God2man:

Ha! @mazaje, chrisjOO1, the homer, i do not like talking too much on the reality of God or how God answer prayers, all i know is that, you will be a happy man, if you can just put aside all criticism and investigate objectively, go to places, where people share testimonies and see with your eyes wide open, the reality about the existence of the almighty God.

So you think sitting around listening to people tell stories about their God would help you believe?

God2man:

It will be a great blessing for you, if you can do this. I beg you, do not sit down at home, attend those places, where people claim God exists or where miracles happen, do not be a nairalander atheists, which do not exist any way.

Nairaland atheists do not exists thus the atheists on Nairaland vanish in a puff of logic.

God2man:

Myriad of people on the face of earth today are calling on God, on things that are beyond them, they believed that human beings are limited, we are prone to errors, we often make mistakes, it is only God, who can see us through in this turbulent world, so if i have a supreme being, who has promised to assist me to release the burden on mind, is it not better to call on him for help? Think, think and think again, i think it is logical to leave like this. So, if you have a problem, that is totally beyond you, you just sit down and say that is the way it should be, whereas there is a way out of that predicament, if you can just seek and investigate properly. God bless you all. God2man.

A nice demonstration of the bandwagon fallacy. The fact that many people believe in some God doesn't make that true.

@OP
Why doesnt God ever answer prayers? I can tell you categorically that I am yet to meet anyone who can say that his prayers have been answered. Let me give you my life's example. When I got married, my wife took in almost immidiately but few months into the pregnancy, she lost the baby. Then for another two years or there about we tried have another child but all to no avail. We prayed, fasted, did night vigils and anything you can think of. But all our prayers and entreaties to [God] fell on deaf ears or probably no ears at all. Later we were advised to go and see one particular doctor. The doctor started his treatment on us and within three months, my wife got pregnant. My son is going to be three in January, thankfully.
What this has proved is that science and not prayers helped us. I f we stubbornly stuck to praying, we most likely would still be childless. My thinking id God (if she/he really exists) does everything possible to ensure people do not believe in him/her. I know tonnes of people who pray hard, fast always and are strong believers in God who wallow in abject poverty and have been praying to God for a better life for ages and nothing has happened for them that will show their prayers have been answered. I do not want to sound like an atheist here but my advice to anyone is to embrace science and reason above some silly blind faith. Science has done so much for our world than we can ever imagine, for example without science so many people that I know WILL still be childless today. Why? IVF was what helped their hopeless situations and I must tell IVF has put smiles on lots of peoples faces, it has brought joy to so many homes. It may be expensive but I know with time the cost will go down with time. My NL people, IVF is a product of science not some blind religion. Through science birds have become a poor match for humans at flying, fishes are a poor match for us in swimming and tiny insect cannot compare with us in terms of viewing microscopic organisms. science has saved more lives that religion could match in a million years. Do you know how many people could have been left for dead or would have died? I can go on and on but I need to pause a little. My friend think up ways to solve your problems by yourself, solutions are right there in front of you. If you keep on waiting for God you probably may need to wait for ever because according to a yoruba saying 'Mo n bo wa Olorun, ko ya l'ogun odun' (When God say am coming, He probably may not be ready to move in the next 20 years )

tough question

dekung:

