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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
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Today's episode is all about Prayer. I know prayer is very personal to many people, and, I also know how powerful that connection can feel. But there are many problems with prayer. I believe it is a harmful delusion that causes unnecessary and avoidable issues. Prayer is futile. Prayer does not work. The reason why prayers are not answered is that no one is listening. Let's take a deeper look.
In this video, I cover the following:
-Why I Care About The Issue Of Prayer
-Christian Excuses When Prayer Doesn't Work
-Why Are Only Some Prayers Answered
-What The Bible Says About Prayer
-Testing God
-Scientific study On Prayer
-Prayer Is Rigged - Personal Example
-Individual Claims
-When Prayer Is Not Enough
-Deconstructing The Concept of Prayer
-If Prayer Works, Free Will Does Not
-My Personal Example
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Chapters
0:00 Thought Experiment
0:42 What Prayer Looks Like To Me
1:17 Quick Intro To New Channel
1:43 Why Talk About Prayer
2:34 Christian Excuses For When Prayer Fails
3:04 Why God Answers Some Prayers But Not Others
3:44 Prayer According To The Bible
6:35 Testing God And The Scientific Study Of Prayer
8:22 Prayer Is Rigged - Personal Example
10:30 Prayer Is A Tree That Won't Bear Fruit
10:49 But What About All The Proof? & Hedging Your Bet
12:29 When Prayer Is Not Enough - A Lack Of Action
14:13 Deconstructing The Concept Of Prayer
15:19 The Birthday Example
16:20 If Prayer Works, Free Will Does Not
17:56 My Personal Example
19:17 Reluctantly, An Atheist
19:33 Final Thoughts
#mindshift #prayer #theproblemwithprayer #prayerispointless #prayerisnotreal #prayerdoesntwork #whywontgodanswermyprayers #whyprayerdoesntwork #doesprayerwork #prayerdoesntwork - บันเทิง
When my mom was suffering from cancer...I prayed...one day...my little 4 year old ...came to kneel beside me and she prayed with all her little heart for grandma. Then she smiled and said grandma will get well now, Mommy...the faith of a little child. When grandma died of her cancer...her tears and her disillusionment were profound....so were my own. I just never got back to faith and started to turn away...but I had no idea where to turn to. I wish this "place" had been in existence then. The platitudes of Christians in my church were disgusting.
thank you for sharing. I am so sorry to hear this. Losing a mother is terrible on its own, but the added trauma of you and your daughters confusion and doubt and awakening etc. Again thanks for sharing and I am so glad at least you have truth now.
@@MindShift-Brandon thank you
I know that what they had to say to you probably made your blood boil.
@@rosemarymceathron4037 thank you. The most heinous was "suffering elevated your mom in the eyes of the lord"...just disgusting.
“We’ll be praying for you” became to me a sound most unbearable. Religious trauma is real. Sorry for you and your daughter’s sorrow and pain. 😢
The longer I am not a Christian the more I realize just how insane prayer is.
Yup!
You pray as an act of worship of God
You’re going to hellllllllll!
Jesus prayed to his father And he’s the only hear me only one to the father not Buddha not Muhammad but the man who gave up his life to the world Jesus Christ
@@bandito6678 each individual can think what he wants I’m not playing God no more
@@bandito6678 of course prayer doesn’t work for you Brandon because you don’t believe in God no way
“That's what prayers are... it's frightened people trying to make friends with the bully!”
― Terry Pratchett, The Last Hero
"friends with the bully!" --- Indeed.
"You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you" (Acts 3)
"friends with the bully!" ---
The demons of the human conscience are our inescapable bullies, regardless of any profession of religion or atheism. The Church points us toward the Savior, not a bully.
"for when the worm of conscience sleeps no longer, but is gnawing you, the devils shout and render to you the reward which they are accustomed to give their servants, that is to say, confusion and condemnation; they wish to bring you to despair” (St. Catherine of Siena “Dialogue: 31. Of the death of sinners” c.1370 AD)
"we have put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe" (1 Corinthians 4)
@@andrewferg8737my brain thinking about these issues with religion is not bullying me lol
@@andrewferg8737you also just proved their point, my pastor told me that god would not straight up destroy anyone who opposed god as that would make us serve god in fear and not in love, I guess they were wrong.
@@Number1RatedSalesmanBIGSHOT Please rephrase your comment. I am unsure what you mean. Thanks.
Imagine the millions and millions and millions of prayers that went up to heaven from the concentration camps...and fell on deaf ears
Imagine that all of them are burning in hell forever bc they didn’t believe in Jesus
And the millions of parents praying for the return of their children from war. The deception of prayer is obscene.
😂😂😂
@JDrocks4ever and the nazis and concentration camp guards and torturers who asked God for forgiveness and for him to "come into their heart " will go to heaven. Someone wrote on the wall of a concentration camp barracks something along the lines of, "When I meet God, he will have to beg for my forgiveness."
Prayer was the first thing that made me start to think about anything. And here we come, I am an atheist now, and I am proud
Brandon,i have learned so much from you. I was raised the daughter of a Baptist minister. I've lived in abjact terror my entire life. What could be more terrifying than the thought of burning in hell eternally? I've prayed, begged and pleaded with God for faith to be saved-it never happened.Im 66 years old and just can't deem to get it right. Your teachings are helping me untangle the teachings that brainwashed me in those formative years. The damage that organized religion has done to mankind is sickening. Thank you for your work...
I am so glad to help!!
Its so much more healthy to have an internal monologue with yourself, no god necessary. Gives you strength and self confidence.
Oh, wow. I just realized WHO my negative self-talk is. That makes a lot of sense. It also explains why my negative self-talk is so very stubborn. I'm not sure how it will help to know that I'm still "hearing" the voice of Yahweh. He's an ass.
Powerful comment!
@@LadyhawksLairDotCom I have come to the conclusion that people "seek God" because they do not undestand what goes on between their ears and think some sort of moral list can achieve that.
Prayer got answered: Thanks god!
Prayer stays unanswered: God works in mysterious ways.
It's so easy to stay ignorant as a christian.
The problem with prayer was one of the main reasons I left religion.
So good to see you on this side now! Thanks for your support with my work. Would you say it was the number one thing or was there something even above the prayer problem?
Top 350 problem indeed!
Me too, this was the issue that really started my process of departure. In no other area do I see SO many excuses for God.
