"Just pray for them"

If prayer had any provable effect, we'd know about it. Maybe saying, "I'll pray for you" is a believer's way to say, "I don't know what else to say because I'm as helpless as you are." It's just a bit shorter, but just as meaningless.

I'm a Christian and I don't like to say that to people UNLESS they ask me to pray for them. I find such phrases meaningless and it's just something to say to fill the silence and lack of words to say. When I see someone I care about going through some difficult times, whether believer or not, my first question is always "What can I do to help?". I believe actions speak a lot louder than words. I think people want to see Christ lived out in every aspect of my life and not just for me to talk about Him. Then, I would just be a hypocrite. I do believe in prayer and that prayer works. I've seen this happen MANY times in my life. But I will never use such phrases lightly.

I think in some cases Christianity produces a kind of 'learned helplessness'. I don't actually have a background in psychology but how I understand it is this. If authority figures behave randomly towards you, eventually you get to thinking it doesn't matter what you do, you have no influence over events anyway. Well, first off Christians are taught that God has ultimate power over everything and they are just insignificant little sinning worms compared to Him. Then, they find that sometimes their prayers are 'answered', and sometimes they aren't. This again makes them feel they are not in control of events and everything is up to God. If everything is up to God anyway, they reason, what is the point of them intervening? If he wants to sort it he'll sort it. The most they can do is ask him. I think there are some decent Christians who will reason that God wants them to be the vehicle for helping people with the situation. But this is really just because of their personal kindness and compassion and has nothing to do with their religion. Many people, Christian or not, are pretty selfish and not willing to go out of their way to help others. The thing that annoys me about religion is that it allows those people to pretend to themselves that they're doing something useful when actually they're not.

No offense to people who belive in such things but to me it's just the lazy way out. It's a way to feel important and look like you are doing something without actually really doing anything that would be considered really helpful.

Prayer is very powerful and God hears each one. It is so important to pray to God and to listen to God everyday. I pray for those who don't know Him because we all need Him. We need His forgiveness, love, guidance. Without Him, we are nothing. I sleep wonderfully at night because I know I am safe in the arms of my Lord Jesus Christ and I know that He keeps every single one of His Promises. So, yes, I will keep on praying for those who do not know the Lord because it's the greatest thing I can do for a lost person. God bless.

I go with Emanuel Kant, German Philosopher ('The Critique of Pure Reason'). He was not an atheist, somebody that pretends to 'prove' that God doesn't exist (how on earth do you do that?) He is probably the most widely acknowledged agnostic in philosophical literature. He wrote that by using his reasoning, he couldn't prove that God exists. But at the same time he said that he couldn´t prove that he DIDN'T exist, either.

I am always curious as to why people focus on the human faults and frailties of one particular group over another..

Hohohoho I'm with you here babe.... lol These praying people are able to abdicate all responsibility for their actions, by having a policy of no action. "I'll pray for you" is a perfect get out clause that takes them through the worst ravages of human life and allows them to sleep sound in the knowlege that they have done all they promised, and are expected to do no more. Indeed there is every chance that some lucky soul will believe the prayers have worked a kind of magic, and given a good result. Praise be!!!! Yea right!!!

I'll pray for you, raven. LOL, just kidding. Seriously, I do think prayer can help those who are in a conscious state to get better if they are ill. I think it is a mind over matter occurrence. I think the body has the will to cure itself if given the right opportunity. People who believe in the power of prayer have that opportunity. If it works, more power to it

I totally agree what if when Jesus saw the bind man he said i'll pray for you that man would still be blind but he did not he did some thing and if he was not able to handle a situation he sent them to some one he knew could help prayer is a means of talking to god action is a way of showing that you want to be with god by doing what he would do himself

Actually THIS is what I do as a christian. First off I know (from what I've heard) that God does SOMETIMES answer unbeliever prayers. But anyways. I first of all we do my best to help them out. Listen, sure anything else I will try to help them out. Then at night I will pray for them AND KEEP PRAYING FOR THEM! The thing about prayer is, I have been praying for some people forever and dont know how my prayers were answered. God does hear our prayers about anyone believer or not. I'd never just say to ANYONE (believer or not) go ask God for help. I'd say if you want some further study you can read the bible (let them use mine, give them another one, etc) and I'd also even if I didnt give a bible give them bible verses to help them out should it come to that!

