How to change God

[Cmass]

Is it possible for you to alter your relationship with God in any way?

Can you do something to anger Him?

Can you please Him?

If you do a bad thing and pray for forgiveness, and He forgiveness you, have you altered your relationship with Him?
If you cannot change God in any way including changing His mind or obtaining forgiveness, then is there any meaning in prayer other than pure exaltation?

[FinalEnigma]

Actually i believe the bible says that god knows what your prayers will be, and already knows why youre making them, and ahs already made up his mind on the decision but you are supposed to pray anyway because god likes to hear you worship him.

[Cmass]

Actually i believe the bible says that god knows what your prayers will be, and already knows why youre making them, and ahs already made up his mind on the decision but you are supposed to pray anyway because god likes to hear you worship him.

Barf.
Yes, I've heard this little gem in other posts before - I think it was concerning free will. Once someone got trapped into a corner this amazing logic was pulled out. I was hoping it would not rear it's ugly head in this thread because it simply makes no sense.

[McCulloch]

Actually i believe the bible says that god knows what your prayers will be, and already knows why you're making them, and has already made up his mind on the decision but you are supposed to pray anyway because god likes to hear you worship him.

I've always heard it explained that God wants us to pray not because he needs or wants the worship (after all why would he have an inferiority complex?) but to reinforce the idea on the part of the praying person that, if granted, the answer to prayer comes ultimately from God and not from chance or some other source. I would like to see if anyone can come up with any Biblical support for this or the other justification. Or is it that the Bible writers had not anticipated the dilemma of why anyone would feel the necessity of telling an omniscient being something.

[Cmass]

I've always heard it explained that God wants us to pray not because he needs or wants the worship (after all why would he have an inferiority complex?) but to reinforce the idea on the part of the praying person that, if granted, the answer to prayer comes ultimately from God and not from chance or some other source.

Yes, I've heard that one too - along with all sorts of others.
But still, I wanted this to be about interacting with God. Can you pray for something and get your prayers answered? If so, then you changed a situation through God......which means you USED God to your advantage.

[McCulloch]

Can you pray for something and get your prayers answered? If so, then you changed a situation through God......which means you USED God to your advantage.

Anticipating the theist response, would it not be the other way around? In answering your prayer, God is using you?

[Cmass]

Anticipating the theist response, would it not be the other way around? In answering your prayer, God is using you?

This is most certainly the case!

[Confused]

Is it possible for you to alter your relationship with God in any way?

Can you do something to anger Him?

Can you please Him?

If you do a bad thing and pray for forgiveness, and He forgiveness you, have you altered your relationship with Him?
If you cannot change God in any way including changing His mind or obtaining forgiveness, then is there any meaning in prayer other than pure exaltation?

Based on christian belief, you can change god. If you couldn't, then he wouldn't have decided to spare Noah Genesis 6:6-6:8 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-men and animals, and birds of the air-for I am greived that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord> This clearly shows man can change god's mind. Obviously Noah pleased him more than any other, therefore he was worthy of being saved even after all mankind was condmened.

In regards to changing it with prayer or exaltation, there is no account of a decision being changed solely on these. The miracles Jesus "performed" in the NT were not based on someone praying to him or to god to have them performed, most just asked christ to cure or fix whatever, and he did so to verify his account of divinity so that others might spread his testimony.

[bernee51]

Is it possible for you to alter your relationship with God in any way?

Can you do something to anger Him?

Can you please Him?

If you do a bad thing and pray for forgiveness, and He forgiveness you, have you altered your relationship with Him?
If you cannot change God in any way including changing His mind or obtaining forgiveness, then is there any meaning in prayer other than pure exaltation?

It would appear that people will often pray for something thay want but never for something they don't want.

[AB]

I've always heard it explained that God wants us to pray not because he needs or wants the worship (after all why would he have an inferiority complex?) but to reinforce the idea on the part of the praying person that, if granted, the answer to prayer comes ultimately from God and not from chance or some other source.

Yes, I've heard that one too - along with all sorts of others.
But still, I wanted this to be about interacting with God. Can you pray for something and get your prayers answered? If so, then you changed a situation through God......which means you USED God to your advantage.

You hit on the key word: "Interacting" with God. And that is the primary purpose of prayer... not sending up a grocery list. With that said, I think you can get your prayers answered..if it is in line with what God has planned for you. If a situation is going in a bad direction for you, and it is a direction God knows is not good for your spiritual health, and if you pray(A.k.A. include God in your situation), the prayer will be answered and that bad direction reversed.