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If theists really had faith they would emulate Jesus and Moses or any other Biblical figure that had supernatural powers of getting things done. The problem with prayers is that it is always supplemented by action that we can’t know if it is the action or the prayer that works.
If people truly had faith they would not try to duck if a bullet was coming their way. Having faith in the creator would have been enough to turn that projectile into chocolate that will land softly in your salivating mouth. But because we do not really have faith we try to duck. If for instance I have to work and pray to get that BMW I so desperately want then that would render prayer obsolete. Won’t I eventually realise that I alone “can” without intervention of prayer?
Won’t I realise that people who are atheists achieve their goals without the aid of prayer? Then how long would it take to realise that prayer seems to be useless. It might sound ignorant but I find that prayer action defeats the purpose of prayer. If I really had faith in my God who is endowed with supernatural abilities I would simply snap my fingers and Billions of rands would find their way to my bank account.
If one starts by both prayer and action in achieving goals it is reasonable to say down the line he would resort to action alone. If I find that work gets things done why would I really need to pray? Action makes prayer to be not so special after all. Colour me naïve if you please but it is that simple.
We pray because we have needs
I find the notion of praying to a deity not sounding if we did not need him. The only reason people would pray is because they perceive they would get their needs and wants from this God, real or fake it does not matter. We are born with manly desires; the most important is life, then family, money and other material and worldly needs such as cars and houses. If we did not have fear of burning in hell we would not really have the resolve and incentive to worship a deity.
The truth is the things we perceive that we can only attain through a God takes our freedom away. If you look at it I do not really have a choice in the matter. I am actually forced to pray because I have needs and fears. Even if God is real and he indeed does show himself to be so I would find it difficult to truly bow down to Him since I have not faith. And since he is omniscient he would be able to see through my heart that I really have no faith. If I cannot manage to convince myself that I have Faith, how would I fare in managing to convince a God? The trick here is to be true to yourself, it is impossible to be dishonest with oneself. Even if by some unimaginable way I manage to configure some trickery that would make me believe, I still cannot fool an all-knowing Being. So again even if He does exist, for us He is just a means to an end.
