I think you have your analogy all mixed up. What you're trying to tell me is that a kid who pedals down a street with his hands up in the air and then crashes shouldn't call to his dad for help, because its all his own fault. Furthermore, his father shouldn't bother trying to pick him up and get him medical help because the kid needs to take responsibility for his own actions. That's not how the God I know works, sir.
It's an analogy, one that Jesus himself made: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?" (Matt 7:11)
I don't remember God ending WW2. I don't remember God ending the Great Depression. I don't remember God getting Japan out of the wasted 90s. And it's damn right that He didn't, since these were human-made messes. People should spend less time praying to God and fixing their own problems. In this day and age, Christians just look weak when imploring God to help solve their own problems for them. It looks even worse when the matter in question is a stock market that more or less is the plaything of the world's rich (and yes, I do consider American middle-class and even lower-class citizens part of the world's rich, and with good reason). Pray to God for forgiveness. Pray to God for the clarity and the vision necessary to make the right choices. Pray to God to thank Him for whatever. Don't pray to God and expect him to solve your problems.
Are you postulating this as your personal opinion or actual truth? Because this position is completely at odds with what the bible actually says.
That is no fad buddy, it has been around for a long, long time.......... Religion is the very worst thing to ever happen to mankind............
Personal opinion. I don't live and die by the Good Book. Though, it is backed up by the Christian doctrine of non-intervention. http://www.preachingtoday.com/sermons/outlines/godsnoninterventions.html This is one of the cases that I believe God shouldn't intervene. Learn and let live. We need to roundly the punish the bastards that caused this problem with their delusions of financial grandeur, and endure a little of the pain we've inflicted on ourselves. Praying to bull idols is nothing but attention-grabbing and idiotic symbolism to boot.
This is an easily testable claim. To my knowledge, nobody has ever demonstrated any effect from intercessory prayer. I agree, but this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with God.
I to have a problem with the imagery, but I don't have a problem at all with praying for the economy. A rising economy can ease suffering. I certainly think that God wants us to pray for less suffering. I pray for lots of situations that I have little or no control over. I pray for peace in troubled lands. I pray for victims of disasters. I pray that Dallas has a great awakening. All of those things could end suffering. Praying for the economy is the same thing on a different scale. Praying for these things doesn't remove my obligation to help those who are suffering, but I have faith that it helps.
1. how would you? if you pray for x and x happens...i couldn't prove to you that x happened as a result of my prayer. there is still mystery. you'd demand to know definitely, and i'd point you to the result..that you got x. however, if x didn't happen...i'm certain you'd be the first to tell me it's proof that prayer is a waste. 2. to be honest, i've tried to make petitions less a part of my prayers. i suppose i could pray for the economy because it benefits other people...but i'm more likely to pray for people to look beyond the worship of -isms. and even more likely still to pray for him to remove the worship of -isms in me. 3. i agree, but it could be something that's very necessarily God. ultimately, i believe everything is spiritual. i don't need you to believe that right alongside me. i may be wrong...or it may be true despite what either of us entertain in our minds.
