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I heard someone say today that if everyone prayed,
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I heard someone say today that if everyone prayed,


Apr 13, 2020, 12:27 AM

Covid-19 would go away.

I thought a lot about that question, but it brought me back to something I asked a few weeks ago.

If God is omniscient, and knows all answers, decisions and outcomes to everything that will occur, what does prayer actually do?

Let's say God already knows the outcome to the question of if I will contract Covid-19 and subsequently die from it. What is the point to praying about this, if the outcome was made before I was ever born?

God knows the day I will die and from what cause. Does prayer change that date and cause? And if more people pray for me, does that somehow mean that he will listen more and decide to change the date that I die? If so..is prayer just a popularity contest?

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There are many examples in the Bible of God


Apr 13, 2020, 6:49 AM

changing His mind on doing something, because of intercessory prayer. So it can happen.

In general prayer, serves more to align ourselves with what God wants...an opening of a communication line, if you will. One should never go so far as to make bold promises about something specific God will do if "enough people" pray.

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"align ourselves with what God wants"...hmmmm


Apr 13, 2020, 7:55 AM

God is going to do what God wants to do right? What kind of communication do we need with that? Kind of
like getting fired; the decision has already been made and I'm not really part of it aside from the end result.

But what is the religious reason for "prayer lists"? Isn't that like a useless petition?

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I think you may need to re-read my post.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:09 AM

Particularly the first couple of sentences.

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Help me out here.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:35 AM

Do you mean the part about God changing his mind? I don't know specifically which parts you reference. Did he change his mind because people prayed? Or because masses of people prayed?

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Abraham prayed for Sodom before God destroyed it.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:39 AM

At first God was going to wipe them out unconditionally, but Abraham progressively prayed for a sparing of the city if God could find a certain number of righteous people in it. He started at 50, and God agreed. Then on down, until he eventually got to 10. But he stopped there, and there weren't 10. I wonder what would have happened if Abraham had prayed to spare the city if 1 were found righteous (Lot would have been the one.)

On multiple occasions, in the Exodus story, God was going to destroy the people of Israel because of their insolence, but Moses interceded on their behalf, and God changed His mind.

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Abraham and Noah were called on by God to do some pretty


Apr 13, 2020, 8:45 AM

special things. I don't think he's done anything like that since then with 'normal' people, has he? Maybe he felt those two had better reasoning and were more trustworthy than others?

But what you are essentially saying is that God changed history because a human asked.

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I dont know that we would know it, doesnt seem like many


Apr 13, 2020, 9:50 AM

people have the direct line to God as they did in Biblical times. Why, I dont know and have no idea why that changed, I am no bible scholar.

I think prayer is a centering for the day in the morning and then in the evening, it helps me speak to God and thank him for that day, ask for forgiveness for being an idiot and then, usually i am fast asleep by that it all over. Then if I die in my sleep, God was the last person I spoke with, which cant be a bad thing.

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Ineligible: I think that's similar to what Spinoza wrote.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:17 AM

And he was a genius, so...

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So did he ever get any solid answers?


Apr 13, 2020, 8:33 AM

I googled this last night, and I tell ya..some of the answers I read were some of the best examples of spin I've ever seen.

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I think he concluded that a perfect god could not be


Apr 13, 2020, 8:38 AM

petitioned by prayer. Pretty much because of what you said.

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Here's Spinoza on miracles


Apr 13, 2020, 8:40 AM

Nor does God perform miracles, since there are no, and cannot be, departures whatsoever from the necessary course of nature. This would be for God or Nature to act against itself, which is absurd. The belief in miracles is due only to ignorance of the true causes of phenomena.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza/


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Re: I heard someone say today that if everyone prayed,


Apr 13, 2020, 8:19 AM

Have you seen the movie Interstellar where they discover a 5D universe and are able to see past present and future?

This is how I imagine it. Just because god sees where you are going doesn’t mean it can’t change.

If someone did in fact create time they are obviously outside of it and not constrained by it and I think there is plenty of evidence we were created.

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God already knows the outcome.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:34 AM

God isn't constrained by time.

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Re: God already knows the outcome.


Apr 13, 2020, 8:59 AM

But that doesn’t mean you can’t change it.

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I think it does.


Apr 13, 2020, 10:35 AM

The outcome is predetermined. God made that decision before I was even born, without involving me.

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Re: I think it does.


Apr 13, 2020, 2:42 PM

If God is outside our time constraints and can see the future that doesn’t mean he predetermined the future or that it can’t change based on my actions.

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So you don't think he knows the outcome of all of your


Apr 13, 2020, 4:11 PM

decisions, and everything that happens in your life that isn't your decision? Isn't that part of being omnipotent?

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Re: So you don't think he knows the outcome of all of your


Apr 13, 2020, 5:10 PM

I think that God knows if you follow his ways which the Bible outlines that you will find true peace, joy, and fulfillment in life.

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Re: I heard someone say today that if everyone prayed,


Apr 13, 2020, 8:21 AM

I would know it was silly and not think about it at all.

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It's also a dangerous approach.


Apr 13, 2020, 9:38 AM

I know of one person back in the hometown of Sparkle City who thinks prayer will protect her from all of this, thus she is not taking precautions.

Maybe God has sent us experts on this with guidelines so we don't act stupidly.

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Re: I heard someone say today that if everyone prayed,


Apr 13, 2020, 10:00 AM

We are told to pray and I think prayer is more about faith and reliance on God on the part of the person praying than on the results of the prayer.

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How many do you imagine prayed for the Wuhanvirus to....


Apr 13, 2020, 10:01 AM

go away over the weekend?

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So much for payers working, huh?***


Apr 13, 2020, 10:34 AM



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Thinking 10 million, 50 mil or what?


Apr 13, 2020, 3:30 PM

When I tried to quit smoking I asked God to deliver me. He said He didn't start me smoking and He wasn't rewarding me for starting on my own.

We reap what we sow. God is not mocked. If you sow corn don't look to pick tomatoes. For 30 years this nation has flooded China with great wealth. China birthed a basterd child for the US with communist leaders and great global power.

I bet everyone praying for relief ended their prayer with 'Thy will be done.' Where was that consideration when we continued to elect leaders who would sell us to the Chinese for a buck, where was that prayer when we allowed Walmart to convert from 'Made in USA,' to 'Made in China?

Reaping what you sow is as much a science as thermodynamics. Asking 'Thy will be done,' is suppose to help us understand that God is on His Throne. He's not a genie or a fairy godmother. He is the Almighty, The Creator of all that is, was or will ever be.

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I'm not sure how that equates to every person who has ever


Apr 13, 2020, 4:10 PM

been sick being caused by something man has done.

Seems your God is pretty self righteous and vindictive. For someone you say loves you so much, he sures plays a lot of games while giving you a middle finger.

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"You cannot petition the Lord with prayer!"


Apr 13, 2020, 7:57 PM

https://youtu.be/k1g8WCA7mJk

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