But god has already determined our life plan, so praying is pointless?

One person told me that God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is no! I thought if the prayer is maybe about a child’s health and the answer is no, how could you possibly like this God?

I have a more scientific approach to this idea.
Everything that exists, is a type of vibrational energy.
There is electromagnetic radiation (radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma ray)and the sequence from longest wavelength (radio waves) to shortest wavelength (gamma rays) is also a sequence in energy from lowest energy to highest energy.
Each color of the spectrum of the rainbow is based upon the electromagnetic spectrum includes, and includes (longest) radio waves, microwaves, infrared, optical, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma-rays (shortest) other colors and waves are varying degrees between these.
I feel that this "life source" that mankind calls by many names and umbrellas under the term of "God" is the physical manifestation of all that exists, and that all things contain a spark of that vibrational energy that brings about "life" and that through these vibrational energies that life is self-sustaining.
I feel that it may be possible for vibrational energies to become directed toward one specific location and affect the end result.
Some people call it prayer, some call it meditation, some call it spells, but I call it a scientific possibility.

Where prayer is concerned, I suspect several things are at work. First, the power of positive thought can act as a powerful placebo. Through the social engineering of religionists we’ve been led to believe our projection of positive energy either doesn’t exist or has no effect, but that same energy when expressed through prayer can be attributed to the effect “God” is given on us – from my point of view in the end you are your god. There is a concept coined by Carl Jung “that refers to structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among beings of the same species.” A kind of subconscious ESP. I believe this has been proven to some extend where ideas and inventions appear simultaneously by different individuals at about the same time such as the theory of the evolution of species, independently advanced in the 19th century by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace among others.

Just a thought I wanted to add my two cents.

Prayer is kind of like the Donald tweeting, nothing that supports the weight of real Facts.

it might work but only at the same percentage as praying to your dog or Barry Manilow. obviously, thats also called luck so is a crock of shit.

I think it depends on "who you're praying to," and "who you're praying for."

If I pray about things that I personally wish to affect in MY life, then I think prayer does work. To be honest, in all likelihood I'm talking to a part my mind that has the resources to work through something like that, or at least give me an answer I can live with. In this case, prayer is my focus on what outcome I would like to see regarding certain things going on in my life. It involves setting up a question (who can I do...) which becomes a goal... and then listening for an answer.

That could mean, if we're struggling with heath issues, those resources that already exist may convince us to take better care of ourselves, AND help us do so. If we're sick, those resources may tell us that we must prepare for the inevitable, AND, help us do so.

I think our greatest "prayer" is to understand what aspects of our life we CAN change, what aspects are out of our control, and the ability to see beyond what's happening in the moment.

Now if I'm praying for someone else... I've often said, I can just as easily fart for you as I can pray for you, and both are probably going to have the same outcome.

You're correct to say praying to any God is as effective as praying to a mailbox. You'll get the same amount of positive results. The reason that religious people don't realize this is that in their minds their God or gods answer all of their prayers every time. The catch is he doesn't always answer the way they want and they must just have faith that God knows best. So if he positively answers their prayers they say praise God for his blessings and if he negatively answers they say praise God for he works in mysterious ways. The idea that prayer works is made unfalsefiable to protect the myth of God's existence.

This really makes me think. I fought blood cancer for the last 5 years-I didn't personally pray for someone to save me but others did. I know that Jews and Christians both said prayers. I think it helped them feel better

Prayer works from the perspective of how and the reasoning to pray , prayer to me is like sending life into something so it can be manifested , it's sending what need out into the universe , however I believe in fate and based on our physical existence some things people ask for aren't realistically logical to happen , like for instance I know that if I pray for a job , I must plant the seeds in order to get one like prepare a resume and submit applications , now when in the case of me receiving an interview like immediately after that is to me my prayers being ansewerd , I believe you get out of the universe what you send out , now people with terminal diesese and things of that nature I've seen some amazing things take place over the yrs , however if it's time it's time sometimes the this body care just can't be repaired;Does this mean that the divine is weak ? No. Not by no means . Prayer is a confirmation back to yourself , it's just a connection tool that keeps you connected to the Divine and the universe , certain religions kill the purpose and essence of it ,but a person's spiritual walk is their walk .

My favorite quote about prayer is "Praying for someone is like masturbation. It makes YOU feel better, but doesn't actually do anything for the person you are thinking about."

this photo explanes it all

First off the concept of prayer is so ridiculously shallow minded and infantile . To pray for your self is also selfish when you know there are millions of people less fortunate than you in the world . To think that you are actually important enough that a God that supposedly created the known universe cares about youis the height of audacity .Also religious people do not realize they are contradicting their own beliefs when they pray because they all say god has a plan when something happens ,so what are they attempting to do actually change his plan .The whole thing is so stupid it’s pitiful.