Many of us pray for assistance from God in times of need.
In my own life, there are times when I've had the inexplicable happen, and it had to be a chain of extreme coincidence, or there seemed to be divine intervention. One time, -fifteen- things had to line up to get me exactly the help I needed and got...and it happened.
Here's the rub, though. Say one is having money trouble. Which, coincidentally, I am. But I digress... Say one is having financial difficulties, and prays for help. Say that someone is me. What makes it any more likely that my prayers will be answered than any of the millions of unemployed the U.S. alone?
What makes it any more likely that someone with health issues will have their prayers granted over something of medium criticality (say, a screwed up back and arm, as I recently had), when there are people (one a relative, one a late friend, and millions of others) who are dying or were left to suffer and/or die of cancer?
In other words, what makes us so confident in the belief that our prayers have a reasonable chance of being answered? Why do we buy into the notion that, because we ask, we may receive? Especially, if I look at my own case, when I'm less devout and arguably less worthy than others out there. What makes me so special that my prayers even might be answered, when others undoubtedly pray day after day in vein, and receive no assistance?
Arguably, it's a conceit. I'm not saying God doesn't provide. I'm not saying God doesn't or won't intervene. I'm saying that in times of stress, need, worry, and desperation, we are usually unable to rise to the challenge to the degree necessary to overcome a situation. Our families, likewise, may not be able to help us. Nor can our friends always help us out.
We turn, therefore, to the one being--real or manufactured, and that's an entirely different debate--who might have the potential to do what we cannot. And that's an understandable defense mechanism.
But wishing not only doesn't make it so, it also doesn't make it even remotely logical. Even discounting all the atheists out there, there are enough suffering believers in -some- form or another that the chances of any individual's prayers outweighing any other's prayers, is negligible, all things being equal. Even if one isn't praying for themselves, but instead is praying selflessly for another, there is still a huge pool of folks praying. Lop off the gratuitous prayers and prayers from those who aren't exactly pious on one end, and the extremely devout believers on the other extreme, and you're left with the middle of a huge bell curve--and likely a very shallow hill of a curve, at that.
Further, it pays to examine the intent of prayer. For instance, in Christian teachings I've read and listened to, it is often said that one should be praying not for one's own desires, but for God's will. Few things patently make less sense than praying for someone to do as they please in any event. If it's God's will that something happen, He's going to make it happen whether you ask or not, presumably. Equate this with walking up to your employer and saying, "Uhm, excuse me, Boss? Uhm...I was wondering if you could please give me that raise that I could really use. I'm not being pushy about it, do whatever you were going to do before I brought it up. Just thought I'd bother you for no good reason. Sorry to interrupt your work day."
People pray either for their own will and desires, or they pray for something to be God's will. The first cases are the more honest of the two, and at least make sense. You run into all the problems I've listed ahead of this, but it's at least logical on an emotional and psychological level. The latter cases are either deluding themselves into believing that's what they're really doing, or they're wasting both their time and God's, as God's will is likely immutable. The Bible (somewhere...I don't remember the exact passage) quotes God as saying that He is today as He was in the past, as He will be in the future. He is unchanging, and therefore, combined with omniscience, it makes little sense that God's will would change.
What might make sense, is if you buy into the concept of prayer being somewhat like a privilege. For instance, one might ask their father if they can drive the family car to go do something, be it joy-ride, or go to the store to pick up something they want or need. The act of praying for use of the energy that results from prayer (say, in the case of those who claim to heal through spiritual energy) might be equated to this kind of permission; if it's God's will that you're allowed to use that energy and channel it towards someone in need (or yourself), that might be one thing, as His will pertains to your use of said purported forces, and you'd be doing the legwork yourself, with His blessing if He's so inclined. But that's a lot different than praying for specific results and asking God to do all the work if it's His will. The latter makes zero sense, even within the constraints of the illogic of faith--unless you have faith in illogic itself.
I do not dismiss the power of prayer. I'm not saying don't pray for help for yourself or others. I do. And I've seen results in the past that seem to indicate there's something to it.
But by the same token, I at least acknowledge it for what it likely is. And what prayer likely is, is man's inability, psychologically and emotionally, to handle seemingly insurmountable situations over which he has little to no control, and the resultant act of desperation of turning to the one entity that's supposed to be able to do anything, which would include making things work out in a preferred fashion. It is likely a psychological crutch, albeit a long-standing one that is ingrained into the fabric of religious society and has been for thousands of years, woven through countless cultures in one form or another. It is a cry into the dark, begging for a ray of light.
And in the end, it may be as simple as minimising your downside risk. If you don't ask, you don't get--at least in our material world. Theoretically, if everything is going according to God's will, you'd get anyway, even if you didn't ask. The idea, however, is that it can't hurt, it can only [potentially] help, so why not at least try.
I urge people to consider their motivations for praying, and provide feedback that either supports or disputes my logic. I feel that prayer is something that people of faith use on a regular basis, but don't really give sufficient thought to their motivations, or to the basic logic of the situation, even within the framework of faith. Myself included...guilty as charged. But when I sit down and actually think about it, the above is what I come up with.
And quite possibly, more people don't examine this subject precisely because it does the exact opposite of what they want and rely upon their faith to do--make them feel better. Indeed, the train of thought I have just ridden is a bit of a downer. To realise that one's prayers either don't matter, or really don't make much (if any) difference, given expectation of a sane prioritisation and the demonstrable lack of such prioritisation as exemplified in worldwide results and events, is not heartening. But the truth has never really been in vogue. People generally want to be lied to, if it means they'll be comforted. And they'll lie to themselves (myself included), even on a subconscious level, if it means they think they have a better chance of helpful intervention and some form of comfort.
In other words, prayer may be about nothing more than making one's faith make one feel good. Another way of looking at it is as an opiate of choice which numbs the pain of daily life.
And still, I don't discount the merits (or even efficacy) of prayer, or advise against it. I've seen too many really odd things to wholly disbelieve the power of prayer. What I disbelieve is the apparent "logic" which is bestowed upon the device of prayer by the masses--because all reason says that the usual approaches are fallacies, even if the results tend to manifest.
A well thought-out response. Thanks! We are talking at cross-purposes about one thing, though. When discussing equality of prayers (prayer equity?), I was meaning to say, "...all things being equal." So if you have 250,000 religious cancer pat... more