Why do we pray?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
K

kayem77

Guest
#21
#21
wbwbwes said:
But with God how can there be evil?
Click to expand...
Evil exists when something doesn't accomplish the parameter of Good. He gave us the Universal Law which dictates what is good. When something fails to be Good, logically, it's bad. How do you know killing is wrong? because is forbidden in the Law. How do you know stealing is wrong? because it's forbidden in the law. Why do we have moral today? Because we have a law that dictates what is wrong.
Without law, there is no evil because everything is permitted and justifiable. Without Law, there are just human opinions which are, by the way, very influenced by the Bible in most countries. Just look at how how similar our laws are to the christian Law.
 
W

wbwbwes

Banned
#22
Jul 20, 2011
31
0
0
#22
If it said dancing was forbidden you wouldn't dance? Even without questioning why? What makes dancing evil?
 
K

kayem77

Guest
#23
#23
wbwbwes said:
If it said dancing was forbidden you wouldn't dance? Even without questioning why? What makes dancing evil?
Click to expand...
Nothing makes dancing evil because you just invented that law...And also, you have no power to create a law.
 
W

wbwbwes

Banned
#25
Jul 20, 2011
31
0
0
#25
Thats why I said IF. I was making a point.

Well then what makes coveting your neighbors wife evil? Why is the imagination evil?
 
J

jimmydiggs

Guest
#26
#26
wbwbwes said:
If it said dancing was forbidden you wouldn't dance? Even without questioning why? What makes dancing evil?
Click to expand...
The bible doesn't say anything about dancing itself. There are some principles we could apply to certain dance styles that are prone to lust. Such as grinding..

However, let's say dancing is Objectively wrong for this hypothetical. Can we remain philosophically consistant by adopting subjectivism to complain about an Objective "out-lawing"?
 
A

AnandaHya

Guest
#27
#27
why is a 31 year old atheist asking Christian teenagers these question? what could his motive be? why doesn't he ask his elders?
 
J

jimmydiggs

Guest
#28
#28
wbwbwes said:
Thats why I said IF. I was making a point.
Click to expand...
I think maybe I helped you in my response.



Well then what makes coveting your neighbors wife evil? Why is the imagination evil?
Click to expand...
It is a violation of the Marriage Covenent.

The reasoning I would apply is something like this.


1) Sexual relations are to be had only within the Marriage Covenent
2) Marriage covenent = 1 man 1 woman for life
2) Lust is committing sexual relations in the heart
4) From the above, it is a violation of the Marriage covenent


This a bit rough, but thats the reasoning I would put behind it.
 
K

kayem77

Guest
#29
#29
wbwbwes said:
Thats why I said IF. I was making a point.

Well then what makes coveting your neighbors wife evil? Why is the imagination evil?
Click to expand...
No, you are not...and I already answered that. Now you are just throwing questions that have nothing to do with what I said...
 
K

kayem77

Guest
#30
#30
AnandaHya said:
why is a 31 year old atheist asking Christian teenagers these question? what could his motive be? why doesn't he ask his elders?
Click to expand...
Because he just came to convert us....I'm guessing. :rolleyes:
 
W

wbwbwes

Banned
#31
Jul 20, 2011
31
0
0
#31
Tell me this: what is the difference between religeon and superstition?
 
J

jimmydiggs

Guest
#33
#33
wbwbwes said:
Tell me this: what is the difference between religeon and superstition?
Click to expand...
A dictionary would be a good start.

Webster said:
Definition of RELIGION

1
a : the state of a religious <a nun in her 20th year of religion> b (1) : the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2) : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

2
: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

3
archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness

4
: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith


Religion - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary <--- click
Click to expand...
Webster said:
Definition of SUPERSTITION

1
a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition

2
: a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary
Superstition - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary <-- click
Click to expand...
 
A

AnandaHya

Guest
#34
#34
jimmydiggs said:
He's a crusading atheist.
Click to expand...
lol

I clicked on this thread because I was actually curious to see what people answered. So I will answer the question and not the OP since I"m not sure he really prays being an atheist so the "we" is misleading...

Why do I pray? So that I can spend time with my Beloved Heavenly Father and hear His will and blessings for my life. Because to live In Christ onw finds peace, comfort and love. Because we are to build our house of beliefs and thoughts upon the Stone and not shifting sands.

I like EM Bounds and McCheyne's words about prayer....

Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.&#8212;Robert Murray McCheyne

WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God&#8217;s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God&#8217;s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.
 
S

Skydoogie

Guest
#35
#35
So I guess everyone forgot about Satan. >.> *leaves*
 
A

AnandaHya

Guest
#36
#36
Skydoogie said:
So I guess everyone forgot about Satan. >.> *leaves*
Click to expand...
no just recognize that Jesus defeated him and his minions on the cross...

Colossians 2:13-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.


Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
 
S

Skydoogie

Guest
#37
#37
AnandaHya said:
no just recognize that Jesus defeated him and his minions on the cross...

Colossians 2:13-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.


Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Click to expand...
Oh. Thanks for clarifying.
 
Kathleen

Kathleen

Senior Member
#38
Oct 13, 2009
3,570
6
38
#38
wbwbwes said:
Millions of people around the world pray everyday for just about everything: bless this, heal that, give me whatever. If a prayer isn't answered, which is 99.8% of the time, then it just wasn't Gods will, it wasn't in his plan. Well if God has a plan why would you pray for something and try to mess with his plan? It's divine. He has had this plan in action for thousands of years and everyday someone is trying to mess it up. If God wanted you to get the promotion you have been asking for he would have just given it to you. If God didn't want your mother to have breast cancer, he wouldn't have given it to her. Who are we to think that we know better than the divine plan?
Click to expand...

From the sound of your post, you pray only to ask for things.

But if you are asking

Why do we pray?

I would say the majority of Christians pray to deepen and streghten their relationship with the Lord Jesus, our Saviour. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.