Does praying "work"?

by SpannerintheWorks 29 Replies latest jw friends

  • Iwasyoungonce
    Iwasyoungonce

    Tex how can what you went though be made right? I just don't know. I am so sorry. I hope that you have many loving people in your life now.

    There is not a fitting punishment for an adult who does that to a child. It would be better if the were just dead.

  • Big Tex
    Big Tex

    Onacruse Iwasyoungonce

    Thanks. That means more than you know. But according to the Witnesses, what happened to me doesn't count. Why? I don't have 2 eyewitnesses. Does God feel the same way? Honestly, I don't know. I hope not. My father is a ministerial servant in good standing. In fact, he was recently on a circuit assembly part as an example of modern Christian fatherhood. My grandfather died of Alzheimer's disease, but not before he attacked other children. But yes, things are much better for me now. I married the love of my life and I am proving daily that incest does not have to be passed on. My children will never know what I know. Actually my life now is better now than it's ever been. But s ometimes I look at my children when they're playing or asleep and wonder about what might have been. A life that could have been, and wasn't. I believe God does answer prayers. It's just sometimes the answer is no. Why he answers no, well I would really, really like an answer.

    Peace

    Chris

  • Sirona
    Sirona

    On numerous occasions I have prayed and the prayer was not answered. Times when I've been in DIRE need. I look back and I think that maybe I was getting some sort of help but didn't recognise it. Also, if the prayer was NOT answered at all, maybe it was because I needed to have that lesson. Some things we need to work through without some quick fix solution.

    I think prayer works. I'd divide it up to say that 90% of prayer works on the individual's own psyche. Maybe more than 90%. Somewhere there is the Divine who hears us too and may lend support, but most things are about us and how we deal with things and our own attitude.

    Sirona

  • LittleToe
    LittleToe

    If prayer can help deal with a percentage of the psychosomatic illnesses, I would have thought it would have at least some approval from even the hardest of skeptics.

    I've personally seen the benefits in my life and in the life of others. I would suggest that just praying and sitting back is very "hyper-calvinist", and unlikely to get much result, though. That can be seen experientially, as well as biblically.

    If you're skeptical, yet in a bind, what's to lose? After all, you don't need a religious building around you, to do it.

  • donkey
    donkey

    Jesus prayed. He prayed so hard he sweated blood.

    Look what happened to him...

  • donkey
    donkey

    Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer . - Author Unknown
  • Iwasyoungonce
    Iwasyoungonce
    Thanks. That means more than you know. But according to the Witnesses, what happened to me doesn't count. Why? I don't have 2 eyewitnesses. Does God feel the same way?

    Aw Tex,

    You are so welcome I only wish I could say the words that could make this less of a burden. I do want to say the following;

    The Jehovah Witnesses are fucked in the head! They could not find thier ass with a roadmap! If you put what they do in perspective whom they service is quite clear. But their followers could not be more blind if they poked thier own eyes out. I believe what they do to children is criminal. If they want to live in a world of fear and rape and skulldugery that is thier business. But, I would like to see more kids sue thier parents for emotional distress. Their only crime is being born to these jerk offs. If you were my son I promise that I would not abandon you. If even my father raped you God might have mercy I would not.

    Look deep inside your own heart. Ask yourself in that place inside you if you think that it was your fault. You were a child. You should have been protected by the bastard that did that to you. He betrayed you and God. I would say the religion as well but they are more concerned about their god like right to pardon than justice. They suck eggs!

    We have choices in what we want to do in this world. That means that we can become someone satan fears or someone even christ would admire. When I am angry even a the devil is in fear. But I also have a heart that can be as helpful as any angel. We need to look more at the horizion and each other for help. We need to stop looking up for answers to problems that we know are clearly wrong.

  • Golden Girl
    Golden Girl

    If it did work..everyones prayer's would be answered! Not just some.

    And JW's put in the words" If it be God's will" in their prayers..that way when they don't have their prayers answered..it was Gods will!.

    Looks like a Win Win situation!...For God!

    Snoozy...

  • jack2
    jack2

    It's interesting that some who have replied to this thread and others like it say that they have felt that their prayers, at least some of them, have been answered. If this is the case, then it shows that God does not restrict the hearing and answering of prayers to jws only, which is is quite encouraging.

    Also, there are many, many people, obviously, who have never had anything to do with jws, people of various faiths and denominations, that would also say that their prayers have been answered, which again, if true, would be encouraging.

    Personaly, I have not prayed in a long while because I tend to feel that there's no way to really know whether a prayer has been answered, as opposed to a simple coincidence taking place. Events in life just seem too random. The earlier post on this thread about the baseball game and the divorce seems to be an example of that, at least to some degree.

  • Big Tex
    Big Tex
    We have choices in what we want to do in this world.

    Exactly. I'm a big believer in the idea that our lives are the sum total of our decisions. I believe God fits in there somewhere, I just haven't decided where yet. My father chose to go down a different road. I believe one day he will be called on to answer for that decision. But like you, I also think that we need to look at each other for help and begin to work together to solve our problems. If God chooses to get involved, then it's a bonus but I believe he gave us a mind for a reason.

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