i am an atheist

[Zedblade]

10 billion prayers ignored and one apparently answered

Just because they are not always a "yes" does not mean they aren't answered...

If god truly answered prayers on a regular basis for his believers like the bible explicitly says he would, there would be clear statistical evidence. However, studies have show that praying to god or to allah, zeus, or any number of gods shows the same results across the board for all of those religions, meaning the same amount of answered and unanswered prayers are more or less the same for all of them.

There are plenty of inaccuracies and contradictions in the bible.  Most of the things listed in that link Curdy posted can be interpreted to mean any number of things.  Some historical events are even wrong, which you would think would be the easiest part to get right.

I don't understand your logic here.  First off, you say that the things in my link can be interpreted to mean any number of things.  Then, you turn right back around and say the bible has clear contradictions.  I don't get it.  You can't try to use the same tool against something else and then use the opposite idea to support your own.

You're right, however In this case I was specifically referring to the science in the bible link you posted. Most of the passages there could be interpreted to mean anything. For example.

The Bible described the shape of the earth centuries before people thought that the earth was spherical.

Isaiah 40:22
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

The original meaning could have been to convey that the earth was flat... like a circle. It clearly says circle, why would you think it meant sphere? Oh because we know it's a sphere now, so lets just retrofit the verse to fit our current way of thinking.

an there are quite a few things proven to be wrong in the bible by science

Such as?

I've provided links already, but an example is that the bible says disease is caused by demons, that the earth is a flat circle and that it is unmoving and has 'corners.'

Sure any of this stuff could be changed due to interpretation... but how can people cherry pick what to interpret to fit current views and what to take literally. "Oh yes the bible meant the earth was round, not a circle. But I hate homos and the bible says they are an abomination, so fucking kill them!" WTF.

http://www.coppit.org/god/contradictions.php

Internal Contradiction Responses:
 
1.http://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/matthew-mark/why-are-there-different-genealogies-jesus-matthew-1-and-luke-3

2.Acts 1:18 describes what occurred after Judas hanged himself in Matthew 27:5. His body began to decay as it hung from the rope. Eventually, his corpse fell, and ââ,¬Å"burst asunderââ,¬Â when it hit the groundââ,¬â€he literally burst apart.

3.http://www.carm.org/bible-difficulties/joshua-esther/who-incited-david-count-fighting-men-israel-god-or-satan

4.This deals with the topic of capital punishment.  http://www.tektonics.org/af/cappun.html

5.http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/566

6.http://contenderministries.org/discrepancies/contradictions.php#17 click the link near the 5th bullet point from the bottom

7.finish the second quote (1 Corinthians 4:5)ââ,¬Â¦but not before the appointed time

8.Are there 250 officers, or 550, per 2 Chr. 8:10? A reasonable solution that is suggested by the fact that the totals of men coincide at 3850 is that the 550 "elite" foremen in 1 Kings 9:23 include the 250 "elite" foremen of 2 Chr 8:10. This is essentially the thesis advanced by Keil and Delitzsch.  OR There may have been a copying error at some point with regard to this text.  We do not affirm the infallibility of all manuscripts and copies of the biblical documents, but only of the originals.

http://davidgmcafee.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/minor-inaccuracies-and-contradictions-within-the-holy-bible/

1. Does God tempt man? http://www.wrestedscriptures.com/d02contradictions/james1v13genesis22v1.html
ââ,¬Â¦I could keep going if you would like, but you get the ideaââ,¬Â¦

You have to look at the entire context of verses rather than just poking out one line here and there.

I will look at the videos some other day...I need a break  :)

Maybe you are right about those things. But It's depends on how you interpret them  :P

However the biggest contradiction is still true and it can't be misinterpreted or mistranslated. God says many times and even writes on tablets that thou shall not kill, that you should forgive and do unto others as you want them to do unto you... yet throughout the bible he kills and destroys entire cities, calls for the death of people just because they worked on the sabbath, are gay, had sex before marriage etc. That my friend is the biggest contradiction of them all.

[frvge]

Faith/belief is a lack of certainty and scientifically-valid evidence in a subject.

Either you 'know' there's a God, or you don't. But you don't have 'faith', because that has an element of doubt in it.

I know fairies exist vs I belief in fairies. What sounds more... certain? IMO the former.

Now you can say: "I know God exists", which leads back to the question of why religion is then commonly called "faith" and where the proof is of your "knowing". Knowing doesn't exist without proof that's at least verifiable (repeatable would be even better).

