God does not answer prayers

[Spirit of Light]

okay, then how do you distinguish the good things that happen to you as result of prayer from those good things that would have happened anyway?

How can i know that anything good would come anyway?
Onlywhen good deeds have been done can i see that God would reward me with something good. If i live badly no good will be given to me

 

[Milton Platt]

How can i know that anything good would come anyway?
Onlywhen good deeds have been done can i see that God would reward me with something good. If i live badly no good will be given to me

Virtually everybody on the planet has both good things and bad things happen in their lives. How do you distinguish those that happen via prayer and those that happen to the rest of the human race?

 

[Trailblazer]

okay, then how do you distinguish the good things that happen to you as result of prayer from those good things that would have happened anyway?

You can't.

 

[Kenny]

You disagree with what? I said the increase in actual cases is because people are living longer. The site you linked to said the most cases are between 85-89 years old. More people are surviving to those ages so the rate of cancer will increase because of that. Both sites say the death rate has gone down with better testing and medical technology.


Death rate is down.

Cancer Statistics
In the United States, the overall cancer death rate has declined since the early 1990s. The most recent Annual Report to the Nation, released in March 2020, shows that overall cancer death rates decreased by:

• 1.8% per year among men from 2001 to 2017
• 1.4% per year among women from 2001 to 2017
• 1.4% per year among children ages 0–14 from 2013 to 2017

But more people living longer can mean more cases. But there are less deaths percentage wise.

"As the overall cancer death rate has declined, the number of cancer survivors has increased. These trends show that progress is being made against the disease, but much work remains. Although rates of smoking, a major cause of cancer, have declined, the rates of other risk factors, such as obesity, have increased in the United States. Also, the US population is aging, and cancer rates increase with age.
Generally, cancer rates are highest in countries whose populations have the highest life expectancy, education level, and standard of living."


But this:
"In 2020, an estimated 16,850 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 will be diagnosed with cancer and 1,730 will die of the disease."

Sucks. But it shows it will follow predictable statistical rules without influence from any supernatural source. Trying to squeeze it in would be very ad-hoc.

You are talking about "death rates"... not cancer incidences! Yes, medical advances have reduced death rates... but look up cancer incidences.

 

[BlueSky95]

God is nowhere to be found because he is not ruling this world.....the devil is. (1 John 5:19)
.

Inspite of JW making the devil look more powerful than God, ultimately, God governs everything.

God is nowhere to be found because he is not ruling this world.....the devil is. (1 John 5:19)
Do you have any idea who God is and what he has been doing down here since man's defection? Do you even know what prayer is? Do you know why God is apparently missing from this world? He tells us all about it in the Bible but most people do not have a clue.....they would rather trash talk God and throw him under the bus, than make it their business to find out why we are even in this mess.

You are a JW, the new imaginated version of christianity and of God that came from the mind of freemasonry. JW appeared to fix all misconceptions and make things right, saying what all religious groups say: We have the truth, join us and be saved, otherwise hell or destructions awaits you. I was born and raised as an orthodox, the orthodox think of you as being heretics and children of the devil, I don't share this view, I share no religious view but thanks to my orhtodox background, I do know one or two things about christianity.

OK....add your 'OBE' to the long list of those who have also had these kinds of experiences, and ask yourself can they all be God providing the answer? Would any of the people having these experiences know if it was a mere delusion cause by mental illness? Whose OBE is genuine?

You know, I can say that when Moses was talking with a burning bush, he either wa delusional or under some drugs influence.

Its nice to do good deeds for someone, but should we hold our breath waiting for the whole of mankind to get that message?

Many religious people hold their breath and waith for God to come down from the sky.

This is a sad fact that has not changed since that Psalm was written.God's definition of "good" is entirely missing from flawed humanity.
Only God can fix what is wrong with the human race and I believe the time is near when he will step in and rectify all that is not right.

You're wrong.. you see this is what happens when you let the programming of others cloud your judgement, there was at least one who did the good, His name was Jesus, the Christ, so that Psalm can't actully be true anymore.

 

[BlueSky95]

I would agree with some points and, obvious, disagree about God not existing.

But I will fight for your right to believe there is no God!

I do believe in God's existence, just my idea of God is different than yours...

 

[Kenny]

I do believe in God's existence, just my idea of God is different than yours...

Well... at least we can agree on that He exists!

 

[Ancient Soul]

That is an impeccable bit of logic......

Sore loser!

 

[Trailblazer]

Inspite of JW making the devil look more powerful than God, ultimately, God governs everything.

You can say that again.

