Power of Prayer

Yesterday I saw an advertisement on the TV about a new show or a new telenovela of some sort. On that show/telenovela there is this kid who is very unfortunate and having a very bad life. The ad showed the kid praying and asking for some help from God. The kid was crying and was really praying for God for some assistance or guidance. I wonder if there was really someone who is listening to the kid's prayer. I wonder if the life of that kid would get any better just by praying. Hmmm...

I read that every Sunday in Britain, entire congregations prayed publicly for the royal family. Shouldn't they, therefore, be unusually fit, compared with the rest of us, who are prayed for only by our nearest and dearest?* Also I heard and read about the Great Prayer Experiment [GPE] that was held in Britain funded by the Templeton Foundation [this foundation spent $2.4 million on that experiment]. The objective of the experiment was to know/test whether praying for patients would help them recover. Unfortunately, the results of GPE tells us that praying had no effect on complication-free recovery [from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in the case of the experiment]. But according to the Bible, specifically Matthew 7:7, Matthew 21:21, Mark 11:24, John 14:12-14, Matthew 18:19 and James 5:15-16, that God would bless those who would seek and believe in him, then how come my prayers[to heal all cancer patients, to improve our nation, to heal autistics, world peace, and many more] when I was a kid were not answered by God? Howcome the royal family are not that fit considering that they are being prayed for every Sunday by their people? The GPE results?  

 

For some time in my life, I really tried to find answers to questions about praying [and ofcourse about God]. I read, study, and understand[I hope] the Bible. I also listened attentively to Sunday school teachers[when i still attend SS classes] and on the sermons of our pastor. I also listened attentively on the lecures of my Philosophy and Theology teachers when I was still in college and read books and articles about religion and faith. I think and think and think and read. But the answers that I found  and my thinking mind tells me that praying cant do any good. I really tried to pray but it dint do good. The Church[or the theist side] dint really satisfied my thinking mind. I really do think and believe that prayers cant do anything to any situation or to the situation of the kid in my intro or to the health of the royal family or the condition of the sick patients. If you disagree on me on this then you can try for yourself a praying experiment. Pray that God [which is omnipotent and loving] would heal all cancer patients. If there is no effect then my statement stands.  :D  The more the Church or any authority would tell me to just pray and have faith and wait for the blessings to come, the more I dont. The more that I try to believe in praying, the more I think it is irrational. I believe that what is needed is action.

I believe that the only person or being that could get the things that you want in life is just you. If you want love, you find love. If you want success you work for it. If you want knowledge you think for it. Just waiting for things to come and be passive will not really give you what you want. You must take action and be proactive. :D Again, the only person or being that could help you in life is just you. Face all life's problems head on. Dont just depend on some sort of powerless and passive system or thinking or something like that. 

*Got this info from Richard Dawkin's book