever happened, that haven't got any "good" (you know what I mean) explanation. I'd be glad to share your point of view if you would prove what you said, with examples. Because it would be odd you would draw a conclusion by just assuming.

 

[FireCat]

does it give the chance that it will cure someone?

Well, It didn't cure that girl

 

[Varine]

Well even if there is a miracle, then it's going to be rationalized by non-creationists using what we feel is true about the world at the time. That doesn't mean it's a correct rationalization, it just means it is one. But regardless, you would have to take into account of how coincidental it happens to be.

I believe in god to no end, and it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever change my mind about that. That doesn't mean, however, that I feel God intervenes in the world all the time or that I necessarily like him.

And onto the topic of prayer, I think it's more of a comforting idea. If I pray I don't usually ask for help, because God would already know that I need it, but rather for forgiveness or for thankfulness, so it depends. Most churches say that you'll always get an answer, but I usually don't. I think it helps mentally, comforting people more than actually giving them immediate help.

 

[ElderKingpin]

let me point out that people shouldnt be using my topic post to be a quote, since i tried to be "neutral"

2nd, i dont know how to change the thread name

 

[Kershbob]

I don't believe in the supernatural.
I can't comprehend how the mechanisms of a non-material object can interact with the universe.
I find it obscure how people act during prayer, the mannerisms baffle me.
I find it offensive when people say they will pray for me. All I hear is that they are choosing to do nothing themselves and instead asking a supernatural being to fix the problem at hand.

No-one has ever answered the paradoxical prayer question to my face (if I pray for good and it doesn't happen and then pray for evil and it does happen what does that mean?).

Also I believe there was a study on the effects which proved it had no beneficial effect.

 

[thewrongvine]

Prayer itself doesn't do it. Praying is talking to your almighty one. Whether the effects happen is up to that. So this question isn't really right, lol.

But prayer also gives hope. "I think a man only needs one thing in life. He just needs someone to love. If you can't give him that, then give him something to hope for. And if you can't give him that, just give him something to do."



~Hai-Bye-Vine~

 

[Genkora]

I am not religious. At all. But isn't it taught that god helps those who help themselves? Or something like that. If that's the case, instead of praying to god to solve your problems, do something about it. There is nothing wrong with being religious, but there is a problem with being stupid.

 

[Jimpy]

I've thought of 'hope' as a white lie we tell ourselves. Instead of being pragmatic about things we sort of delude ourselves into positive thinking. For example if the weather forecast was 30% chance of sun, 70% chance of rain, most people go "I hope its sunny." and ignore the likely, and often saddening fact that the weather is going to be lousy for the day. Now of course 70%>30%.

This while not praying, is the exact same concept that everyone does. Perhaps less 'formal'. Ultimately this is a good thing. Instead of having a lot of mopey people walking around about bad weather to come, before its even yucky out, we have some optimistic attitudes.

Though this can of course be a bad thing where it goes to far. Where the white lie of hope becomes something individuals have a dependency on. These would be the people da1nOnlyEd mentions:

If you can believe in something so completely and so devoutly, that's when miracles happen.

Or more accurately (In my opinion), that's when the individual perceives miracles to have happened. If you have people who think like this, its going to cause problems, like some dad refusing medical care for his daughter. Then she dies (Sound familiar?). That is when it has gone too far.

The issue is of course, with these individuals who perceive miracles, who believes them? The answer to this question tends to lean towards not many, which is why 'debates' such as this exist.

If you've got time, better use it on something else than prayer. Simple meditation or calming down, for example, can be more effective.

Some people use prayer as a form of meditation, or calming down. A few of my friends have stated as much to me, which I think is a good, healthy form of prayer. They also tend to ask for self betterment so they can help contribute in a positive way to our world, instead of asking an almighty figure to do things for them.

 

[Danny Cross]

I feel if someone is religious, then prayer is sometimes what keeps them going. Prayer for some leads to hope, which can sometimes lead to the strength someone may need to overcome something to do what they need to do.
I for one am not religious at all but have some friends who are and I guess thats how it got explained to me.