@@MindShift-BrandonI agree with everything you have said about prayer. It 100% doesn’t work. Keep up the good work.
I used to believe that God said “no” I didn’t deserve a husband who wasn’t abusive and addicted. It must have been a trial to bring God glory. It nearly destroyed me and the process out of mainstream Protestant faith is arduous and depressing. I decided to believe in myself instead - which is double scary at first
Doubly scary but 100x better a choice! So sorry to hear what you have been through but thrilled to hear you found the truth. Thank you for being here.
God wants us to take charge of our lives. You can pray to God to help you find a loving husband, but, it's up to you to do what God tells you to do to find him, but, if you don't want a husband, that's fine too.
@@visaman "You can pray to God to help you find a loving husband, "
It seems to me the way to find a partner, is to date, looking for red flags. Not sure prayer to God is needed for this.
Red flags are super easy to spot, but it eliminates 95% of all prospects.
@@visamanwhat about god’s perfect plan? Is he supposed to change that for every individual who asks him to?
Next time you react to someone’s comment, please start by supplying evidence for the existence of your god, whichever of the thousands of gods it is.
@visaman Matthew 19: 3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’[a] 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’[b]? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11 Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others-and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Yeah i don't pray anymore. After the death of a sister from cancer, i stopped. When she was sick, i prayed and fasted. It Did absolutely nothing. So i stopped praying because that did a number on me. Then when my dad got cancer and died, i said not one prayer for healing. I just had another sister pass a few weeks after having a stroke. Not a prayer the first. I've learned that people are going to die and your prayer don't stop that.
As I sometimes tell my fundamentalist wife, "an once of action is worth a pound of prayer." And that's looking at prayer optimistically.
Has to be directed action though. Action for action's sake without a plan can certainly go awry. Of course, if you sit and plan all day, you can get so carried away you never take action.
During my time as a Christian I remember multiple sermons essentially telling us that the only thing we should ask of God is for his will to be done. Backed up by the combined messages that you cannot know the will of God and God is not to be questioned.
In this way no matter what happens your prayer was answered. "Praise Jebus".
I can't believe I was ever that gullible.
Its hard to remember how for sure. Its just gross.
I'm an agnostic and I pray sometimes. Always alone, and under my breath. I don't pray to anyone in particular. It's usually when I need to navigate a stressful situation. I'd like to think I'm praying to the best part of myself to help me get through what I need to do.
I was brought up with the southern Baptist version of Christianity. I went through all the motions of all aspects of the religion including "prayer".. as I got older I adopted a separate belief of >>>yes there is a God.. but that there was no particular religion that a person needed to be. The God of the Bible didn't ring true to me.. but i have always prayed during times in my life where I felt lost or needed comfort and understanding. I have been listening to Brandon's channel non stop for about a week now (just kind of stumbled on to it I don't remember how lol) I think I silently deconstructed myself decades ago.. at least from the fundamentalism that is so hypocritical with all their hate towards the "other" people..aka LGBTQ.. people of color etc. I have moved towards the belief that God is an energy source that doesn't judge but truly is loving. I believe that God is within all people whether they have a religion or not. Why do I believe that? I have no evidence.. it's just a feeling that I have.. I could be wrong... I don't know.. but I know one day when I take my last breath... I will know... if not.. I guess i have been talking to myself lol... which is okay too ☺ because like I heard one person on this channel say... it is therapeutic to put your thoughts and aspects of your life into words. So most likely I haven't really been praying.. I have been thinking out loud lol
...then why attach so much baggage to it and call it prayer...?...
...it's called inner dialogue...(talking to yourself)...
That seems no different than insisting a Lucky Rabbit’s foot or four lead clover works.
@@2l84me8 ...that's because it isn't...
@@user-mf4gz3sp1q sure.
The issue of prayer is one of the things that led to me losing my faith. I developed a chronic illness 7 years ago that was so severe I couldn’t attend church anymore, couldn’t work, it changed my life. My church and I prayed for about 4-5 years and god was silent. In fact, I got worse and lost my job. Meanwhile god was “answering” prayers from other people (nothing supernatural, all of them were things humans acted on and achieved the desired result). This made me start examining all of my prayers from the past 25 years of being a devout born again Christian. I realized that there were never ANY prayers that were answered supernaturally. The prayers that I thought were answered were things that either a person or medical science took care of. That was a heartbreaking thing to realize.
Yes. So hard to wake up to. Thanks for sharing.
Heartbreaking but a wonderful expansion of awareness into truth. It's so hard to grow up all the way. It reminds me of when I found out Santa wasn't real.
My cousin had a lump on her breast, and even though she was a nurse in a hospital, she prayed instead of seeing a doctor. It spread to her brain and she died soon after.
Welcome to the new channel! Thank you all for being here. Lots more to come!
I’m enjoying your content.
I hurt my back at work where I could only crawl/drag myself around around(Workman's Comp didn't help either 😑😆). As a last resort I dragged myself to my wife's Hindu altar which she kept in the living room(where it still is). I said, I don't know which one of you is God, but please help me. I can't take this shit anymore, I will have to off myself(I even had my wife's Mauser with me). After I was done praying & crying, I turned to the left - no pain! Then to the right/forward/back, nothing! I walked around, nothing. It was gone. My wife's friend later told me if another Hindu/Indian would have told him that, he would have thought, yeah, yeah but because I'm a white boy he believed me. So I don't think that prayer is futile. There's something/someone like a higher power out there.
*Exercise*
@philipmateo3816 good catch! Omg its been months
Is the title on thumbnail a reference to the Mgla album?
I seriously was at the brink of death and when I abandoned prayer I found a will to live. Christians with all he is talking about were a hindrance not a help. Thanks for this video. True by my experience.
Thank you for sharing! So glad to hear it got better for you.
Being an atheist is a good way to have a will to live: Since I don't believe in an afterlife, this is the only life I have! Of course I want to have as much of it as I can!
You really covered everything that I eventually came to consider about prayer. Your point at around 15:00 really hit the nail on the head. The way that the Bible sets up prayer, God wins with any outcome. And I've always been perplexed by athletes praying. Because that implies you didn't really do your job as an athlete. And *nothing* tickles me like watching boxers pray. Like, "Dear Lord, please help me beat the shit out of this other guy for money, amen." 🤣
Lol no joke! Ha. Thanks for the great comment as always and for following me over here!
