Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why going to church or praying at church is so important if they hear prayers from your bed. Why so performative?
Anonymous wrote:God doesn't need anything from you. It's the other way around. You pray because praying helps you.
Anonymous wrote:It's the equivalent of leaving a voicemail to someone you don't know, to ask for stuff they might not be able to give, or share some news they might not be able to hear.
Anonymous wrote:Good questions.
And my personal answer from a non theologian perspective—but from the perspective of a Bible-believing Christian is that we pray because that is how God instructs us (through scripture) to communicate with him in order to receive guidance, gifts, and grace.
As a Christian, we pray to express our thanks, our worship/adoration for the creator of all things, our wants, our love, our needs—to ask for forgiveness and guidance, to demonstrate reverence and our desire to be obedient, even when we fall short—which we always do.
We do this because Jesus demonstrated this when he prayed for all of these things for all of these purposes, and our desire is to know and be close to God. Jesus taught that we do this by turning to him in prayer because if we bring him our gratitude and needs, he will “make our paths straight” through revelation in many forms.
Essentially, it’s meditation with meaning and significance. It focuses our hearts on what is important (seeking and knowing Gods will, putting our trust and faith in the creator and asking him to forgive our wickedness and guide our journey toward making the world he created a more loving existence until we join him in heaven for all eternity.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's the equivalent of leaving a voicemail to someone you don't know, to ask for stuff they might not be able to give, or share some news they might not be able to hear.
But if God is all-knowing, why do they need the voicemail to be informed/asked?
Anonymous wrote:People that believe in God, talk to God. So when you are asking for prayers, you are asking a friend who you know to talk to God to mention whatever it is you want prayers for. Maybe if God hears the request from enough people, it will happen.
From your perspective, you are trying to apply logic to faith. It can't be done. You just have to believe.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's the equivalent of leaving a voicemail to someone you don't know, to ask for stuff they might not be able to give, or share some news they might not be able to hear.
But if God is all-knowing, why do they need the voicemail to be informed/asked?
Anonymous wrote:It's the equivalent of leaving a voicemail to someone you don't know, to ask for stuff they might not be able to give, or share some news they might not be able to hear.