Do you believe in prayer?

Predictive text at work here! I meant to say’The existence of God’ not ‘ The distance of God’! God I’d always right here with us!

Of course! What is life without faith?

Greeneyedgirl, nope, I find it insulting. It suggests that they think they are right in their beliefs - and, by default, I am wrong.

People from the local Chapel knocked to say they're talking to neighbours to establish what 'God' really wants for the place. I burst out laughing, which puzzled them. I said that, to understand me as an atheist, they should substitute 'Father Christmas' for the word 'God'!

Doodle ''What would make you think that God would save the life of one child over another jura. Some lives are saved and some not. Just because we pray does not mean all prayers are answered.''

exactly - however people so often say ' I prayed and my child or whomever, was saved because of my prayers' What sort of God would pick and choose, based on whether said child had a or some good Christian/s praying for it ??? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

Scribble - how awful and I am so sorry. Thinking of you and hoping he will not have permanent damage and will improve soon. Do send news when you can. hugs xxx

jura what people say and what actually happens are two different things. I have no more idea of what happens in the world than you do. I just know what I believe. I don’t know. That’s what faith is. A belief in something you can’t prove.
Yes I know people say I prayed and this or that happened and for every one who does there are many who would say I prayed and nothing happened.
As I asked before. Why do so many people get angry with a God they don’t believe in.
If you believe in God and you feel he has let you down then by all means be angry with him. But because you don’t believe don’t tell me how I should think about the God I believe in.
God doesn’t pick or choose. I have believed and prayed all my life. Sometimes I would say my prayers have been answered. Many times not in the way I prayed for but maybe in a different way. Many times my prayers have not been answered in that terrible things have happened that have brought me to despair. If I choose at this point to pray to the Loving God I believe in that is my choice. If you choose to portray the God you don’t believe in as some evil monster then that’s up to you.
You are confusing people and what they say with God. If I stand up and say God made me king of the universe it doesn’t make it true. Christians like all people come in all shapes and sizes with different beliefs. Some people of religion use their faith as a reason to kill others. That is not God that is people doing what they want and using what they think is their God as an excuse.
All people who say they are Christians or some other religion are not the same. We are all individual. Each one must decide for themselves what they believe in. The OP asked if we believed in prayer. I do. You don’t. Both valid answers.

Both valid answers- that can be discussed.

Scribbles, I was so sorry to hear about your OH, but I would like to send love and prayers to you both.

Yes I agree.
I would not dream of trying to convert you jura (I think trying to move a mountain would be easier ?) but you always strike me as a thinking person. Maybe one day, you might consider looking at some internet sites on “Why bad things happen to good people” for a different prospective. I am conscious of this thought you have that God would choose to save a Christian child over any other just because the parents prayed. It isn’t how I think of the God I believe in. Life is strange. We each choose our path. I have mine and at the moment I am trying to walk it as best I can. Take care.

scribbles I am so sorry to hear about your DH. I have PMd you.

What an interesting and good humoured thread.Very different views have been expressed giving all of us a lot to think about. We are all struggling but are prepared on the whole to listen to the ideas of others.Hopefully it will make us all more tolerant of each other.A cashmere jumper has led to many other thoughts

scribbles, I'm so sorry to hear about your dh! QMC are fantastic. I'm sure he is in the best place. We are here if you need us!

Solonge
God considers it worth giving humans free will even through we do some horrendous things with it. The fact that we don’t know all his reasons for this doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. These are 2 videos (around 5 minutes) on the subject, based on the work of a top philosopher and debater.

Suffering and Evil: The Logical Version
youtu.be/k64YJYBUFLM

Suffering and Evil: The Probability Version
youtu.be/cxj8ag8Ntd4

Many thanks to everyone for their kindness and support. It really does mean a lot - prayers, hugs, kind thoughts are all very welcome just now.

Poor OH has been in an induced coma for the past 24 hours and likely to be that way until after the weekend. He had a reaction to the massive doses of morphine which stopped his bowel working and his abdomen distended to the extent his other organs were pressing on his lungs and interfering with his breathing. The drug to counteract the morphine affected his kidney function and ... And ... Well, his blood pressure dropped to silly levels yesterday afternoon and we thought we were losing him. Following a somewhat risky scan under general anaesthetic to establish what precisely is going on inside him, a treatment plan was established to (hopefully) sort the internal problems and stabilise him, together with dialysis if required while he is kept just unconscious so that his entire system can recuperate. This will help the multiple fractures and bruising to heal, too, without the stress of his constant pained movements. He's nearly 76 and I do know that recovery will be a slow and lengthy process and the man who comes home to me may not be quite the same person who went ambling cheerfully out of the house last Saturday to go to Asda. Whatever, he will still be the light of my life.