Later we were advised to go and see one particular doctor. The doctor started his treatment on us and within three months, my wife got pregnant. My son is going to be three in January, thankfully.
What this has proved is that science and not prayers helped us. I f we stubbornly stuck to praying, we most likely would still be childless. My thinking id God (if she/he really exists) does everything possible to ensure people do not believe in him/her. I know tonnes of people who pray hard, fast always and are strong believers in God who wallow in abject poverty and have been praying to God for a better life for ages and nothing has happened for them that will show their prayers have been answered. I do not want to sound like an atheist here but my advice to anyone is to[b] embrace science and reason above some silly blind faith[/b]. Science has done so much for our world than we can ever imagine, for example without science so many people that I know WILL still be childless today. Why? IVF was what helped their hopeless situations and I must tell IVF has put smiles on lots of peoples faces, it has brought joy to so many homes. It may be expensive but I know with time the cost will go down with time. My NL people, IVF is a product of science not some blind religion. Through science birds have become a poor match for humans at flying, fishes are a poor match for us in swimming and tiny insect cannot compare with us in terms of viewing microscopic organisms. science has saved more lives that religion could match in a million years. Do you know how many people could have been left for dead or would have died? I can go on and on but I need to pause a little. My friend think up ways to solve your problems by yourself, solutions are right there in front of you. If you keep on waiting for God you probably may need to wait for ever because according to a yoruba saying 'Mo n bo wa Olorun, ko ya l'ogun odun' (When God say am coming, He probably may not be ready to move in the next 20 years )

Lets wait for the first person to come along and say that god inspired science or you to go and see your doctor.

chrisj2000:

Thank you very very much. I've shed. tears countless times for the level of ignorance in Nigeria.
Somebody can go on 7 days dry fasting without knowing the side effects. Dry fasting can cause stomach ulcer, and when they develop this any illness from fasting, that useless god cannot heal them. We must open their eyes.

Funny but true.

chrisj2000:

 
If you claim your prayer was answered, there is no way we can verify your claim because we don't know what you asked for.
  Your bible says that "whatever" you ask god in the name of Jesus shall be given to you. We face a huge malaria epidemic in Africa, please pray to your god to wipe malaria out for us. Your bible says that you shall lay hand on sick people and heal them. You are a hypocrite anytime you take medicine or go to hospital. Just get your priest to lay hand on you whenever you are sick.

I do lay hands on the sick and they recover. I do cast devils out as the bible declares. If you want know the reality of the power of God ,just embrace the life in christ and the Word of God, and you will be flying.

Mark 16:17-18
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

@ dekung, u seem 2 b reading ma mind.u know,some folks might say god didn't answer u because he wanted u to see a doctor although i don't fink so-it's all theistic decoy.

[size=13pt]<sup>What would happen if we get down on our knees and pray to God in this way:

Dear God, almighty, all-powerful, all-loving creator of the universe, we pray to you to cure every case of cancer on this planet tonight. We pray in faith, knowing you will bless us as you describe in Matthew 7:7, Matthew 17:20, Matthew 21:21, Mark 11:24, John 14:12-14, Matthew 18:19 and James 5:15-16. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

We pray sincerely, knowing that when God answers this completely heartfelt, unselfish, non-materialistic prayer, it will glorify God and help millions of people in remarkable ways.

Will anything happen. . . huh No. Of course not.

This is very odd. Jesus makes specific promises in the Bible about how prayer is supposed to work. Jesus says in many different places that he and God will answer your prayers. And Christians believe Jesus --</sup> [/size]

^^^^
there are principles that governs prayers. You don't just ask anything , you ask according o Gods will.

1 John 5:14
14 And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us.

You can't ask God for another man's wife. It's against Gods principles. Also, everyone has to have faith for himself. You can't eliminate cancer for everybody. Some people are living a life of sin which attracts spirit of cancer to attack them. Some others are being attacked by the devil and need to know the word of God .

[size=13pt]<sup>Joagbaje u are now here trying to defend your God . Talking about Principals that govern prayers i believe every principal is from the bible--- now , We're going to take our bible near us and we talk about this issue. . . i huge u should kindly follow up by the same principals u are talking about--- i already have my bible on top of my laps . If the Bible is literally true, then something is seriously amiss. Simply look at the facts. In Matthew 7:7 [/b]Jesus says:

Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 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!

If "every one who asks receives", then if we ask for cancer to be cured, it should be cured. Right? If "our Father who is in heaven gives good things to those who ask him", then if we ask him to cure cancer or even AIDS , he should cure it. Right? And yet nothing happens.

