First off sorry for the hiatus. Back now so all is good. Anyway. This post may seem like a rambled argument about many things and you are correct. Well done. Very perceptive. Have a cookie. Perhaps I will post something slightly more focussed at some point. Oh well. Enjoy.
Before I really get into the main point I want to make I want to be clear on one thing. This post is not in any way trying to convert anyone to believe in God or not believe in God. This post is highlighting problems that I see with a certain type of prayer and the Problem of Evil which has been talked about and discussed since the Ancient Greeks. Please don't get all offended or defensive if you don't agree this is just my thinking on the subject.
To me, prayer to a God like the Abrahamic God of Christianity, Islam and Judaism doesn't make any sense. This is why explained in the form of an analogy. A fireman gets a call that a hospital is on fire. Oh the horror! Him and all his fireman friends rush to the fire engines and get to the fire in super quick time. As they are unwinding the hoses and getting ready a man walks up to the fireman and says "That buildings on fire!" The fireman looks confused and says "Yeah I know, I'm a fireman and I'm here to put it out." The man then says "You have to put that fire out! You're a fireman it's your job!" The fireman looks confused again and says "Yeah I know. I am fully aware of the fire and what my role is." The man turns looks at the flaming hospital and says "It's a hospital and there are people inside." "YES I KNOW" "But you have to do something because you are a fireman and it is your job to put out fires and save people's lives!" "I AM DOING SOMETHING!" and the scene carries on like this.
This situation is how I see praying to God for someone because they are sick or in trouble or in some way need help. By praying to God to help with someones problem would that not be like telling the fireman (in this case an omniscient fireman that is aware of everything in the universe) that he really needs to do something about that fire? Praying like this just seems entirely pointless and a little insulting to God. I mean you are kind of whining at him to solve your problems. This type of praying does nothing for anyone. Praying for some kid that has cancer (you've all seen the posts on Facebook going round) isn't actually (this may come as a surprise) going to cure that kid's cancer. Research into medical techniques and drugs now that helps a lot. I can't help but see this type of praying as just a way for people to show they care about a problem but aren't actually willing to part with any cash or time to help solve the problem. I don't know about you but in my book doing something like this makes you a bad person. Now praying to God to feel a connection to a higher spiritual being I can understand. I have no need for it and find solace in other ways and in other parts of my life but if it works for you knock yourself out. I would say that getting answers from prayers is actually answers coming from inside yourself and your own innate strength of character and your minds boundless potential but if you want to say it's angels then go for it just don't try to convince me it's angels.
Now lets go back and take the Fireman analogy a step further (a blasphemous step further) and say that the fireman not only knows about the fire but is the one that lit it in the first place. God is described in the Bible, Quran and the Torah as being omniscient (all-seeing) and omnipotent (all-powerful). If this description of him is true then God knows when bad stuff is happening and is fully capable of not only solving the bad stuff but not letting the bad stuff even occur. God sees the murderer plotting, the drunk driver getting into their car, the arsonist pick up their matches and he does nothing about it. God can make a man walk on water (which is so incredibly useful to the human race) but can't get someone to change their mind, can't make a battery go dead, can't make every match break when someone tries to light them? Or is it that he doesn't want to stop them? So what does this mean? There are 4 ways out of this:
1. God is not all powerful (but then why is he called God?)
2. God is not omniscient (again why call him God?)
3. God is evil (how comforting...)
4. God isn't there (at least the Abrahamic version of God isn't there)
For me the last one seems most likely. Now others argue that God is letting these things happen for a reason (the ol' "mysterious ways" argument) but I would disagree with this by going all the way back to the beginning of the universe.
Imagine you are God (I'm getting you to do a lot of imaging in this post. Lots of analogies and stuff...) and you are creating the universe. Now you have the option of designing the perfect universe with no hate or pain or anger. Not only would they not exist but they would be inconceivable to the inhabitants of your universe. For them it would be like trying to think of a new colour. Wouldn't you want a world like that? The argument against this is that humans need pain to develop and grow and we learn from our good and our bad experiences (I could start arguing "how exactly are people supposed to develop after a tsunami has killed all their family?" but I'll move on from that) but I would say that God (being omnipotent) could create humans and a world where development isn't necessary. A world where we are born perfect. People say it's better to develop virtues over time and this shows true character but we only believe that because in this universe, for our species, we pride ourselves on development and think things that come fully formed and perfect are somehow less impressive. We like the under-dog that fights their way to the top but in a new universe that is entirely unformed it doesn't have to be like that. Things born perfect and fully formed are best. Struggle and hard work are unknown concepts. So why didn't God create a world like that? Why did he allow evil and suffering to even be possible? My argument is that he didn't. Pain is a construction of life. Without pain life would die out very quickly.
Pain is a big signpost that something is wrong and action needs to be taken to change our surroundings. Pain in your hand when you hold it over a candle; move it away to prevent damage to your tissues. Break everything down to the molecular level and what you are left with is particles interacting with each other. There is no good or bad interactions, just interactions. Pain is simply receptors being stimulated and passing an electric current all the way up your nerves to your brain (or not even to your brain, reflex reactions don't need any input from your brain at all). All of this is just particles interacting. Pain is unpleasant because if it was pleasant then we wouldn't for very long (BDSM is too complicated to get into right now...).
Pain doesn't make sense in a universe that has an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God. It does however make sense in a universe that has no God of this description and is simply running along with all life trying not to disappear forever in a gigantic eons long arm's race that will never end.
So to sum up. I think praying to God to end your woes is stupid because he's God and is fully aware of what's going on if he does exist and if he doesn't it's like screaming at a dark room for making it hard to see. A creative force that started the Big Bang could well exist but might also not. Either way there is no point praying to it. Evil and pain are necessary in this universe for life to survive and adapt so when you are hurt, use the experience to your advantage in any way you can. If you can't find anything good about your situation then take heart. You are not the only one to ever experience pain. Others have, others do and others will. It is the fate of all living things and it's kept us alive for millions of years and hopefully it will for a few more million.
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