Yesssss now that I’m here in deconstructing I realize allllll the places I really didn’t believe I just went with the flow. I used to ask my mom during competitions how god decided who’s prayers got answered if we’re all praying to win? Its so many little things under that my mom and church thought there was more power in praying in tongues, and if you got down on your knees, or if you pray or read the Bible out loud. I always was like this a lot of conditions and I would brush it off as I don’t think he cares.
Thank you very much as this is exactly what I have experienced growing up in Christian family and why I left the faith. I find it horrible to just get answers that you are not strong in your faith or you need to pray more ask God for guidance. For example, I think if someone is sick and goes to the hospital for treatment then I hope that person sees the right doctors so they can be treated by professionals and that is how they are able to get better. Not by prayer to some invisible thing out there! Looking forward to seeing more of your videos.
God loves him a Good Friday night ass whoopin! 😂
@@kfitz2711 reminiscent of the "good 'ol testament days" 😂
The truest believers in the Christian god are the Westboro Baptist Church. They preach EXACTLY what the Bible says. Yet other Christian’s say they’re wrong. That’s their secular morality being better than their gods morality. I absolutely LOVE your videos!!
You are my new favorite follower, ha! Just too kind for real. And well said about the westboro. I have very similar thoughts. The more fundamentalist a group is the more on par they are with scripture!
The death of a child frequently results in divorces as both parents struggle with blame, grief, depression, etc. Not a good way to bring a couple together.
The very notion that all prayers have only three possible answers- yes, no, or maybe later- was pointed out to me early in my deconstruction. Upon reflection I wholeheartedly agree. They are a cop out where real physical action is needed. I’m so sick of hearing the phrase that “Our thoughts and prayers are with you,” after every school shooting. That means that nothing will be done to protect our children.
Duane gets it! Thank you for your comment and for being here. You are 100% right. Until we take responsibility for ourselves and accept that we are all we all have, there will always be a shrugging off of earthly duty since God has a will higher than our own... And thinking we have a direct hotline to help with that will is just narcissistic.
God will also tell you what to do, as He often did in the Bible stories.
Maybe instead of saying "God do this for me."
Say, " God, what should I do to fix this problem?"
When people comment about domestic violence: Prayers for the children. Where was god when dad killed mom? And I know what the believer's answer will be. And sorry for the cliche situation.
What should be done?
What would stop school shootings is getting rid of gun free zones. Making sure all the staff and faculty are armed and trained to use their guns and giving them mental health checkups regularly would drastically reduce or stop school shootings
I agree with you: the violation of Free Will and causality and the arbitrary answering of petty prayers while ignoring those of people in serious need are enormous problems.
You mean that finding someones keys ISN’T more important than solving world poverty?
@@kellydalstok8900 No, no, no, it's finding a parking space that solves world problems!
I remember my most "devoted" years... spent countless hours praying... was the worst years of my life... the moment me and my wife took things into our hands and stopped hoping "god" will answer our prayers things started happening.
That is the biggest problem I see with prayers: That you just pray, instead of doing something about the thing you are praying about. Certainly, some times things are just out of your hands and you can just hope, but I so often saw people just fold their hands in their laps and do nothing when they could have done something because "it is in Gods hands". Bullshit!
I have no idea what your problem was, but the Bible doesn't really instruct us to pray without any action whatsoever. It certainly doesn't ask you to pray for God to send you money instead of actually going out and getting a job. Unless he orders you to walk in the desert and sends you manna. But even then you had to walk in a desert.
@@theboombodyAnd if the prayer changes nothing so why even do it?
@@Valfara770 One weird part of the Bible has God sending a prophet to proclaim his word, but he warns the prophet that NOBODY will listen to him. If I was that prophet I'd ask why he's even sending me. That never made sense to me. I guess the prophet had to have faith that things would change in the next world instead of this one.
But something that made a little more sense was when Paul prayed for God to grant him something that God refused to do, so Paul eventually stopped after three attempts. If something is outside of God's will, then you definitely shouldn't pray for it. It's a waste of time for sure there.
Unfortunately, God's will doesn't appear to be our continual comfort here in this world. Why? I don't know. But that much seems clear. He seems to want us to have some spiritual joy during our lifetime, but not keep us immune from some serious challenges.
I was a Christian for 30 years also! So much of what you described at the end describes me. You lost connection with family and friends. Don't worry; I'll be your friend 😀
When I was a young child I had any number of sick fish, hermit crabs, etc that I would see they were sick and I would pray my heart out that they would survive. When they died I prayed for them to be resurrected. I believed with all my heart that God could easily answer these prayers and that if anyone was worthy of his help it was these innocent sinless creatures. I learned quickly and very young that God could give a @#!& about the suffering of innocent animals or about my faith and my begging and my 100% belief he would intervene and the resulting crushing heartbreak when he did not. My disbelief in prayer easily preceded my future departure from this sick belief system and the mental health issues it causes.
Prayer is no different than asking a Magic 8 ball for guidance and pretending it made a difference.
Failure of prayer was the driving factor that lead me to leave Christianity. It started the questioning. I asked god for help when dealing with health issues and there was complete silence. The excuses that Christians gave to me were disgusting. Things like," God is not a vending machine; he is not going to give you a Lamborghini! I dealt with health issues for almost 10 years and according to them I was impatient to expect an answer to prayer before that time. Then we have the situation where my brother in law was trying to get a new job and family was praying for that. He got it and they then said, Thank Jesus! He answered our prayers. God is so good! So this god supposedly answered a prayer for a job in a matter of months but the prayers for healing health issues was ignored for 10 years? Christians have a habit of claiming answers to prayers for things that would happen anyway but provide excuses for things that won't work themselves out on their own. I sum up my story with this statement. When I needed god most, he wasn't there.
Thats so interesting. Ive never thought of a hierarchy of what added to my deconversion. Thanks for sharing. I am so sorry for your hardships.
@@MindShift-Brandon Thanks man. It has been a rough ten years. Yeah, I can look back and see things that piled up leading to the deconversion. Really appreciate the response! It helps to share our stories and struggles. A lot of us have few places to do it.