I do not believe that there is a devil, but even if there was, how could he be more powerful than an All-Powerful God?
That does not comport with logic.

 

[Kenny]

You can say that again.

I do not believe that there is a devil, but even if there was, how could he be more powerful than an All-Powerful God? That does not comport with logic.

In Christian circles...not only is God more powerful, but God has given us delegated authority to make him flee. He only has as much power as we give him.

 

[Ancient Soul]

Why do you put such great store by NDE's? What if they are a ruse used by the demons to trick people into believing something that is not true?...that life continues on in spirit form after the death of the body?

According to Solomon, (the wisest man who ever lived apart from Jesus, son of God) the dead are not alive at all. They know nothing, feel nothing, and can do nothing.

Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10....
"For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun. . . . Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol [the grave] where you are going."

Imagine......even their "love" has perished...how can that be? "Sheol" is the common grave of mankind....we are all going there.

Or they are demonic tricks to convince people of the lie.

Did you know that one of the things forbidden to God's people was necromancy? That is communication with the dead, which was commonly practiced by the pagan nations, especially in Canaan. All forms of spiritism were banned....and for good reason.

Deuteronomy 18:9-12...
“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you."

Does it strike you as odd that so many people who have NDE's, experience them according to their own belief system? Some have experienced the horrors of "hell" or something akin to a bad acid trip. Does it also strike you as odd that so many people do not have NDE's in the same circumstances?

Why would God forbid us from speaking to our loved ones just because they have passed away? If you could speak with them in life...why not in death, if that who they really are?

Take the example of Lazarus (John 11:11-14).....where did Jesus say that Lazarus was? He had been dead for four days, and in the middle eastern heat, would have started to decompose, according to his sister. (John 11:39)
Did Lazarus have any recollection of where he had been? He said nothing about being somewhere else for four days. And we would have to ask...if Lazarus was in a happy and blissful place, why would Jesus bring him back, only to die again?

Whoa....settle down ol' fella....

Well, I must say that for someone who identifies with no religion, you certainly have some very religious viewpoints. I am assuming that they do not pertain to the God of the Bible?

What is wicked or depressing about "sleeping in death"? Not suffering...not conscious of all the turmoil here on earth....not fretting about loved ones still stuck here.

I gave you the example of the spirit medium at Endor and Saul's encounter with the prophet "Samuel".
The demons were having a lend of him because he had defected from his God and had flouted his laws.

It was the Bible's teaching about death (rather than the church's) that first got me interested in what JW's taught. It resonated with me immediately.

NDE's can happen to anyone, but who said that the ideas portrayed in them have to come from us?

Those who have had NDE's must understand that they were not dead.....it is a "near death" experience, not an "after death" experience. There are actually demonstrated medical explanations for the delusions caused by an oxygen starved brain....what better situation could the demons have for implanting their ideas? How vulnerable are those in such circumstances?

As I mentioned, who said that NDE's come from us? And who said that children can't have them. The demons couldn't care who they use. Its like the young children who seem to have "past lives" that they remember quite vividly.
The demons ability to influence thoughts could explain that too. They can implant ideas in people's heads....even in the minds of young children....and they can blind people to the truth. ( 2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Does it seem strange to you that someone like Hitler could never have achieved what he did without those of like-mind all around him? Who created their evil agenda and fostered that level of evil in so many men? The word "inhuman" is often used when describing what these monsters do.....what does that word mean? It means "not human"......that says it all really IMO.

We believe the Bible....and there was never a "heaven or hell" scenario ever held out to the Jews or to the Christians. God placed "life or death" before the Jews and told them to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)......how were they to do that? By their obedience to the teachings of God's word....his instruction manual.

Go back to Eden and read Genesis and see what God's original purpose was for this earth......it was humans enjoying everlasting life in paradise.....UNLESS they disobeyed one simple command......that act of disobedience would have repercussions for thousands of years to come. But at the end of the day, God would return us to what he intended for mankind at the beginning.

In sending his son to earth to choose certain ones for a role in the Kingdom of God, and to teach them the truth from God's word, it opened up a possibility that the Jews had never thought of.....that God's Kingdom, with Messiah at the helm, would rule from heaven over this earth, and bring us back to God's first purpose. (Isaiah 55:11)

Before he offered his life as a ransom for mankind, he helped them to understand that he was returning to heaven to prepare a place for them, but it wasn't until Pentecost that they fully understood that they would rule with Christ in heaven, over earthly subjects. That meant that only a relative "few" would go to heaven and these only were chosen by God for that role.

