Why is it that some people ONLY seek GOD or PRAY when they are in SERIOUS trouble, and not any other time?

Someone I know does this.....and then becomes "FAITHLESS" when their prayers are not answered immediately!

it seems to me that people with a lot of faith pray all the time and don't expect to see the answer to their prayers. like a farmer who plants a seed and doesn't expect the plant to sprout up immediately. it will grow in due time.

on the other hand people with little or no faith pray only when they expect to see a miracle happen before their eyes. "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."

i could be wrong

Because people try to use God only when they are in need. A selfish way of dealing with God. They put God in their closet hiding him away living how they wish to live, then when that crumbles they try to bring him out and fix what they messed up.

My thoughts exactly!

The person I speak of is my sister...I tried to explain to her that God doesn't work that way!

God only hears what's in your "heart" and not just the words spoken!

I went to a church when I was overseas and the Bishop mentioned about people placing God in a closet until "they" need Him. If one prays in earnest, their prayers will be answered. But, I have also heard it said that one has to actually start doing what they pray and God will "assist" in these prayers. God does not hide anything from anyone whatsoever. HE will always be there!!!

it is called the spare-tire effect... only use it when you need it, other than that, it is out of site, out of mind...

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe some people would prefer to not be a constant pest to God with trivial problems that they can solve on their own, and so they only turn to God for things that are truly beyond their own abilities to solve?

That makes perfect sense to me.

Why would anyone want to be constantly pestering God all the time for trivial things that they can solve on their own?

Shouldn't a person take some responsibility to try to fix their own problems whenever possible?

Why lean on God constantly? Where is there any personal responsibility in that?

praying is not just about asking for help though Abra

I pray quite a bit without asking for a thing

I pray to THANK him and to AKNOWLEDGE him,,,that is probably the context in which the OP asks her question

people often dont SEEK him or AKNOWLEDGE him or THANK him , they only call him when things are 'wrong' and expect him to come immediately,,,,

How do you know what is in the minds and hearts of other people?

Perhaps they feel that they have already acknowledge God and thank God all the time. Who are you to say that they haven't?

Also, why should a person continually "seek" God? Does God keep getting lost?

A person should only need to acknowledge God once. In fact, if a person is continually seeking God that can only imply that they feel they haven't yet found God.

Why are Christians so overly-anxious to judge other people's relationship with God?

I thought Jesus taught that people should not judge others?

Yet this is all that Christians seem to ever do.

Strange religion indeed. Jesus is supposed to be their Lord and Savior, yet they totally refuse to do as he taught.

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I have no problem at all with Jesus or God. But I have grave problems with the behavior of Christians.

Like Mahatma Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Truer words were never spoken, IMHO.

"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged". Sound familiar?

My take on this is that even when we pray, many of us only pray for those things that will benefit us.

Here's an example of what I am saying.

How many people have prayed for those who have hurt us. Such as terrorists or the people responsible for the Savings and Loan scandal.

Or Osama Bin Laden? I live in New York and my company was in Tower 2, but I do pray for him.

That is tough, really tough. Because if we only pray when we are in need, or for those people who are close to us, what does that say about us? Moreover, nonChristians then get the sense that we are using God like a genie.

As St. Paul says, we should pray without ceasing. If you look at the Book of Pslams, they can be used as a Book of Prayers.

Just my two cents.
Shiki

I can not know the heart of anyone, that is why I say PEOPLE OFTEN(which is a pretty general description of what SOMETIMES happens)

Christians 'judge' because they are human

similar to questioning why a woman continuously has unprotected sex and is suprised to find she has an STD

that is not JUDGING that is a sincere question asked about other peoples sense of LOGIC

I disagree that all humans 'judge' the morality of other people.

Do you think Jesus would have asked people not to 'judge' if he thought is was an impossible thing for them to do?

I do not judge the morality of anyone. Even people I can clearly see are doing things that I personally consider to be grossly immoral. For all I know they either have justifications that I'm unaware of, or they could be mentally ill or insane and thus be irresponsible for their actions.

I 'judge' no one.

Thus if the words of Jesus can be trusted I will not be judged.

That's just an aside there, but clearly if you trust the words of Jesus as reported by the biblical writings then this is what you must believe.



I'm not prepared to accept your analogy here as being a valid analogy for this situation.

Here is an interesting perspective. What I am finding is that some Christians and atheists tend to generalize the other side. As in "all Christians are trying to convert me," or "all atheists are insulting and condescending."

Hopefully, this post shows that there are different types of Christians and atheists.

Why would one only have to go to God when in need? Why not pray for thanks? Why always a me me me me oh poor me poor me give me give me give me kind of prayer? Why not pray to God for thanks? Why not pray to God for praising him?

I didnt find the ops question having anything to do with anyones morality but more about their LOGIC,,,so perhaps, as usual, its about perception

As amazing as this is Abra hits it right on the head!

God is not a genie, he does not grant wishes, he does not give handouts, he solves problems that really need to be solved.

If your deathly ill then yes, God gives the solution. "Lay hands on the sick and they shall recover"

Now if you need say a new car and you pray to get one. God will sit and do nothing. He may show you a way to get the money, He may lead you to the solution, but there's no way in Hell a new car will appear in your driveway. Not happening.

When you pray you should pray, "What can I do for YOU GOD?" NOT "What can you give me"

God does not work at mcdonalds. He does not take prayers in the drive through. Just because you don't get the answer in the next five minutes does not mean you did not get the answer.
It simply means you have to wait. Sometimes the answer is that you do not get what you want. That can happen to.

If God wants us to do something shouldn't God be praying to us?

According to the biblical stories God can speak to anyone at any time.

He supposedly spoke to a totally insignificant crowd telling them that Jesus was his beloved son in whom he is well pleased.

He supposedly spoke to Moses, Noah and quite a few other people.

Jesus supposedly appeared before Saul and convinced him to become Paul.

From the biblical stories I can only conclude that if God wants something from someone he will contact them and tell them what's on his mind.

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Having said that, I've personally prayed to God quite often asking if there is anything God would like me to do. Thus far I have not received an answer to those prayers either. In fact, "intuitively" I get a feeling that God's response is to simply say, "No. There is nothing I require from you at this time".

So for all intents and purposes I can say that I've prayed to God asking if there is anything God would like me to do, and the answer to those prayers has thus far been, "No".

So there you go.

If there's nothing God wants from me right now, then so be it. Who am I to argue with that?

From the way I read it, it means much more for us to ask what we can do for someone else(even God) than to wait for them to ask,, even when they are completely capable of doing so

Question: What's the value of prayer?

Someone here has said, God sees to your heart, he reads your mind as an open book.

And He knows the value of the quote here above, and no doubt practices it in His actions.

These are two very good reasons to not pray: God knows what's in your heart, and He will help whether you ask or not, in fact, he knows it will feel better for you when he helps without your asking for it specifically.

I don't know why it would be necessary for anyone to pray to god, from god's perspective. If it makes the praying person happier, fine, I can see that as a reason. But to reassure god what you feel in your heart via a prayer is 100 percent redundant and superfluous, and asking Him to do things for you will only accomplish your pleasure to diminish when He eventually gets around to do your bidding.

What does the bible say about prayer? Does it attach a reason or function to it, in an official and religiously binding manner?