Also, the fact that your demographics dictate the religion makes the whole religion thing less ... uh... universal. From the nature gods to Hindu and Buddhists to the sungods (among others Christian, Islamic and Jewish and Egyptian), and from there to Greek/Latin/Nordic gods. Literally tens of thousands of gods. You'd say there'd be an earthquake or big flood everyday... all those earth/water gods are getting bored.

Aka, while it's possible, it's so highly unlikely, that I have concluded that there's no God, and thus no God created the 'Big Bang' or w/e. What created that? I don't know. I don't have evidence and neither does any religion (just because it's written doesn't make it true).

[Farley4Fan]

I've gotta say, keeping track of prayers answered in a scientific test is one of the dumbest things I've heard of.  So, did all the subjects of the test ask God for 20 bucks and a 6 pack and if they didn't get it on their doorstep the next morning it means that God doesn't answer their prayers? 

I just don't see any possible way to test it.

[Zedblade]

I've gotta say, keeping track of prayers answered in a scientific test is one of the dumbest things I've heard of.  So, did all the subjects of the test ask God for 20 bucks and a 6 pack and if they didn't get it on their doorstep the next morning it means that God doesn't answer their prayers?  

I just don't see any possible way to test it.

Oh so because you can't see any possible way to test it, there must not be any possible way at all.

Even if there was no way whatsoever to 'test' it in some sort of study, that still doesn't negate why there is no religious group with obvious and unmistakable accounts of more prayers answered. After all, the bible says that god WILL answer our prayers.

[Farley4Fan]

I said I don't see any possible way to test it, but I would be interested if you could think of a way.

How many prayers do you think God would answer knowing it's for a test?  Even if you don't believe in God, do you really think God would like being tested by his own creations?  I just don't see it happening.

[Zedblade]

I said I don't see any possible way to test it, but I would be interested if you could think of a way.

How many prayers do you think God would answer knowing it's for a test?  Even if you don't believe in God, do you really think God would like being tested by his own creations?  I just don't see it happening.

Here is a way I thought of that removes the 'God saying no because it's a test' variable and is something I thought of in like 5 seconds.

Ask a group of 500 christions their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 muslims their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 athiests their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 mormans their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 _______ their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,

Compare. Like I've said many times, because the bible specifically states that God PROMISED to answer our prayers, Christians should have clear and unmistakable higher percentage of answered prayers.

[Farley4Fan]

"rate of answered and unanswered prayers"

I don't really think you understand how praying works (no offense intended).  Prayer is a way to personally connect with God.  God doesn't have a predefined rate to auto-grant everyone's wishes like on Bruce Almighty or something.  God's not a fairy godfather that goes around granting everyone's wishes.  To try and find an exact rate of answered prayers is just a waste of time because the very definition of "answered prayers" varies.  It varies a lot.  Not only does that vary, but what people pray for varies.  That also varies a ton. 

With all this variation it's literally impossible to get a good read unless you ask people what to pray for and what to believe is an answered prayer.  That would bring back that variable of "God saying no" as you put it.  Not to mention, all of this completely misses the point of praying.

*4000 posts - guess you guys will finally think i'm koo.  I worked my ass off to get Rambo's approval and I may finally get it (crosses fingers)*

:D

[Zedblade]

It still doesn't look like you understand my logic and reasoning behind what I'm saying, I guess I'm not articulate enough to explain it any better, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I still would like to hear some of your thoughts about my post from the last page, which was a direct response to you.

[VaNilla]

You would think with the thousands if not millions of prayers going out each day that they would make a difference, right? Oh snap.

[Tidenburg]

If God has a divine plan, prayers cannot possibly work.

[CurdyMilk]

Here is a way I thought of that removes the 'God saying no because it's a test' variable and is something I thought of in like 5 seconds.

Ask a group of 500 christions their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 muslims their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 athiests their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 mormans their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,
Ask a group of 500 _______ their rate of answered and unanswered prayers,

Compare. Like I've said many times, because the bible specifically states that God PROMISED to answer our prayers, Christians should have clear and unmistakable higher percentage of answered prayers.

Answer is the key word.  Answers can mean yes, no, or wait.

Hey FarleyFan I have an idea here.  Let's make our own religion called the toilet religion.  Then we are going to pray to the almighty toilet before we poop that we won't leave any skid marks around the bowl after we flush.  Then, we will see if our prayers are answered or not.  So far my prayers have been answered for a few days.  Let's report our information to further this study so people will realize the toilet religion has the most answered prayers.

