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I also believe that sometimes the answer isn't a miracle (i.e. you're sick, ask for healing, when really you just need to see a doctor).



Mmm, well, I'm sorry, but I don't quite get this way of reasoning... If the answer you 'get' is "ow, maybe you should go see a doctor -God" then perhaps you are right, however there's never a voice talking but your own inside your head. In fact, naturally anyone can come up with the same conclusion whilst not have prayed anything. Doesn't this render the praying useless, senseless etc. in such occasions? Then why pray? To clarify, I respect your 'God doesn't work that way'-argument, but you have to admit that unless you believe, there's really no reason to believe in prayers.

By the way, my previous talk wasn't exactly about miracles per say, but more so about any visible and true effects of praying. In a controlled environment you can actually prove that praying has no practical use, miracles or no miracles, there's no effect... So do we have to believe that prayers work, because religious people believe in God and therefore they believe that prayers work and that there must be divine influence? That's so not convincing...

Statistically speaking people who pray usually have more bad luck actually and have worse lives (hence their praying?)...

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However, one of the purposes of honest prayer is devotion and union with a spiritual force.



In that case there are no effects needed except peace of mind and some sort of meditative state perhaps. In that case "God doesn't work that way" does sort of make sense if prayers aren't meant to call for miracles or something effective in a practical sense. (Still, I'd call that meditating, not praying.)

Cheers

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