I had the exact same experience. I was a true believer for 20+ years, in 2016 I began having a chronic health issue that caused horrendous pain almost daily. I could no longer attend church services and missed work all the time. My church and I prayed and prayed for years, everyone was praying for relief. Instead of any relief my condition got worse to the point of losing my job. God was silent. I eventually started saying “no thank you” when people told me they were praying for me. It seemed to always make things worse. This was what led to me losing my faith.
edited to add… one of the same people praying for me bragged about how god always answered her prayers and gave her good parking spots wherever she went…. So… god cares more about where she parks than my physical pain and job loss???? That was the beginning of the end for me.
"Well. _I_ prayed the right way and in the right spirit, so of course MY prayers got answered, too bad for you, infidel!'
Prayer was a HUGE part of the beginning of my deconstruction. I had severe postpartum depression and anxiety. I was suicidal. People kept telling me they were praying for me. It baffled me that God wasn’t helping me with all the prayer. It got to the point where I started questioning if God could even hear me, if he even cared about me personally, If did care about each individual on earth. And I started begging people to actually help me. I didn’t want the prayers anymore. I wanted tangible results, and prayer wasn’t cutting it.
How does someone take action with regards to a problem in the mind? People can't climb into minds and manipulate them like plumbing pipes. I'm not trying to say that to downplay your problem or anything. I just don't know what you expect anyone to do unless they're a mental health professional. I guess they can visit your house and bring you a lunch or something. But they can't fix what's in your mind. They just can't. It's like asking them to buy you a house. They don't have the ability. Unless you have a ton of friends that ARE mental health professionals. I don't.
Fantastic video. Prayer was so psychologically damaging to me. I was praying for back pain to go for years on end. I would then be told it's due to my "lack of faith" but I would say "surely I had more than a mustard seed". If you don't get the result you need it's your fault. Awful system
Awful indeed. Just built in excuses for this god thats not there. Thank you!
I am sorry you were told that “you lacked faith”. I personally do not like churches that preach this particular doctrine.
Prayer is basically having a conversation with God and I believe in it. I find it therapeutic and it has helped to reduce my anxiety. God is not a genie in a bottle contrary to what some of these new churches have been preaching. Sickness is part of life. God heals according to his jurisdiction. We can’t force him to respond to our requests. He doesn’t stop being God because of “unanswered prayers”.
@@harajuka1barbz"therapeutic and helps with anxiety". That's the the jist of it. Nothing more or less. You were able to calm yourself by engaging in a form of meditation. You don't need a god to do that and many people of other faiths and those with no belief in gods also calm themselves.
"Not a genie in a bottle... new age"
Has it not been a long held belief by Christians that God is all powerful and that all things are possible??? There is a contrmadiction here.
@@harajuka1barbz so he has favourites?
@@quandraadams7583 yes indeed with God all things are possible. However, He does things according to His will. We don’t get to demand or command God. He is sovereign
The fact that I to sign in to an anonymous account just to comment b/c I'm beyond terrified of the backlash I'll get from Christian family for my views changing is very unfair. I agree, I am reluctantly moving away from Christian views the more I learn about the Bible and the world. I've struggled with depression for over a decade and I have had desperate prayers, feeling guilty for them because I was much more privileged than other people out there, but desperate pleas asking God that if he's real why do I have to feel this severe depression, if he's all loving, why am I suffering?
On prayer, I agree with all of your points. The cop-outs are ridiculous. I was also told that even though the outcome of the prayer/ask was up to God's will, that God wants us to ask anyways to "have a relationship with him." But praying to God is like calling up a friend on the phone but only one of you talks the entire time. It's very one-sided. I feel like the God of the Universe should have more evident presence. If he wants to have a relationship with us, why does it have to be so mysterious?
Preach! The problem of divine hiddenness is right up there for me with the problem of evil. Ill be doing a video just on that topic in the near future. I am very sorry for your situation. I understand it completely. I hope youll reach out to a secular counselor so someone can help you organize these thoughts and get some clarity/freedom. Im always here to talk to as well. My email is in my description if you ever have questions or doubts still. Thank you for your comment and for being here.
"If he wants to have a relationship with us, why does it have to be so mysterious?" -----
What's so mysterious?
Christ is always found at the Cross.
Maybe you're looking for Him in the wrong place.
"And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2)
I can only comment b/c NO ONE I know is anywhere NEAR here!
@@andrewferg8737 if he's always found in the same place, and there's no mystery to be had, then why is it that Christians can never seem to agree on what he has to say about things-even when you're asking him right then at the moment through prayer?
@@sordidknifeparty "Christians can never seem to agree on what he has to say about things" ---
All Christians agree on the Apostles Creed. Religions which do not adhere to this very basic credo are not Christian by definition.
Christians always disagree about how the credo is best implemented, expressed, emphasized, experienced, and lived. That is, there are as many perspectives on that credo as there are individual Christians.
This cannot be otherwise, because Christianity is not a set rules, but a relationship of love. That relationship is different for each person and each circumstance. The credo simply outlines the most basic beliefs on which that relationship is based.
If you prefer a simplified religion with a clear set of rules then there are several other religions to choose from. Those religions however are by definition not Christianity.
"Only heathens ask for signs."
How convenient 🙄
Oh boy, I feel so lucky to have been raised in a non-religious home! Some of the deconversion stories I've heard are heartbreaking. Best of luck to those who are going through this difficult process.
Thanks for coming over. Lots more planned on this channel to come. Appreciate your kindness very much.
It takes a lot of thought and courage to leave the faith if you have been indoctrinated into it from birth by family and community. You are taught to ignore logic and common sense.
Me too! Both of my parents were Christian and I never knew of them opening a Bible or going to Church since I've been alive. Yet, they seemed to be the most moral people I've known. Otoh, I gotta admit it was Fundamentalists who made me question Christianity by the way they acted and understood why they thought "everyone is a sinner." Made me think how different life would be if we taught the opposite. 🤔
@@Zen_Traveler Where fundamentalist is involived they seem to love jesus and hate people.
You are fortunate Jean. Having experienced it, I have come to view inculcating supernatural BS (religion in general, and Christinsanity in particular) into a child's mind is a form of child abuse.
I remember when I went to church, whenever someone in the congregation had a medical issue, the prayer would be for God to work through the doctors. So even medical science gives credit to God.
I prayed a lot for god to help me with my unbelief. I just kept finding more reasons to stop believing. So even if he's real, he doesn't care if I believe.
For me, prayer was a source of guilt a lot of the time. Was I praying enough? For the right things? Was I praying too much for what I wanted?
