is it just me or does religion seem to contradict its self? for example my friend recently told me that his pastor and pastors daughter were in a car accident and seemingly he forgot I was atheist and asked me to put them in my prayers. just for the sake of argument i asked him why god would punish two people who serve him so loyaly. he replied that it was all part of gods plan. so if there is a predetrmined plan that cannot be changed why would prayers help anything at all. just seeing if im the only one with that doesnt get that.

I've heard lots of explanations, but frankly it doesn't make sense to me, either. Perhaps one of my religious readers will chime in with an explanation.