Prayer is a rather fail-safe attitude, really. If the person you prayed for gets better, solves her problem, or otherwise sees some benefit, you can claim credit for that. If the person doesn't get better, well... 'her time had arrived', or 'god wanted to test her', or 'she's paying for past sins', or any other of a myriad of excuses. And thus the belief in the power of prayer perpetuates itself. The funny thing was that medical test that was made last year, where they tried to see if a group of people praying for sick people would make them heal faster. In the end, the people who did receive prayers actually had worse recovery rates than those for whom no prayer was given. God works in mysterious ways, indeed.

I hve a friend who's a diabetic. She went into a diabetic coma once and her son was told by the doctors to call in the family to say goodbye because she wasn't going to make it. Instead he called in the whole church congregation over a period of three days and they all prayed in her room to the Lord that she would recover. Considering she's still my friend I'd say SOMETHING happened. She's convinced that she survived because of her son bringing in the congregation to pray over her. Me? I'm torn. There's no scientific Proof that this works, but there's no scientific proof that it doesn't work either. I see your point though from a nonbelievers point of view. I think sometimes the nut jobs believe that they can convert the nonbelievers into believing, or else scare them enough to convert them. How do we explain that you can't scare nonbelievers when they don't believe to start with?

Well although i dont get odffended by people telling me they will pray for me, i wish they had some other words of comfort. I realize that is their way of saying, im thinking of you, but sometimes its not enough. I dont want to be prayed for, I want ideas to make it better, i want comfort, i want something more then what they are offering, and maybe thats my bad for wanting more from someone who dosent know how to offer more, i dont know. But i understand exactly what you are saying and where you are coming from!

well god help those people.....my best wishes for them

On the Internet, I tend to commiserate with people. I have groups of friends and when things aren't going well we might offwer advice ior just say that they are in our thoughts and prayers. Many of us live miles apart or across the country, so there's no physical possibility fo actually helping them. When it comes to people in my town, though, I will ask them if there is anything I can do for them. Sometimes hey will respond "Just say a prayer". Sometimes they will say something more. I try to take my cue from them. I do think it's offensive to say you will pray for someone you know is a non-believer.

hmm.. i think i had that experience before, before i was not attending a christian church- before when they used to call me a non believer. It kinda pulled me down further, when i talked to a christian about my problem and the best thing that she could say was "ill pray for you" and i was like- so down and hopeless at that time i didnt even believe that there was a god- so i answered her back- God doesnt know me- he doesnt know i exist- and you know where it ended? instead of making me feel better- it ended up in a debate! whew...so after all the debates- i had no choice-i went with her to their church- well i was feeling so much of a loser that time that i didnt care anymore- so wherever she takes me, i went-luckily for me- there are other people in that church so i got to talk to them and thankfully we didnt get into a debate and they did say that they will pray for me but before they said that, they listened to my problem, and even shared what theyve been through as well, and they asked for my number and whats nice about it is that they send me messages when they can asking me how am i doing. And they even invite me to join activities that will help me cope with my problem. At least they cared right? I think it just depends on the christians that you get to meet- not all of them are the same, im just lucky i met the human type of christians, ones who really care. =)

IMHO, I think that's just a small margin of people who are religious. I mean, if someone was your friend and going through tough stuff, you'd probably be by their side and talking to them rather than shutting yourself in a room and doing nothing but pray to God. But for that small margin, I just wish they learn their lessons and help actively instead of sitting on their rumps.

It is because it is our way of giving a shoulder to cry on, more than a shoulder, we make intervention by praying for the one who needs it. What could be the most helpful thing to do is to direct the person to the "Author of Life," the "Answer" to all problems, our Saviour! It isn't that we have a deaf ear, we heard and felt the hardships that other people have been through, we empathized with them, if there's anything that we can do to help them we'll do it because it is a Christian's way of life to "Love thy neighbor as you love thy self." But still we feel that the best thing that we can do is to leave it to God. Because we believe "PRAYERS" do wonders, not exactly as we want it but in God's own way which He thinks is best for us. We are so optimistic that we can sleep soundly, trusting God that it will be alright tomorrow.