The only thing I really kind of miss about Christianity is the feeling that when I was feeling out of control on something that I could pray about it and God had the power to handle it. When I stopped praying, I realized that I used that as a crutch and I had to start dealing with those emotions or the situation. I actually had to think about possible solutions and I found that very empowering and less helpless.
Yes exactly it was a huge issue for me as well. But yes, like you said, eventually its so empowering to have the autonomy.
Prayer and religion set me back decades in life. I wonder what I could have achieved if I had known earlier what a sham cope prayer was.
Yes i feel the same
Child: “Mommy, does God ever change his mind?”
Mom: “No sweetie he is very wise and knows best for us.”
Child: “Then prayer is pointless?”
*awkward silence *
Mom: “Go to your room.”
Lol! Isn’t it funny looking back how obvious all these issues were? Its honestly embarrassing it took me 30 years. Thanks for being here!
@@MindShift-Brandon Of course! You’re creating entertaining/quality content for causal and serious listener’s. Keep up the great work!👏🏼
That should be my headline on here, ha! thank you!
@@DrPaoloR Funny how reason and logic can dismantle dogma.😉
I used to believe that there is power in prayer, that prayer is powerful until I’ve seen so many people who had cancer and were prayed for by dozens of godly people who love the Lord and yet they still died. I ask why weren’t the prayers answered for them, the answer mostly is it was God’s will to take them Home with him. So I guess me and all those people wasted their time. If someone does become cancer free, it was the doctors, nurses, the medication, and others involved helping this person really were the ones who answered prayer.
There are people in both Ukraine and Russia who would insist they are "Christian" and that God is "on their side" and that the outcome would prove they're right.
People "praying" for assistance in the midst of natural disasters fail to see the irony in the fact that God should've been able to prevent the disasters happening in the first place!
Oh i wish i would have used the russia/ukraine example! And yes great point! Thanks for being here!
Somewhat related is the thanks that is given to God when those 3 children survive the bus crash - a miracle! Hallelujah!
... forgetting (apparently) about the other 24 people who died in that crash. (Numbers and nature of vehicle accident made up but I'm sure we've all seen this happen numerous times, right?)
What kind of god is this? If he's responsible for saving those few lucky bastards who made it out unscathed (or maybe not so unscathed, just not dead), then wouldn't he also be responsible for not saving those others? (And incidentally, won't it feel like a slap in the face for the loved ones of those who died to hear the praises sung for those few survivors?)
If the Christian god exists, an unbiased view probably will come to the conclusion that he's either a sadist or just doesn't give a rat's ass about us humans.
I've done so MANY futile prayers in my life but one of the WORST was about my primary insomnia. I'ev hd it lifelong but when I reached my 50s it became harder to go to work when I often hadn't slept in a few days. I tried every medical thing and NOTHING helped. I would lay in bed at night and BEG "God, PLEASE just let me lay down and SLEEP like a normal person so I can continue to work and support myself!" OF course, the prayers fell on deaf ears. Sometimes when I was on a particulary bad bout of it, at one point I'd pray "God, since you WON'T help me to SLEEP, then PLEASE just strike me DEAD right now because I don't want to keep living like this!" THAT prayer obviously didn't work either or I wouldn't be typing this a few decades later! LOL! (And I NEVER asked for "selfish" things- like wealth or fame! )
Prayer is a form of casting magic spells. You say words in a particular order in the hopes that something supernatural will happen. In stories like Harry Potter, and others that are older, witches and warlocks would say words to a perceived demon or other worldly deity in the hopes something magical would happen. That's exactly what prayer is.
wonderful point! just another adopted/stolen pagan practice.
Wow that's so true.. I was into the new age movement and then became a Christian..so I understand new age practices and prayer and your exactly right..
I don't believe I've ever prayed for one supernatural thing. Most supernatural things aren't very practical.
@@theboombody When people pray, they're hoping for supernatural intervention. For example, when you pray your plane lands safely, your saying words in the hopes your god or a god hears it and makes sure the plane lands safely than it otherwise would have. Of course, there are those that use the term in place of "hope." Meaning they pray or "hope" or "desire," for a certain outcome, but fully understand magic isn't real and that their desire, or hope (or prayer) isn't actually changing anything. However, religious people mean it in a supernatural way - they are asking a magical all powerful entity to act in a way that ensures or makes something happen. "I'll pray for you," is a perfect example of this nonsense. They think that saying words to their deity will somehow help you in a way that wouldn't otherwise happen w/o their prayer -- which itself is a bit strange.
@@stevenpike7857 Well, I believe in magic because I found out about time dilation in physics, and that stuff is WAY weirder than any previous magic I ever heard of. I never would have imagined the natural could actually be stranger than the supernatural. Never. Of course, when someone CLAIMS they can do magic I never believe them. Just because I believe it exists doesn't mean I believe every claim that comes along.
Now that I've reached middle age and the strength of my youth is gone, I tend to pray for guidance more than anything at this point. I've pretty much outlived my dreams. They've all come true. So now I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the rest of my life. There are many ways to go in life. Some of them wrong, and some of them right. But ideally, I'd like to find which particular right one I should take. Some may think flipping a coin is just as effective as praying, and I get that criticism, but I definitely believe in something more than randomness that actually has concern for even minor things like an unimportant man's destiny.
This was the first major reason I stopped believing in God's existence. Then came the fate of the "lost" who were born in the wrong century, culture, country or religion. Grossly unfair. Then came the unnecessary suffering, caused by the decisions of a supposedly omniscient God. Your channel has been invaluable to me because you say out loud what I was thinking but reluctant to say myself. God, were he to exist, is not worthy of our worship. Thank you.
One of my favorite comments related to this is, "Where are the Christian super heroes?"
This time last year, I would have never known where I would be right now. I was just reading about other religions and how they came to be. I was fascinated by Egyptian mythology. My husband started pointing out the problems in the Bible. He talked about this problem of prayer also. He was like, “so, they prayed god to find their keys, but god is letting starving children suffer (despite their parent’s prayers)??” After talking with one another, it just all clicked for us at the beginning of the year. I was so afraid of how it would affect our children. We got lucky. They absolutely despised church and agreed with us to leave the faith.