So yes, we do believe in some "chosen ones" going to heaven, but the majority of mankind will reside on this lovingly prepared Earth, where God put us in the first place. (Revelation 14:1-5; Revelation 20:6; Revelation 21:3-4) The majority of those subjects will return to life by means of a resurrection....something that Christendom has completely lost sight of. (John 5:28-29)

That Kingdom is about to take over the rulership of this earth....and nothing can stop it. (Daniel 2:44)

Bring it on!

I just could not get over the dark evil oozing from these replies to my posts. For they are perfect examples to back up my often expressed belief of how religions warps people's thinking and seriously distorts their view of the world around them.

Now as for myself, I have been blessed with a profoundly rich spiritual life ever since meeting God during my childhood NDE/OBE, for what he had shown me then, and returned me to "life" with many spiritual gifts that have been a blessing to me thru-out my entire life. I have always spent all the time that I can possibly fit into every day, exploring the wilderness. It helps keeps my mind silent, keeps me spiritually balanced, and always connected to God. I view the world around me as a thing of BEAUTY, the forests, the streams, the host of living entities that people crudely call "creatures", the sunrises/sunsets, seeing the billions and billions of "stars" at night, etc... I let it all in so that it stirs me to the depths of my soul and leaves me always feeling THRILLED to be ALIVE!!! In my interactions with all of it, as well as with people, I take it for what it is, adding nothing more. If things don't go well for me, I just look to see if there's a spiritual lesson that I need to learn from it, try to understand it, resolve it, and move on. I am always filled with a sense of WONDER of all that God has created, what he has given me, and always left striving to understand the great WHY of it all.

Now I'll let those reading this post decide on who's thinking and beliefs are more "demonic" and have a warped view of the world around them, those with religious beliefs, or mine..[/QUOTE]

 

[Trailblazer]

@ Ancient Soul

You might want to fix your formatting so that people can read your post.

 

[BlueSky95]

Had my first OBE when I was a child, around 16-17 years old, it was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had, it came out of nowhere. Here I was, sleeping my room, when suddenly I found myself floating above my physical body, I had awareness and I could see my entire room and even hear my family talking around the house. I could even see the Sun rays passing through my window, when I was close to pass through the ceiling, that's when I instantly woke up. It too, me 7 years to actually learn that it was an OBE.

 

[Ancient Soul]

@ Ancient Soul

You might want to fix your formatting so that people can read your post.

Thanks!

Both of those posts would not fit into the allowable space, so when editing out some parts to save space I took out a QUOTE marker by mistake.

 

[Ancient Soul]

Had my first OBE when I was a child, around 16-17 years old, it was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had, it came out of nowhere. Here I was, sleeping my room, when suddenly I found myself floating above my physical body, I had awareness and I could see my entire room and even hear my family talking around the house. I could even see the Sun rays passing through my window, when I was close to pass through the ceiling, that's when I instantly woke up. It too, me 7 years to actually learn that it was an OBE.

Are you given any spiritual insights during the "other" OBEs, or are they just more like

 

[Ancient Soul]

In Christian circles...not only is God more powerful, but God has given us delegated authority to make him flee. He only has as much power as we give him.

Satan, the devil, or whatever else you want to call him, is entirely imaginary. Satan is just part of the Christian FEAR mongering brainwashing system.

 

[Ancient Soul]

How can i know that anything good would come anyway?
Onlywhen good deeds have been done can i see that God would reward me with something good. If i live badly no good will be given to me

That is no better than the Christian belief on doing "good deeds".

If you do "good deeds" only expecting to be rewarded, to the true God, they are as if you have done nothing at all. As they are done out of concern for oneself and nobody else.

"Good deeds" are ONLY counted during God's judgment process if they are done PURELY out of caring, empathy, compassion, and/or love.

 

[Deeje]

Inspite of JW making the devil look more powerful than God, ultimately, God governs everything.

My view is what the Bible says.....the whole world is under the control of the one who said God was a liar and inferred that he was holding something back that us humans had a right to know.....to determine between good and evil for ourselves.

The Creator stepped back to allow the devil to rule this world because it was apparently not enough just to tell free willed beings to trust him....he had to let them see for themselves that they can’t trust their own judgment. (Luke 4:5-8) Nor can they often tell the difference between good and evil.

So God is in control of the exercise, but he is not running the show....just yet. If you can look at the world and see God in any human activity connected with its governance, please tell me where and to what extent God is seen in any of it? (1 John 5:19)

You are a JW, the new imaginated version of christianity and of God that came from the mind of freemasonry.

