The purpose of prayer is to communicate with God and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We give God what we need help with and guidance and God answers back to us in a good or bad way but at least He answers prayers that's what matters the most.

I think the purpose of prayer is for you to stay personally connected to Christ so you can receive cleansing from your sins, consistent character transformation by his His Spirit, comfort in your losses, counsel in your trials, courage to overcome your challenges, confidence in His control and commitment to live for his will. Personal prayer is how He cares for you and uses you to care for others.

The sheer enjoyment of talking to yourself without ridicule.

Personally I would think the purpose of prayer is so you always have someone to talk to, so you don't feel so alone. Or to get some things off your mind.

I must admit, though I am agnostic and don't believe in a god that plays a role in our lives, I find myself praying at times. Just saying things allowed can make someone feel better.

To mutter into thin air for something you want to happen.

It gives physical embodiment and religious significance to a spiritual state of mind which people seek to attain.

Praying is used to help put your mind in a connected thought process between intellect and emotion, in order to help you with your path down the road, it helps you focus on an end result and allows the proper actions to reach that end result.

It has different purposes pointing out to different audiences.

In Buddhism it is a form of meditation and a method of finding inner peace.

In Islam and Christianity it is a form of connecting to God and having a sense of calmness in which the promise of salvation is shed upon.

I think prayer makes people feel better because talking to someone about your problems helps. Even if that person isn't real, it will still make you feel better if you believe they are.

What I realised was that I wasn't talking to God about my problems, I was talking to myself. And that helped.

Prayer is like canned laughter. Even though you aren't really doing anything to help, you still feel good at the end of it. Even though you aren't really telling anyone about your problems, you still feel safe. What it gains in effect, it lacks in meaning.

The feeling goes away as soon as you notice the something isn't there. My whole profile will tell you how much liberty and enjoyment I take in hiding things about myself, but the feeling of doing an act is never the intrinsically meaningful part of an experience. I want to acknowledge and even embrace meaninglessness in certainty things I do in my life, as opposed to pretending everything is equally meaningful, wonderful and unexplainable qualia.

That's why I consider prayer corrosive: It's false meaning.

I'm stumped???