I can’t believe the arrogance that people have in regards to prayers. People don’t realize that they are so important to god, but not others. That’s how special they are to god. So, they just have this arrogance and they think they know why people suffer; that those other people aren’t worthy enough. It’s so horribly arrogant.
I am beyond jealous! All i want is for my wife to come on this journey of freedom with me. Thanks for your comment!
You guys just gave yourselves and your children the most wonderful gift. Truth! This made me cry, thanks for sharing. A very powerful way to deconstruct is by reading about all the other religions and cults and the behaviours that stem from them. It can cause a person to snap to reality or it can be a more gradual dawning of awareness. We then realize we weren't free at all while indoctrinated.
Seth Andrews mentioned a study that concluded that patients who knew they were being prayed for actually had poorer outcomes than patients were either were not being prayed for or didn't know that they were being prayed for.
Personally, I haven't prayed since 2018 when my prayers for my Uncle to survive a slip on the ice fell on deaf ears on the part of God.
My uncle died of massive brain trauma about a week after hitting his head after slipping on the ice on his driveway.
That was by the Templeton Foundation
@@SNORKYMEDIA Thanks. I seem to remember that Seth Andrews said that their hypothesis was that those patients had an added layer of stress because they didn't want to let the people down who were praying for them. And when things didn't go the way they were being prayed for, that stress pushed a lot of them too far and caused a poor outcome when it otherwise might have been better.
Stress is something that is NOT needed when trying to get well.
That prayer study by the Templeton foundation: if i recall, the results were that for those who knew they were being prayed for, it performed worse, possibly due to some type of performance anxiety on the part of the subject.
Great video! I recently de-converted from Christianity and really enjoyed watching your Sunday School series. Glad you decided to have a dedicated channel for this content. I really appreciate what you do man, keep up the good work 👍
Means so much, thank you! Appreciate the support and you being here for them all!
I'm sure that my family has been praying non stop for me to come back to the fold for the last decade. they are so devout, involved in prison ministry, faithful ect.... why is God not answering their prayers? I'm only getting further from it the more i educate myself
You know they are “hearing” that its because like pharoh you have hardened your heart against god and thus their prayers.
And good for you. Am sure my family is doing exact same thang. I was on my way to seminary or trying to get in (got rejected first time - thank god 😂) when my faith bottomed out one day. Guess even god didn’t really want me 😂😂😂
Nothing fails like prayer!😂😂
thats becuase prayer is doing nothing with the added steps that your talking to yourself.
During my last months as a Christian, I was terrified that I was losing my faith. I had lost faith in the Bible. I no longer believed in Hell or the Devil, and wasn't even sure about Heaven. In fact, I had lost belief after belief to the point where all I could still believe in was God himself, and through him, the Trinity. But without all the trappings of religion and the Bible to shore up faith, and Hell to scare me into thinking I needed it, I began to wonder if I even still believed in God. So I did the only thing I knew would reveal God to me; I prayed. And I don't mean I bowed on my knees each night before bedtime, I mean I was constantly in a spirit of waiting to hear from God. I knew it wouldn't be an audible voice, but I prayed "God, I am losing my faith, and I don't want this. Please do something to show me you're there, and let me know it's not just me reading signs and wonders into feelings or events. I don't know what that would be, but you do, and I am asking you to do it, not so that I can feel better but so I can be your genuine, sincere child." Months and months of this. And fucking NOTHING.
I shared this story with a former church member. And his response was that I must have been asking in the wrong spirit.
That former church member had a weak mind.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I can't imagine what you went through and how difficult it was.
This is so right on. I went off necessary medicine for years because I was convinced God was going to heal me. And all my spiritual leaders just confirmed that delusion and then told me I need to deal with curses, demons, sin, etc. And then just maybe it's my thorn in the flesh and all sorts of crap. Also, being in the ministry and "living by faith" for income was so stressful!
I really identify with your process. Losing my faith was the last thing I ever wanted and was a direct cause of my marriage ending. But I can't help it if after a couple of years of prayer and study God didn't show up to answer the gaping holes in my foundation.
It’s amazing how often the right answers come to you when you turn your problems over to your subconscious . . .
Praying is little more than begging for something you want.
Prayer is wishful thinking
I stopped praying 3 years ago after decades of pleading, begging, crying in desperation for God to intervene in my circumstances. Nothing changed until I finally did something about it myself. I went against the teachings of the Bible and got divorced, I was terrified I was going to be cursed for the rest of my life for that and never be brought another husband. Well, that’s not true. I was afraid I wouldn’t be blessed with the finances to support myself. Nope, I just worked harder. I had so much fear, and everything has been so much better when I did things myself. I stayed in an abusive marriage for 20 years praying for blessings and changed hearts and a miracle. What a waste of my life!!!
There are millions out there just like you. Don't despair about lost time.
In my neighborhood a pentecostal church held an outside service specifying prayer healings. I attended to see this in action. They had a big stage set up and called all who wanted to be healed of their aliment.
Many went to the stage seeking help. A group of men were onstage and would all huddle around the person who was ready to be healed. They layed hands on them and were yelling in tounges . Yelling for that persons problem to leave them and to be healed.
I watched as person after person left that stage unhealed and a little baffled.
And each one of them remained a believer.
I was to the right of the stage where the people would exit and as soon as they came off there were people there to get their phone numbers and info. One of the women would say to the participants, " Dont worry if you werent healed today. Thats just satan s sronghold and will need more time". Un real!!
17:56 Damn, the sincerity of that hit me hard. Thank you for your honesty. This is amazing.
Thank you for that. I try to be as candid and even vulnerable as i can so that others in the same boat can really understand and take comfort in. Thank you for being here!
@@MindShift-Brandon Yeah. Your sincerity and truth (in ALL your videos) is sobering. It's SO hard to not believe the way you once did.
Brandon, Im on a MindShift binge rn. Thanks lol
Music to my ears man. Thanks so much for the watches!
When I was a devoted Christian, I used to pray to God with tears in my eyes to never ever let me stray away and lose my faith. Guess what... I lost my faith. Guess God didn't love me enough.
Its just such a terribly flawed concept. And we should absolutely takes gods silence as his absence since the bible promises differently
As always, you bring up points about prayer that I never realized because it was such an ingrained ritual. But, now that I’ve left, I think back to all of the books that I bought on the subject of prayer (praying the names of god comes to mind) trying to just figure out how to get my prayers consistently answered…now I know I’d have better odds playing the slot machines. Now that I think about how many books that are published each year by Christian authors concerning prayer, I guess they’re really the big jackpot winners. Glad to see the new channel and I’ll support in any way possible!
