How Much Do You Pray?

My typical evening prayer lasts a little over 7 minutes give or take. Add in prayers before about 14 meals per week and in church it adds up to about an hour a week in prayer.

I'll pray. For example if I meet a female and things are going well I'll find myself praying "Please God, let me tap that.", that counts right? If it happens it was God's will, if not then he has other plans for me like a girl with bigger tits or something?

^ out of real curiosity if things are going well why do you feel a need to pray?

When I was a devout Christian, I prayed all of the time. When people would ask me to pray with them, or for them, I would. I became dissatisfied with prayer, after a fashion, because it seemed like I was offloading this person's problems onto someone else, and I felt uncomfortable because it meant I didn't really have to do anything to help, just say a few meaningful words and this person would be grateful, and that felt wrong to me.

Some people say that prayer helps, and I agree if someone needs a kind word or some consideration, but if a person is hungry, if they're sick and a simple remedy can help them, I say help them resolve that issue immediately, and save the prayers for comfort and solace when needed, if one is so inclined to pray.

Believe it or not, I still pray. It's not to any Christian god, or any other god, but I do say words to the universe, to the future, to all the potentiality that could be for humanity, to the hopes that goodness and kindness will win the day, but before I do any of that, I make it start with me.

So she can pray in return, "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God, yes, yes!"

So you've spent around 2,500 hours of your life talking to to something that likely does not exist? Well done.

Never.

More important things to do, like focus on reality.

zero minutes a day. But I do try to maintain an attitude of thankfulness. I try to keep a positive attitude and whatnot. I don't want to pray and waste god's time with my trivial shit. I'd rather have god earn his money by stopping birth defects than watching out for my old ass - but that's just me.

Who says God is subject to the passage of time?

Not even once.
I made a lame stab at a prayer when I was three years old, but the God of the Bible is a scary motherfucker, so I broke into tears, because saying the wrong thing might get me exploded, or turned to salt, or melted into a gore puddle like the Nazis in Raiders.
So, I got out of having to do that.
Round about the time when a string of great-grandmothers, great-aunts, and pets got slaughtered by the ravages of time and nature within a two year span, I might have looked up and asked "why are you letting this happen?", because my shitty little enemies had lives of ease and priveledge, and the ones being offed were church-y old biddies, and prayer wasn't helping them.
It was about there that I didn't quite dare take the atheism leap, but I knew something was seriously wrong.

Good point! God can (I assume) multitask. So he can count chromosomes during pregnancy and keep an eye on his favorite football team at the same time. Sadly, it doesn't always work out as expected.

Jesus existed so that does anchor much of the rest.

Ehhhhhh... no.

You're free to believe in God, @Dayton3, and I'm not going to fault you for that, but your logic here is non-existent. Even if there were irrefutable proof the Jesus of the Bible existed (there isn't), that doesn't mean everything else just falls in to place. You're not a Muslim, yet if we follow this brand of, um, logic, then you agree that Mohammed's claims of being The Prophet are true, and that everything he did was sanctioned and ordained by God. Hell, the voice actress for Princess Celestia is real, but that doesn't mean she's really a magical alicorn goddess who controls the Sun.

Just because there is a tenet of a belief system based on some kind of historicity or physical presence, doesn't mean the claims made by said figure, or that figure's followers, are at all valid or authentic.

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Saying "we'll just have to disagree" all the time doesn't make you correct. Have the balls to back up your statements.

Except that doesn't really work here. It's one thing to say "I like lasagna," and someone says "I hate lasagna." Well, we'll have to agree to disagree.
When you say "I believe that everything Jesus claimed is true because he existed and that makes it all fall into place," and I say "no, because then that means you believe everything anyone says is factually accurate by its mere existence," then "agreeing to disagree" doesn't work. You're free to still believe it, but the moment someone asks you to pray to Mecca and you don't because you don't believe Islam is the correct religion, you've defeated your own statement. It becomes, in essence, a lie, and people don't generally accept lies as simply "agreeing to disagree."

I'm basically an agnostic who is academically interested in religious beliefs and spiritual matters.

So never.

I used to pray as a kid... Mostly at night when something was worrying me and I couldn't sleep.

I think I stopped doing that in college, when I grew up and realized that no one was going to solve my problems except me.

Even if there is a God or gods out there, I don't think they are going to help me out with anything I'm struggling with. Why bother with false hope?

It does give my parents some comfort though. I don't necessarily mind if other people want to pray, as long as I'm not forced to join in and they aren't obnoxious about it.

Probably about an average of an hour a day.

Umm... it's not my belief system or anything, but I'm pretty sure asking God to do things for you isn't supposed to be the point of prayer.

Of course it is - at least one of the points anyhow. That and giving thanks

This.

No activity is a waste if doing it has a positive impact on you. Some people meditate, some people play music, some people pray. The fact that there's almost certainly nobody listening doesn't change that.

Nun-ya

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

One thing I've often wondered about that passage.

"Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."

Is that sarcasm?

I took it as "the only reason they're praying is to be seen by others, so, hey ... mission accomplished!"

Outside of the bible, there is absolutely no objective archaeological evidence that Jesus existed.

There are some creationist "scientists" and other biblical scholars who claim otherwise, but their bias is inherently evident.

Besides, isn't Christianity about faith? Why do you need evidence if you have faith?

I don't need evidence. But I've hoped at least some small amount of evidence might make heathens more inclined to believe.

Or at least stop criticizing and mocking Christians.

I'm not mocking Christians. I'm simply stating a fact. There is no evidence.

@Zor Prime's post here pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.

Vis a vis evidence:

Romans 1:18-23 [New American Standard Bible]

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

I basically look at praying as talking to yourself.