Freemasonry has nothing to do with JW’s or our beliefs. We have severed all ties with any organisations that fails scrutiny.....and believe me we have scrutinised all of them and divorced ourselves from any and all who fail the test. Any early connection has long been disconnected.

JW appeared to fix all misconceptions and make things right, saying what all religious groups say: We have the truth, join us and be saved, otherwise hell or destructions awaits you.

Let me put it to you this way.....Jesus said that he would appoint a “faithful and wise slave” to “feed” his household of fellow slaves, their “food at the proper time”.....so with that in mind, we know that the “slave” exists in this “time of the end”, because Matthew 24 is all about this period....the time of his return. (Matthew 24:43-45)

It’s up to us to find that “slave” and to “feed” on the spiritual “food” that he provides. Have you found him...or do you believe that you are him?

I was born and raised as an orthodox, the orthodox think of you as being heretics and children of the devil, I don't share this view, I share no religious view but thanks to my orhtodox background, I do know one or two things about christianity.

What on earth is an “orthodox”?......Catholic? What do you really know about “orthodoxy” when it comes to the Christian Faith? What do you know about it’s origins and the origins of its own heresies? Apparently very little....or you would see a pot calling the kettle, black.

I was raised in the Anglican Church and in my early twenties, I had my own moment of honesty.....I saw the beliefs of Christendom (they all basically accept the same lies) as a complete departure from everything Jesus taught and I left the church system......knowing that God existed, but not knowing where to find him.

As it turned out, he found me and he introduced himself to me by answering all my questions and allowing me to come into his family. (John 6:65) My study of the Bible, (something that I always believed was the word of God) gave me insight into what God has been doing since man’s defection in Eden. I finally understood who God is, and what his purpose was in putting us on this planet in the first place.....something the church system hasn’t got a clue about. So people like yourself are wide open to putting their own spin on everything. What is that worth to anyone else?

You know, I can say that when Moses was talking with a burning bush, he either wa delusional or under some drugs influence.

Are you comparing yourself to Moses? Do you see yourself in a similar role? Does anyone else regard you and your experiences as coming from God? Or is it just you?

Many religious people hold their breath and waith for God to come down from the sky.

And many people have been misled by the church system to expect all manner of things......so who is telling the truth?
How can you know, in amongst all the “weeds” that Jesus said would come, who are the “wheat”? You have to use the Bible to differentiate.....do you know the criteria....or are you not interested in finding out?

You're wrong..

You don’t really know that....but you can believe it if you wish.
The Jews were told that Jesus was “wrong” and that he was an apostate (heretic) to their own ‘orthodoxy’....but it was the Jews who had apostatised and Jesus had come to lead the “lost sheep” out of that corrupted system. History repeats.

Daniel prophesied that a similar thing would happen in “the time of the end”......a “cleansing, whitening and refining” was going to take place at this time, and an abundance of knowledge would be made available to facilitate this cleansing of God’s worship. (Daniel 12:4, 9-10) Imagine, this prophet was given details about our day two and a half thousand years before it happened. Do you know anything about Daniel’s prophesy, since we are living in the time of its fulfilment? If God is leading you, what do you really know if you don’t have a good grasp on what the Bible teaches?

you see this is what happens when you let the programming of others cloud your judgement, there was at least one who did the good, His name was Jesus, the Christ, so that Psalm can't actully be true anymore.

I’m afraid I see you yourself as a victim of what you stated there. Your own ‘programming’ has clouded your judgment, just as it once clouded mine.
I allowed the appointed ‘slave’ to “feed” me and my brotherhood what Jesus fed ‘him’ by means of God’s spirit. (“He” was never just one man, but a collective of individuals from various denominations who were all called together by the same voice) I tested them out by seeing for myself whether they matched the criteria laid out by Jesus and his apostles in the Bible. That is my only guidebook and I can say, 50 years later, that I have never been disappointed in the “food” and how it has nourished my entire brotherhood who are united and active in all nations and who speak all languages.
They are the ones carrying out Jesus’ command to take his message to the “entire inhabited earth”. (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus said that the situation of Noah’s day would be seen again at the time of his return, and here we are. (Matthew 24:37-39)

So what are you hoping to achieve as a lone voice on an Internet forum?

 

[Spirit of Light]

That is no better than the Christian belief on doing "good deeds".

If you do "good deeds" only expecting to be rewarded, to the true God, they are as if you have done nothing at all. As they are done out of concern for oneself and nobody else.

"Good deeds" are ONLY counted during God's judgment process if they are done PURELY out of caring, empathy, compassion, and/or love.

