Is it possible that Atheists are wrong and that sometimes prayers are really answered.
No.
But the results of the recent election does give one pause.
Was it not lawfully prayed in countless churches throughout our land, and unlawfully prayed in a growing number of American public schools, captured by the forces of darkness in the American Religious Civil War (ARCW), for “Our Father Who Art in Heaven” to “deliver us from evil?”
Or was it loyal Americans, tired of tyranny and of theocracy, who managed in some small measure at least to deliver us from evil?
Wonder if those now booted out of office would object to the idea that perhaps it is time for the Legislature to take back control of the Executive Branch of government?
Would those who think our way of life exists to unjustly enrich them be horrified at such an idea? Of course they would be horrified. All Americans should be horrified at such a idea.
That is because such a sentiment is unconscionably unconstitutional.
For the exact same reasons as was the idea, expressed in what some traitors were pleased to call “Justice Sunday,” that the Legislature should take back control of the Judiciary.
The ARCW is far from over.
Edwin.
I ran across an article last year about some research that was done to test the effects of “prayer” upon people recovering from various serious conditions in a hospital environment.
I believe they had 4 separate groups of people. The first was a group of religious people that keenly believed in the power of prayer, and their only requirement was to “pray” for 2 of the other 3 groups that were in a hospital environment, recovering from serious and very similar conditions.
The 3rd group in the hospital, a control group, was “unprayed for.” Of the other 2 groups that were prayed for, one group knew they were being prayed for, and the other group did not know they were being prayed for.
The results were interesting. For the 2 groups of patients, one not knowing they were prayed for, and the control group not prayed for at all. Their recoveries were essentially and statistically the same.
However, in the group that “knew” they were being prayed for, they clearly demonstrated longer and more problematic recoveries, which surprised the researchers.
The general consensus was that somehow, when a person is expecting the power of prayer to heal him, his own autonomous system of healing and recovery are compromised.
“Ora est labora” one way to understand ‘the power of prayer’ is that taking time to quiet the mind and allow oneself to mine the inner self may, on occasion, provide some insights and understandings that are consistent with the vast amount of wisdom and accumulated knowledge which will appear to be a’miraculous epiphany’. As a secular Christian I find that actions become what the Buddhists call ‘mindfulness’ not irrational expectations of the Cosmic Bell hop or the Divine Superman/woman… Mindfulness is prayer. Would to God that Preisdent Bush would rely more on mindfulness than the fundamentalist mindlessness. Prayer does not work miracles… but having the humility to acknowledge one’s dependence upon reason and the interconnectedness of the Cosmic experience can/and does produce some remarkable breakthroughs.
” Are Atheists Wrong About Prayer? ”
Webster defines Atheist as follows: One who denies the existance of God.
If one denies the existance of God, which meets the criteria defined by Webster as being an Atheist, why would one want to pray to a God, that he or she believes, just doesn’t exist?
For one to do so, would be accepting the fact that there is a God, which contradicts ones claims of being an Atheist.
Might I suggest, if such a contradiction has occurred, a review of the Law Of Non-Contradiction, would easily resolve this issue.
As for Prayer, it has best been defined as follows: The express privilege of the child of God ( Believer ), to communicate with his or her Heavenly Father.
The Believers prayers are always answered, but not necessarily in accordance, with the request(s) of the Believer. In that God is Sovereign and infinite in knowledge etc., He is not going to grant a request, that is detrimental to the health and well-being of his own.
Would any parent in his or her right mind, hand their five year old child the keys to the family car? For to do so, would certainly end in disaster. In my mind, I would certainly question whether or not this parent, really loved this child.
There are examples in the Scriptures for our edification, where God’s children continually pleaded for an answer to their demands, after being warned by God of the consequences, and yet still continuing to make their demands.
One such example involves the choice of a King to rule over the people. God’s choice was David, but the people demanded that Saul be made King. As a result of their continued demands, God allowed Saul to rule over the land. It was not long before the people regretted their choice of a King, as King Saul could be defined as a tyrant, and the people suffered as a result at his hand.