Prayer?

[RedDart]

So, I just recently joined this forum and I'm writing my first topic . I've read through may articles on the site for the last few years and noticed that the topic of prayer wasn't heavily touched upon. The reason I point this out was that I got into a discussion over prayer recently with a few atheists and released I don't know as much as I thought on prayer. So, I thought up a few questions on prayer that my knowledge is lacking on that would help me get a better grasp on prayer an its functions in our everyday life. (links to this site or external sites with info is welcomed):

1) One question that I was thrown, but was unable to really answer was, "What is the point of praying so much if God doesn't answer?"

2) "Prayer and meditation are the same thing."

[Echoside]

I can think of many ways God could answer prayer without reducing it down to the direct auditory response another human might give us. "God doesn't answer" from an atheist is really not much more than "God has never answered my few attempts to contact him on my terms, in a manner which I expected". Many atheists use that "test" as evidence against God when realistically they were biased against any divine contact from the start.

as for prayer and meditation being the same thing, in some ways yes but there's really no comparison when you figure you are pouring your thoughts towards the most supremely good being in the entire universe meditation seems a tad bit outclassed

[Rascus]

I know that God does answer Prayer....its just that we may may not have that prayer answered in the way that we are expecting and therefore its thought that God has not answered prayer. This Ive found is something that will become evident when we say maybe change how we pray or what we might ask for in prayer. And then sometimes it may be that a prayer may not be answered in any specific time frame also.....just something to ponder in regards to prayer and these are specific to my own personal prayers.....

Rascus

[mandelduke]

I have never prayed and not got a answer!