Gunnair wrote:
It appears you assume that the only relationship with God is based on him doing stuff for you. Not always the case.
I guess there can be many aspects of a relationship with God. Some of them are simply belief that living a good life will secure a place in God's heaven. That's a very positive aspect of belief in God, as it "codifies" moral behaviour and gives it a reward. Contrary to what some will tell you, however, it's not the only way to lead a truly moral life. That can be done in a totally secular way too. The secular way, though, promises no reward except the satisfaction stemming from being kind, compassionate and principled.
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The old stand by of God hears all prayers but doesn't answer them is the challenge of faith that religious people have.
I agree that that is a test of faith. What I tend to believe, however, is that since there are no grounds to believe that prayer will sway God's intervention, prayer has no use except to comfort the one who prays, in a mental sense but not in a concrete sense. Prayers can be asking for totally different things, such as when two armies face each other on a field of battle. The prayers on one side will succeed, the prayers on the other side will fail, and it is not always the morally right side that will succeed.
The "granting of prayers" is entirely random, yet the failure of prayer is accepted by the faithful as "God's will" and the success of prayer is evidence of his love. It's a strange self-delusion. The faithful see it as a strength; the doubters see it as weakness. The faithful see it as support sought from without, from a greater power. The doubters see it as a lack of self-confidence and self-reliance. "God helps those who help themselves" is something that comes closest to a thing that can be believed by both groups.
A man and wife are stranded on the roof of their house amid rising flood waters. A boat is sent to rescue them and they refuse. "God will provide," they say. A helicopter comes to pluck them off the roof and they refuse again, saying "God will provide." As the flood waters rise to engulf them they cry out, "God, why hast thou forsaken us?" God answers, "Forsaken you? I sent you a boat and a helicopter!"
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I'm not quite sure why you care enough to post this since it does not appear you have faith or a relationship with a divine being.
I care, because like most other people, I'm trying to make my own personal sense out of things. Hence what I wrote above rambles a bit, because so many thoughts demand to be crammed into the limited time I have for writing something like this out.
Make of it what you will. There's plenty to disagree with, I'm sure, and I don't blame people for disagreeing. We each have to try to figure out our own way,
CKA Uber 
CKA Uber 
