Prayer Does it work for you?

DragonBear: Do you believe Prayer works for you? Are you specific when you pray?
Who do you pray for? Do you need a prayer said for you by others today?


For me it works..and I'm usually specific, I pray for my loved ones and I pray for my enemies sometimes..If you need a prayer said for you today just let me know.
My God is Jesus Christ

Thumbilina: I thank him every day ...for the day he has given me...good or bad...

smoke4ever: yes

CoIin: Does it work? Well, no offence to anyone out there, but wouldn't we have to consider success rates? Guessing works too - sometimes.

Controlled studies have been conducted to examine the efficacy of prayer. As I understand it, no causal relation has been detected.

smoke4ever: colinian, your attacking prayer now.......

CoIin: Not so much "attacking", dude, just wondering what the justification is. A claim such as "all my prayers are answered" would be remarkable. A claim such as "Some of my prayers are answered" doesn't seem very remarkable, to me at least.

smoke4ever: sometimes the answer is no

CoIin: Try praying for an amputee and see how far you get.

CoIin: @ sometimes the answer is no

Well, that's my point. Sometimes fortune tellers are wrong too. Tealeaf and animal viscera readers don't always get it right either.

DragonBear: Smoke may I ask who is your God...Mine is Jesus Christ

smoke4ever: why don't you try praying to God about something important to you and end the prayer with: in the name of our LORD God and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Then see what happens.
But if you never pray, how will you know if it really works?

CoIin: From Wiki - "prayer"

Several studies of prayer effectiveness have yielded null results.[4] A 2001 double-blind study of the Mayo Clinic found no significant difference in the recovery rates between people who were (unbeknownst to them) assigned to a group that prayed for them and those who were not.[77] Similarly, the MANTRA study conducted by Duke University found no differences in outcome of cardiac procedures as a result of prayer.[78] In another similar study published in the American Heart Journal in 2006,[79] Christian intercessory prayer when reading a scripted prayer was found to have no effect on the recovery of heart surgery patients; however, the study found patients who had knowledge of receiving prayer had slightly higher instances of complications than those who did not know if they were being prayed for or those who did not receive prayer.[5][80] Another 2006 study suggested that prayer actually had a significant negative effect on the recovery of cardiac bypass patients, resulting in more frequent deaths and slower recovery time for those patient who received prayers.[81]

CoIin: @ - But if you never pray, how will you know if it really works?

Dude, I haven't tried bloodletting, but I'm satisfied that it doesn't work.

DragonBear: I can speak only for myself but I tell you prayer has worked several times in my life.

StuckInTheSixties:

I've tried it. Didn't do a damn thing.

WillowManChe: It works, depends on Wat u pray on and Wat for, and takes patients as well

StuckInTheSixties:

I pray that you can develop some literacy.

random1: If the idea of prayer is to lend a comforting idea that someone is listening to your inner thought attentively then yes, I could say prayer has helped comfort me in strange times. Specifically when I was extremely ill, I wanted it gone, and I was reaching out to everything I could. I can say however that specific prayers haven’t been answered in a notable ‘that was god’ fashion. Many would lend that to the ‘god works in mysterious ways’ fashion, and I can say I am healthy today (relatively.) others can easily argue that my immune system fought off the illness. But in times of need reaching out for a comfort such as prayer is convenient, easy, and it helps keep what wits you have. I feel like some of us need that sort of hope to a degree. Examining this need has been a constant give and take with many new problems in my life; but its always there, and its easy to reach for. I think the idea of free will means that were free to pray to whatever we choose, and it also means that it’s a one way street; we will never logically know for sure if our prayers are answered, or if there’s any higher power. But the mind over mater element shouldn’t be so easily dismissed. Stress hurts in physical ways, and asking the ether ‘please don’t’ shouldn’t be an action that’s so quickly to be judged or condemned. If it helps great, but it should never be an action force-fed to anyone. (which it was with me at a young age) I haven’t prayed to anything that isn’t porcelain in a decade. Im a little drunk so im going to bed, everyone have a good night.

kozmik1234: praying works for real

DragonBear: Prayer should be like breathing..something you do everyday to live
If you only use it in small amounts your expectations of results might be set too high.
I try to keep it simple and use prayer to communicate with my Savior Jesus Christ.
Thanks everyone for your comments

busting4u: Praying does work but be careful what you pray for because you might not want it.

CoIin: ^^^ In other words..... something will happen.

That happens to people who don't pray too.

smoke4ever: all you do is mock

CoIin: No, Smoke.

Does prayer work? Does it always work? Does it never work? Does it only work for certain people? Does it only work if certain deities are prayed to? etc etc....

These are questions that will be not be answered in any definitive way by a blithe assertion such as "Prayer works for me".

For those who are sincere about finding an answer to these questions, some method of inquiry will have to be brought to bear on the process.

For those who feel more secure clinging to unchallenged beliefs.... well, why bother debating at all?