While he is unconscious, I'm staying at home rather than sitting by his bedside. It's at least a 90 mile round trip to the hospital by train and tram and I feel more useful keeping things ticking over at home - dealing with the building repair work that was booked for this week, taking the cat to her vet appointment and so on. I spent all of this morning sorting out the car insurance and feel a stupid, smug sense of satisfaction at that small achievement.

The nurses have promised to be in touch if there's deterioration or any other major development and I'll be there in an hour by taxi. Our daughter is not driving up from Essex immediately but waiting until he's aware again and will be pleased to see her smiling face. The one good thing that might come out of all this is that it may bring Daughter and I closer together. For all sorts of historic reasons we've never been really close but the past few days are strengthening the bond.

I truly hope there won't be much news for a few days. "Stable" and "resting quietly" are words I want to hear. But when there is news, I will post it here.
Once again, thank you all.

So hard for you. If you don't mind saying where he is, maybe a kind Gran here could help with hosting overnight as it is such a long return trip.

Hope you get some sleep x

Thanks, Jura that idea had already been put to me by someone else but I have an ailing cat who needs daily meds and, despite the distance, I feel better in my own home - it's very much "our" place and I feel close to OH in a way I wouldn't anywhere else.

jura, scribbles said that her dh is in QMC.

I am a regular Church goer and strongly believe in the power of prayer. It has helped me through very challenging times in my life. But I do pray to my favourite patron saints for less serious things - St Jude when I am at the end of my tether and St Anthony when I lose something. I was brought up with faith and prayer and it is still a part of my life.

100% I believe in prayer.
I pray every day and especially for my family as well as others.

No

How shocking for you Scribbles and I do hope he starts to recover soon and am thinking about you both, as are many on here.
There is no mystery to me why "bad things happen to good people". I believe life is random, and can be damn difficult at times, and we have to get through the best way we can. If religious belief helps some then I can't argue.
I don't think you have to believe in a supernatural being, to be moral, kind, compassionate and caring to others.
I don't believe but am pleased if someone prays for me because they care and are thinking about me.

I believe in prayer I do not believe GOD listens to requests for cashmere jumpers !

I have no religious beliefs at all as I think religion is a construct to keep people in their ‘place’ and am highly cynical of most things. However, I would defend anyone’s right to worship as they wish.
I do have one ‘prayer’ experience to relate. My mum found a tiny kitten thrown into her hedge, it still had the umbilical cord attached. She took it to the vet who said there wasn’t really a chance but mum thought she would give it a go. Despite staying up to feed through the following nights it wasn’t thriving. I happened to visit (mum lived 100 miles away) and I sat with this tiny scrap on my lap and put my hands over it and just asked the universe for it to live and be healthy. My hands got very warm which felt very strange but faded after a few minutes. The little kitten called susie grew into a very large glossy black cat who lived until she was 18. So perhaps it was the ‘prayer’. After all there is more in heaven and earth than we know... but I’m still a sceptic.

What a horrendous thing to happen to your dear husband , Scrabbles. Just awful. I do pray, it's as important to me as breathing , so I will be praying that whatever the outcome you will have the strength to deal with it.

You will be able to fill your husband in on all what 's being going on whist he was " sleeping " and all the things you have got sorted out and achieved.

It's a very unsettling time for you and I am sure you must be exhausted both mentally and physically with all the stress.

Hopefully once he regains consciousness you will be able to take up the offer of somewhere to stay close to him as he will be needing a lot of reassurance and support. It will be both a frightening and emotional time for him reflecting on all that has happened .

I would have thought that, if there is a God, he/she/it would have more pressing things to attend to than the acquisition of a cashmere jumper.

Like some others on here, I have no time whatsoever for organised religion but that's not to say that I don't respect the religious people who do their best to make the world be a kinder, less hateful place.

If someone gets comfort from praying or receiving the prayers of others, that's fine by me - but those who just pray for their own good fortune or supposed salvation just irritate me. What irritates me even more is those who come out of some sort of terrible catastrophe relatively unscathed and put it down to "God was watching over me". How self-absorbed is that.

Doodle asks 'Why do so many people get angry with a God they don’t believe in.'

The question makes no sense - so why expect an answer?

I think it's about people getting angry with the things religious people tend to say (like 'It's God's will' or 'God will decide' etc.)

- all things that make no sense to us and sound very much like convenient excuses to deny responsibility or avoid decisions.

(Just substitute 'tooth fairy' for 'God' and listen to what you say. Doesn't it sound ridiculous?)