Thank you very much! Oh man i straight up just got triggered by that book mention. I hd blocked that out from when my mom tried to explain which name of god to use when lol! What a trip. If prayer worked like the bible said it would, we wouldn’t need even one book explaining it. What a scam!
“Amen” to that, brother 😂
I really wonder about people that think GOD is actually speaking to them😮
So, the christian god answers prayers in one of three ways: 1) yes, 2) no, or 3) wait.
You will get one of these same three answers 100% of the time by praying to a Yeti cooler, a box turtle, or a '69 Pontiac GTO Judge (my personal favorite!)
I think the GTO might actually do better, ha
I have been watching your videos almost daily. I didn't realized how much of my Christian indoctrination and thinking are still effecting me. I de-converted about 2 years ago. It's shocking how many of these excuses pop up in my head as I watch these videos. Thank you for what you are doing. Your logic and reason go a long way. Please keep it up. It does help.
I am glad to hear that. Its a long long way out and the process seems to never end. Thanks for watching!
Love seeing someone else bring up Elijah and the prophets of Baal. I bring it up quite often. God only passes tests in fiction. In real life, people re-write what happened to give him a free pass.
Exactly
Good stuff! I use the scenario of two equally “righteous” people praying for conflicting results to the same event.
That makes a conundrum for god. 😊
Sure does!
I hope I’m helping you boost you up the TH-cam algoritim lol I have watched every vid tonight and i am so surprised by your production value and I can’t wait to binge Brendan’s bookshelf tomorrow night 😂
you are indeed! and thank you. its been a slow adjustment after adjustment as I up the quality. If you check out my earlier brandons bookshelf you will see where it started ha! Thanks again!
"Reluctant atheism." What a real concept. I've been searching for a label as fitting as that from the day I became an atheist. Thank for always recognizing that atheism is rarely an emotionally neutral state of being. I see your pain and I believe it, and I'm sorry if your community in the church has made this harder than it already is. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing your experiences.
Appreciate this!
As a young boy I attended Church of Scotland services and the minister would lead prayers that seemed to last forever, they just droned on and on, with lots of thee's and thou's. It all went right over my head and I wished it would stop. I knew that if a moved or fidgeted I would get a good slapping when I got home. However, the tedium gave me a chance to think and become sceptical and use logic to dissect all the amazing stories. I don't think I ever believed. As for prayer, it was just shutting my eyes and wishing for it to stop. I never actually prayed individually, not once.
I envy your ability to withstand the indoctrination.
Great vid. Regarding leaving christianity, many feel its just to go out and sin (pleasure principle). But like you say, they don't realize the toll it can take. It wasn't fun. After leaving I spent probably about a year in turmoil...returning to christianity was not an option. But once I got through that period, I've experienced such a new life. Returning to that old lifestyle is out of the question. Many thanks.
A year is about what is for me also. Sometimes my wife or mother will ask if I think I can ever come back and its just like you say, there is simply no way. Once you see it for what it is, theres nothing to go back to. Thanks for following me over here!
Yes for sure. Well said!
Prayer: Telepathically Communicate with your Imaginary Friend.
precisely.
I also reluctantly lost my faith. It's not something that happens overnight. In fact it took the course of over a decade up deconstructing to finally face the truth. After 20 years as a christian, it felt as though my entire Foundation was ripped out from under me. I went through a very long bout of depression and still from time to time suffer from the fear of hell and anxiety.
If it weren't for wishful thinking, there would be no believers.
Your videos have materialized my thoughts and doubts. I'm forever grateful
Glad to help!
It occurred to me at a young age that (taking the literalist interpretation of history) people have been praying for 6,000 years. Billions of prayers. Millions, no---tens of millions more added daily, and.... This world, right here and now, is the result of all those billions upon billions of prayers. THIS world. A single scientific discovery ( pick one, anyone) has done more to change the world than the entire accumulation of prayers since the beginning of mankind.
Love this
If prayer works, I don’t understand why all the Christians won’t get together and pray hell away.
Brandon didn't touch on imprecatory prayer, which is the first thing I thought of when contemplating if prayer is problematic. I find it scary how many churches are praying for harm to people who don't believe what they believe. Hopefully, mind shift does a video on imprecatory prayer.
Excellent video!
I just discovered your channel and really like your style and content.
I suspect that many believers, probably purposefully, don't probe too much into the mechanics of prayer because when you start to think about it logically, if you begin to analyze it, how can you not realize that the concept of prayer has the structure of the proverbial Swiss cheese. Better not lift the lid of this Pandora's box too wide but shift it back into the dusty corners of the mind, trusting that the Good Lord knows what he's doing.
Not surprisingly, that gets a lot harder to do when things go south in a personal way. The ever-applicable yes/no/wait trifecta might be satisfying when it's about the car keys or even the favorite sports team, but when loved ones are being diagnosed with a terminal illness, die in accidents or something similar, the platitudes no longer sound as convincing.
And I guess some of us can't unsee the flaws in the system once we realized them.
Thank you so much! I am really glad to have you here and appreciate you sharing your thoughts.
Super tight logic here, as always. Before leaving my faith (which started as wesleyan/charismatic), I dove into the opposing side of the theological debate and became a Calvinist, I converted all of my close friends and spouse. We eventually all had a mass exit of our original church and started going to the reformed church in town (where all my friends and my spouse still attend and I was officially disfellowshipped).
Long, maybe irrelevant preamble, but basically I went through all the views you addressed in your video and had all sorts of comforts from this and challenges (especially when I would step out at work/public and pray for people’s physical ailments, a la Todd White). I did see “miracles” but saw nothing happen far more often. The line from this hyper charismatic group was that if we ask him, he’ll give it to us and wants to give it to us. We just have to have more faith and extinguishing all doubt.
After leaving that movement, I eventually landed on the Calvinistic view that “prayer changes us”. Which, in the back of my mind, made prayer seem so weak and ineffective, however it synergized perfectly with God ordaining all events. However in the day to day at church, the pastors would always encourage us “please pray for this, for divine intervention”. But it’s like, he already ordained the outcome and is just using this to have me tell him about it? Weird. RC Sproul lays out the view clearly here: th-cam.com/video/RrfVv5u7ui0/w-d-xo.html
This comment was rambly and maybe too self indulgent but long and short is; you resonate, as always and Christian Prayer cannot escape being absolutely absurd and harmful. Great video!