In [b]Matthew 17:20 Jesus says:

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

If "nothing will be impossible to you", then if we ask to cure cancer tonight, cancer should disappear. Right? Yet nothing happens. Note that if we take the Bible less-than-literally here, the statement "nothing will be impossible to you" becomes "lots of things will be impossible to you," and that would mean that Jesus is lying.</sup> [/size]

pray harder

[size=13pt]<sup>here is another prove that God doesn't or can't answer prayers. . . -- In Matthew 21:21:

I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

If "you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer", then if we ask to cure cancer tonight, cancer should dissappear. Right? Yet nothing happens. Note again that there is not a non-literal way to interpret "you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer", unless you replace "whatever" with "nothing" or "little."

The message is reiterated Mark 11:24:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

If God says, "believe that you have received it, and it will be yours," and if we believe in God and his power, then what should happen if we pray to cure cancer tonight? It should be cured. Either that, or God is lying.</sup> [/size]

I believe the concept of faith is the strongest and most logical weapon that God believers have used to propagate their respective religion and explain away their lack of potency.Since faith cannot be measured by any means possible, you will be told when your prayers are nt being answered that you do not have faith or that your faith is too small. Maybe if we can get or invent a 'faithometer' then we will be able to prove categorical that we have been fed with crap all these while but before then, lack of faith will always be their way of escape.

If God went to sleep on the seventh day and Christ is worshipped on Sunday then who are they (Sunday churchgoers) praying to? Because god is sleeping, unless you are trying to wake him up and serve him on his day of sleeping; God worked a whole six days and now on Sunday morning he’s laying in his bed. This is how he makes this sound. God is sitting in his chair, or laying in his bed he goes to sleep on Sunday morning, and you go to church on Sunday morning and go, “oh God, oh God, oh God.” Then you’re wondering why your prayers are not being answered. The reason why your prayers are not being answered is quite simple; because God sleeps on Sunday. You have to change the day; try Wednesday when God is up working. Have you ever tried to disturb your mother and father when they were working (or sleeping)?. You don’t thank God for health and the gifts that you have. You’re in church on Sunday begging for more stuff.

Depends on a lot of things. You need to pray aright.
MANY nigerians pray wrong. In fact, it is getting to be something of a culture now. It is always ask God for something/ ask God for something.
You sef, if you only see someone's face when they want something from you, how will you respond to the person's next request?

How many times do you simply dwell in his presence and ask for NOTHING? Seeking only His face and not is Hand?
Spending quality time singing and thanking Him for all that he has already done. All these things must come natural and must be done from the heart and not a ermm . . . "Lord i thank you now, because I have something to ask you again in 5 seconds" type of thanks.

From what I sense, I would say your next prayer should not be "God do this/that" but "God please change my heart to yours' and draw me nearer" and "Father what would you like me to do FOR YOU today?". Establish and grow a friendship with Him. Friendships aren't all about take.
Focus on these prayer point.

cheers.

Believe the word of GOD, The Lord GOD does in fact hear prayers and graciously answers according to HIS perfect will and in HIS kindness and great faithfulness "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil." - 1 Pet 3:12, that is, those who are righteous, by grace alone, through The Lord JESUS CHRIST.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." -Heb 11:6

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." -James 1:5-7

We say Amen at the end of our prayers. The Preacher says " Can I get an Amen ?". The Pastor says, "And everybody said Amen". Yet no one has a clue as to what the word means. Now you say, Amen means "so be it". Not true. We stole the word from an ancient culture and changed it's meaning to suit our purpose. That's how we got most of our religious traditions. Amen is the Egyptian God of life and reproduction, represented as a man with a ram's head. Amen, Amon, Ammon, and Atum are all the same. Amen-Ra, Amon-Ra, Atum-Ra, the Sun.

^^Are you done? 

I see logic isn't the strong-suit of many. That's like saying because "The [b]White [/b]House" is a government building, any other house you see that is white MUST be a government building.