I genuinely don't get the "calling for prayers" thing.

[Bleacher Creature]

Every time some right wing antivaxxer gets COVID, they post a tweet asking for prayers. It's obviously not limited to COVID, but seeing it so much now got me thinking, and it truly makes no sense.

Is the idea that some higher power is keeping tabs of the number of prayers a person receives, and if that number exceeds a certain threshold they get cured? And if so, can a person pray for you twice (or more), or is it calculated on a per person basis? Also, does the quality of the person praying taken into account?

I'm seriously not trying to be flip here, but I really don't get it.

[Mr.Bill]

1. When I was in Catholic school they told us

that children's prayers had a higher value because children were so pure. Factor that one in.

[Mr.Bill]

2. Next thing you know, they'll put

a cash value on them. Oh,...wait....

[Croney]

3. If the person dies, God called them home. If they live,

the prayers worked. They have their win-win firmly in place.

[leftieNanner]

4. I have one story to tell you

I have a similar attitude about this, but...

A number of years ago, a woman I knew in our community fell and cut her leg. As most parents do, she cleaned it up and ignored it (something she would never have done if her children had been injured). Anyway, it became infected and ultimately went septic. She was in the hospital and her family was summoned (one from overseas) to say their final goodbyes. One of her close friends gathered 20 or so women from the area and invited all of us who loved her to meet at her church for a prayer circle and meditation. The minister spoke briefly and then we all sat in the darkened church with candles in our hands. We spoke silently to whatever god or spirit we believed in and asked for her to be healed.

That night her raging fever broke and the doctors turned the tide on the infection. She survived.

Whether global "pray for me" requests are effective, I do not know.

But Barbara is still with us.

[Karadeniz]

8. R. Craig Hogan in Your Eternal Self describes many of the experiments conducted which

strongly suggest that the power of thought, Mind, is not entirely derived solely from the human brain and that Mind indeed affects physical reality. This makes me wonder if the power of prayer really needs a god connection or if it's thought alone that is the operative manipulator.

[leftieNanner]

9. Good Point

nt

[Tomconroy]

5. If you want a serious answer here is a link

To Chapter 19 of William James' Varieties of Religious Experience:

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/WJAMES/ch19.html

It's pretty long and not easy going though. The topic of prayer begins at paragraph ten.

Here is an article specifically on petitionary prayers:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/petitionary-prayer/

Most likely we pray for the effect it has on ourselves.

[Under The Radar]

6. Interesting thought: does God use points and algorithms like tic toc?

[PSPS]

7. There's an app for that!

[rampartc]

10. prayers don't cost anything, and they can't hurt.

[EmmaLee E]

14. They Can and Do Hurt

When medical treatment is disregarded.

But I suppose we know this from COVID vaccination rates.

[3Hotdogs]

11. The thing of it is, if yo go all in to the God thingy...

Joe is sick.
God controls everything.
God, not only knows that Joe is sick, God made Joe sick.

so.......

If I pray for God to get Joe's sorry ass out of hospital, am I praying to undo God's will?

If so, will my ass take his place in the E.R.?

[enki23]

12. It's important to Jesus that you are popular

Or maybe the act of calling for prayers is what is important. Actually receiving them isn't. In that case, *being* popular isn't important, but putting on the correct front for Jesus is important even if both you and he are aware it's a sham.

Or.... maybe it's not about Jesus at all, and is instead a desire to be or appear popular to fellow members of the fandom.

[RFCalifornia]

13. There's a bible verse in the gospels

Not sure where or which one, but basically it says when more than one are gathered in Yeshua ben Yusuf's name, the power of prayer is stronger