Not at all. Appreciate these comments big time. Its fascinating to see how the different sects of christianity make allowances for what doesn’t work and how they excuse it. Thank you very much for sharing!
@@DrPaoloR Yes, my man ran the gamut too! 🙌 preterism was a big part of my journey too (I could never go full preterist). Awkward is a good descriptor for the transition, bahaha
If I go out to the front yard, and stare at the sky and talk to the air,people think I'm crazy.
If I do that in a church parking lot, I'm very devout!
The birthday cake analogy totally cracked me up 😂!! I've often thought exactly the same thing - why pray if it doesn't accomplish anything?
Always so deep into the subject. I wouldn’t have thought so much could be said about the one way talking to god but you have some excellent points. Excited about the new channel!
Thank you much, and I actually had to cut a lot out for time, lol. So much to be said, ha
If prayer worked Christians would line the hospitals daily healing the sick.
My Ouma had a huge growth in her stomach. The doc could not opperate due to her age. All we could do was try and make her as comfortable as possible.
I prayed countless times. As ernest as anyone can pray. And no prayer was answered. If god did exist, he made me watch her die in pure agony. Looking back i later realised that is not an action of a loving god if you ask me.
I made excuses for why god didnt answer them immediately. "His ways are not our ways", "god works in mysterious ways", "god's time is different to our time" … etc …
I think that moment was a crack in my faith that i left untouched for years.
Just like rain dancing, prayer is wholly dependent on timing for its success.
Wonderful video, Brandon! I’m so glad I found your Sunday school series today. You have so eloquently described my exact thoughts and feelings! Please keep up this good work.
Will do! Thanks so much for being here, Cassie!
Once again, great content! As usual, you brought up points that I had not considered, which strengthened the views that I already hold. I've been waiting all morning to watch!
Beyond kind, Kami! thank you so much. So glad you are part of the family!
I hope you don't become sick of me! I am an early-retired professor (please don't judge me for that!! Professors tend to be the most out-of-touch humans), and you are absolutely super with your organization, study and assimilation. I am the man with the great father who dismissed "hell" as a stupid concept. I became a Christian (Catholic) at age 36. I know why I did it and wanted it (check my middle age there). I was extremely frustrated with the professor thing and decided to become a Catholic priest. Went to seminary and what a story there! Stunning, and it had nothing to do with anything about the Bible. Circumstances in my life ultimately made me angry with "god", and then I researched and really THOUGHT about this junk. Where was I...? Bahahahahahahaa! Anyway, thank you. You always make me breathe more easily.
Man no worries at all. Thank you so much for sharing. What an interesting life! Glad we both made it to this other side
Thank you, MindShift! 🎉
Wonderfully done I have had many of the same thoughts I think, having a separate channel with an excellent idea you’ve helped me in my deconstruction it is definitely not an easy thing to go through. But videos like yours really do help. Can’t wait to see what’s next 😊
That means so much. I am so grateful to be of any help at all. Thank you for being here!
I prayed for years, literally for years a simple prayer that God would let my Grandma keep her mind. Not a selfish prayer at all and I believed 100%. What happened? She's dying from dementia. It's been a huge eye opener and feels like God himself slapped me in the face. I used to think prayer was legit, now I think it's a waste of time, even if there is a God who hears it, that God doesn't give a shit. That means God either doesn't exist or just doesn't really care about us whatsoever.
There was also another study, or maybe it was the same one, that had three groups of people. One group that got no prayers, one group who were told they might receive prayer and a third who were told that they would in fact receive it. They found that those who knew they were receiving intercessory prayers actually fared almost ten percent worse than the other two groups in terms of postoperative complications.
Your example of praying for a sports team wasn't silly at all! It's a really powerful visual, so please keep using it. As a matter of fact, find even more similar circumstances.
Thank you!
If God answered every prayer for your favorite football team to win every NFL,College,and High School game ever played would end in a tie. Besides all that God dosent fix football games Vegas does.
I used to pretty much think about prayer as Brandon expresses in this video...Since then I haven't been as offended when someone says they are praying for me and just thank them politely. If something MAJOR happens to me I'd take it more seriously, but so far I'm good. Lol!
Almighty Bruce: YES to all...
Thank you for making this insightful video. Like you, I also prayed for a sign from God that God was real and good. Nothing happened. So, I left Christianity and became an agnostic.
Excellent work. You have a very special talent. We appreciate you.
Also love the new name!
Oh good. It was such a hard choice!
Thankyou for this, especially the heartfelt words at the end> Although I do not agree with the reluctant conclusion you came to , I can understand how you reached it.
You made some important points that all Christian should take on board. such as the danger of substituting prayer for action and the unbiblical concept of praying for "our side" to win in sport and battle (Joshua 5:13-14).
My own attitude to prayer as a Christian is simply to treat it as keeping open a channel of communication. I rarely pray with the expectation of any specific outcome . Likewise, I have no expectation that anything I write will move you from your atheist position, but that does not stop me from taking the time to comment on this blog.
Having said that, my experience is that when I have occasionally made a specific request I got precisely what I asked for. But then realised that it was not what I really wanted, and I should have been more careful with my wording! I have learnt not to be so specific and to allow God to do whatever he wants according to his greater wisdom.
There is no power in prayer, as some claim, but we do have a powerful and sovereign God whose wisdom is greater than our own. For me it is a privilege being able just to talk to Him and spend time meditating in his presence.
i appreciate your kindness despite our differences.
I remember when I used to pray for things. I would pray for my team to win. I would pray for some girl to say yes if I asked her out on a date. I would pray for our soldiers to win their fight. Then it dawned on me that for my team to win, another team would lose, for the girl to say yes ignores the possibility that she cares for someone different, that for our soldiers to be victorious, the families of the other soldiers would experience horrible loss. For a while I had to weigh the consequences of my prayers if I got what I wanted. It felt selfish. And for a while the only thing I would ever pray for was acceptance. Then I realized that prayer was a dead end. The world doesn't run on acceptance. it depends on the actions of people who believe in what is good, and working to achieve it.
...and another great video.....how many times I have been told, that I just have to prayer harder and more sincere.....thanks again 🙂