How is prayer supposed to work?

Discussion in 'Religion' started by Jennifer Murphy, Mar 18, 2019.

  1. Jan Ardena OM!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Changed thread.
     
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  3. candy Valued Senior Member

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    How prayer works is a mystery. You can observe the effects but defining the how is elusive.

    The theosophist Annie Besant believed in "thought forms" that radiated out from the body.

    Think of other peoples prayers for your healing as get well cards you receive. You can toss out the card as junk mail or you can derive pleasure from receiving a card or feel gratitude that someone thought to send you a card. If you take pleasure in receiving cards the more you get the more joy in your life. More people praying for you would be sending more "thought form" energy to you to enhance your ability to heal. When you pray God will send you a google of get well cards; what you do with them is up to you.

    It does seem that the "thought forms" function more with the vagus system than the cerebral system. It is very difficult to measure energy at this level so it all remains very much a mystery. Like remote viewing it is but defining the mechanics of it is elusive.
     
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  5. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    There is - and can be - no "mystery" as to how something doesn't work.

    There are no effects.

    Except that Besant was a fraud and/ or a nutcase.

    No.

    No.

    This is, in its entirety, nonsense.
     
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  7. BlueSky Registered Senior Member

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    Sure there can. We really have no clue how allot of things work. But we know they are there. That’s why we keep looking and trying to understand.
     
  8. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Which is not the same.
    Prayer doesn't work - ergo there's no mystery to it.
    How can there be a mystery as to how something fictional doesn't work?

    Right... we should spend more time trying to understand why brussel sprouts don't cause supernovae.
     
  9. BlueSky Registered Senior Member

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    Except it does.


    Quite the extreme.
     
  10. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Wrong again: it has been shown not to in properly-conducted tests.
    (Personal experience - per your claim earlier - doesn't support the claim: post hoc ergo propter hoc isn't evidence).
     
  11. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    They don't?

    Please provide a link to this investigation

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  12. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry, it's currently classified.
    If I gave you the study I'd have to make you eat the sprouts.
     
  13. Michael 345 New year. PRESENT is 72 years oldl Valued Senior Member

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    Precisely

    Do that and be prepared for a Supernova to exit my waste disposal sphincter

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  14. BlueSky Registered Senior Member

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    It’s not something that can be tested this way.
     
  15. Dywyddyr Penguinaciously duckalicious. Valued Senior Member

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    But, funnily enough, it has been.
     
  16. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    That's a particularly egregious excuse: It failed the test, so the test is invalid.

    If the test was flawed, point out the flaws; we'll refine the test and retest.
     
  17. Hapsburg Hellenistic polytheist Valued Senior Member

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    I can't speak for monotheists, and the hole they dig themselves into with the idea of god as a neutral, all-loving arbiter. But as a polytheist, I can say that the consensus in our community seems to be that the gods are inclined to give favor to individuals or groups as part of a larger cycle of reciprocity. If you have made offerings, or promised them, or just garner the interest of a god, then might help you. Then you should give back in thanks or as a votive.
    Is this "rigged"? Not anymore so than you doing your friend a favor and then saying they owe you a solid. It is reciprocity. It is the religious principle of do ut des: "I give, that you might give."

    That can be answered pretty succinctly, without regard to any particular theology. It's a form of meditation and focus.
     
  18. Bowser Namaste Valued Senior Member

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    Sending positive vibes into the Universe can't hurt. It's certainly better than being told to hurry up and die.
     
  19. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    as/re
    how is prayer supposed to work
    Prayer depends much on the prayer(person who prays).
    For some, prayer is much like meditation
    For some prayer helps understand themselves
    for others:
     
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  20. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Well said, sculptor ^^
     
  21. davewhite04 Valued Senior Member

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    She should direct that prayer to Santa, leave a cookie and some milk out on the 24th of December and she might get her mercedes benz(I prefer BMW).
     

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