Seriously, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life.  I don't even think I have to explain why.

The Bible described the shape of the earth centuries before people thought that the earth was spherical.

Isaiah 40:22
It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,
And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

The original meaning could have been to convey that the earth was flat... like a circle. It clearly says circle, why would you think it meant sphere? Oh because we know it's a sphere now, so lets just retrofit the verse to fit our current way of thinking.

I've provided links already, but an example is that the bible says disease is caused by demons, that the earth is a flat circle and that it is unmoving and has 'corners.'

Sure any of this stuff could be changed due to interpretation... but how can people cherry pick what to interpret to fit current views and what to take literally.

There are many ways in which God could have said corner. Any of the following Hebrew words could have been used:

Pinoh is used in reference to the cornerstone.
Paioh means ââ,¬Å"a geometric cornerââ,¬Â
Ziovyoh means ââ,¬Å"right angleââ,¬Â or ââ,¬Å"cornerââ,¬Â
Krnouth refers to a projecting corner.
Paamouth - If the Lord wanted to convey the idea of a square, four-cornered earth, the Hebrew word paamouth could have been used. Paamouth means square.

Instead, God selected the word kanaph, conveying the idea of extremity.
It is doubtful that any religious Jew would ever misunderstand the true meaning of kanaph.

You need to realize this was originally written in Hebrew, not English.  Either way, the passage still makes sense if you are in the correct frame of reference.  

For the demons, hopefully I am thinking about the same topic you are here.
http://www.tbm.org/role_of_demons_and_sickness_by_t.htm

You say all of this can be changed due to interpretation and cherry picking to fit our views, but it seems more like you are the one trying to cherry pick so it goes against our view because it is not scientific.  Give me a break.

However the biggest contradiction is still true and it can't be misinterpreted or mistranslated. God says many times and even writes on tablets that thou shall not kill, that you should forgive and do unto others as you want them to do unto you... yet throughout the bible he kills and destroys.  That my friend is the biggest contradiction of them all.

Now this, THIS, my friend, is actually something worth talking about.  :)  More later today before I leave! (I will be gone this whole weekend for a family reunion, and my grandparents don't have a router :()

[CurdyMilk]

If God has a divine plan, prayers cannot possibly work.

You are missing the point.  The goal is not: "Oh, I have this need (or want) so I think I will just shout out a prayer to God and hope it works.

[Tidenburg]

If God has a divine plan, prayers cannot possibly work.

You are missing the point.  The goal is not: "Oh, I have this need (or want) so I think I will just shout out a prayer to God and hope it works.

According to Jesus it is, and I think I'll take his word other yours and whoever keeps changing the religions to fit new discovery. :3

[CurdyMilk]

However the biggest contradiction is still true and it can't be misinterpreted or mistranslated. God says many times and even writes on tablets that thou shall not kill, that you should forgive and do unto others as you want them to do unto you... yet throughout the bible he kills and destroys.  That my friend is the biggest contradiction of them all.

First, here is a reply to the video about the amputees.  It also applies to some of the others because it is the exact same concept.  Please read the entire thing.  http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/01/30/feedback-god-heal-amputees

Now, on to the next topic.  This one deals with the wrath of God.  And, well, quite frankly, it is a touchy subject most Christians donââ,¬â,,¢t like to talk about- some donââ,¬â,,¢t even want to admit.  But the fact of the matter is that itââ,¬â,,¢s true.  God gets angry, and sometimes He even kills.  Not only has He killed a person, or a family, but an entire city.  I have no problem admitting this.

However, most of the controversy results as a misunderstanding of who God actually is.  It can get rather lengthy, so here is a link to help me explain.  Please read it.  (I know it can get long).  http://www.biblebb.com/files/mac/45-9.htm

One final note: 
I am not here to try to force you into certain beliefs.  Nor do I have any disrespect for atheists.  Itââ,¬â,,¢s your choice.  While I may disagree on certain things, I truly do respect all of you guys.  I really do.  And, I have not even posed any of my real questions about your beliefs, but instead I have been trying to answer yours (which is not a problem).  All I ask is for respect in return, and I am not saying you havenââ,¬â,,¢t been respectful.  But so many times in our world differences result in bitter endings on both sides, and it is really sad because it only widens the gap.  Both sides are to blame.

Anyway, hopefully our discussion has been useful to some extent.  Peace.

[Cronky]

Peace.

I have nothing to add to this topic, but I found the contrast of what your whole post was rationalizing versus this one ending word kinda funny. ;D

I'm sure I'm the only one.