You are right, anything done out of selfishness, egoism, and so on will not be rewarded, but with compassion and love for everyone God will see that we do good without thinking about self

 

[Ancient Soul]

My view is what the Bible says.....the whole world is under the control of the one who said God was a liar and inferred that he was holding something back that us humans had a right to know.....to determine between good and evil for ourselves.

The Creator stepped back to allow the devil to rule this world because it was apparently not enough just to tell free willed beings to trust him....he had to let them see for themselves that they can’t trust their own judgment. (Luke 4:5-8) Nor can they often tell the difference between good and evil.

So God is in control of the exercise, but he is not running the show....just yet. If you can look at the world and see God in any human activity connected with its governance, please tell me where and to what extent God is seen in any of it? (1 John 5:19)



Freemasonry has nothing to do with JW’s or our beliefs. We have severed all ties with any organisations that fails scrutiny.....and believe me we have scrutinised all of them and divorced ourselves from any and all who fail the test. Any early connection has long been disconnected.



Let me put it to you this way.....Jesus said that he would appoint a “faithful and wise slave” to “feed” his household of fellow slaves, their “food at the proper time”.....so with that in mind, we know that the “slave” exists in this “time of the end”, because Matthew 24 is all about this period....the time of his return. (Matthew 24:43-45)

It’s up to us to find that “slave” and to “feed” on the spiritual “food” that he provides. Have you found him...or do you believe that you are him?



What on earth is an “orthodox”?......Catholic? What do you really know about “orthodoxy” when it comes to the Christian Faith? What do you know about it’s origins and the origins of its own heresies? Apparently very little....or you would see a pot calling the kettle, black.

I was raised in the Anglican Church and in my early twenties, I had my own moment of honesty.....I saw the beliefs of Christendom (they all basically accept the same lies) as a complete departure from everything Jesus taught and I left the church system......knowing that God existed, but not knowing where to find him.

As it turned out, he found me and he introduced himself to me by answering all my questions and allowing me to come into his family. (John 6:65) My study of the Bible, (something that I always believed was the word of God) gave me insight into what God has been doing since man’s defection in Eden. I finally understood who God is, and what his purpose was in putting us on this planet in the first place.....something the church system hasn’t got a clue about. So people like yourself are wide open to putting their own spin on everything. What is that worth to anyone else?



Are you comparing yourself to Moses? Do you see yourself in a similar role? Does anyone else regard you and your experiences as coming from God? Or is it just you?



And many people have been misled by the church system to expect all manner of things......so who is telling the truth?
How can you know, in amongst all the “weeds” that Jesus said would come, who are the “wheat”? You have to use the Bible to differentiate.....do you know the criteria....or are you not interested in finding out?



You don’t really know that....but you can believe it if you wish.
The Jews were told that Jesus was “wrong” and that he was an apostate (heretic) to their own ‘orthodoxy’....but it was the Jews who had apostatised and Jesus had come to lead the “lost sheep” out of that corrupted system. History repeats.

Daniel prophesied that a similar thing would happen in “the time of the end”......a “cleansing, whitening and refining” was going to take place at this time, and an abundance of knowledge would be made available to facilitate this cleansing of God’s worship. (Daniel 12:4, 9-10) Imagine, this prophet was given details about our day two and a half thousand years before it happened. Do you know anything about Daniel’s prophesy, since we are living in the time of its fulfilment? If God is leading you, what do you really know if you don’t have a good grasp on what the Bible teaches?



I’m afraid I see you yourself as a victim of what you stated there. Your own ‘programming’ has clouded your judgment, just as it once clouded mine.
I allowed the appointed ‘slave’ to “feed” me and my brotherhood what Jesus fed ‘him’ by means of God’s spirit. (“He” was never just one man, but a collective of individuals from various denominations who were all called together by the same voice) I tested them out by seeing for myself whether they matched the criteria laid out by Jesus and his apostles in the Bible. That is my only guidebook and I can say, 50 years later, that I have never been disappointed in the “food” and how it has nourished my entire brotherhood who are united and active in all nations and who speak all languages.
They are the ones carrying out Jesus’ command to take his message to the “entire inhabited earth”. (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 28:19-20)

Jesus said that the situation of Noah’s day would be seen again at the time of his return, and here we are. (Matthew 24:37-39)

So what are you hoping to achieve as a lone voice on an Internet forum?

I see that you rely heavily upon straw man "replies" to avoid someone's statements that you cannot face.

And why is there so much evil clouding your mind?

All you do is spout out how everyone and everything is evil, of demons, etc...

Get a grip.

And BTY - Quoting from your book of mythology will never convince anyone of anything you are saying, because none of what you quote can be proven to be true.