Bee: "In the world, we see no correlations like good people get good things, bad people get bad things. God told us prayer had some point, that we would get help from prayer: patently untrue, as anyone stuck praying in a church in Rwanda a few years back could testify, or in fact anyone who's watched their child suffer and die"

I know this looks especially tough to non-christians. But what I wrote about free will explains part of why bad people seem to prosper. Remember also the riches of this world are temporary, there are no pockets on a shroud. Christ said "don't store up treasure for yourself in this world where moth and rust can consume it, and thief steal it. Instead store up treasures in the next world where there is no rust or thief etc., to touch it' and also "what does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?' He was saying that in the end those who chase after the world and ignore God will be the real losers.

Having said that, I have personally had my prayers answsered more than once. Non-believers will probably put this down to coincidence, so the influence of God (where it does not affect my freewill) is probably impossible to prove 'scientifically' (the only curently acceptable yardstick for the sceptic).

Then there are times when we pray for things that are not good for us (and God knows what's good for us better than we do) or not in line with His plan for us. When I was a very young child, I prayed fervently for a laser gun as I'd seen in a science fiction story called "Leap into the Future" (in a magazine called "Tell Me Why"). Luckily for my neighbours, the cat, dog and general welfare of the countrside around, my prayers went unanswered.

On a more serious note, what about people who are praying that someone close to them who is dying may live? There are cases on record where someone's cancer cleared up inexplicably or they unexpectedly and against all the doctor's predictions got better, after people prayed for their recovery. That said, it hasn't happened always, and people may wonder why. We ask ourselves 'didn't I pray hard enough?' I don't think that's usually the case, but God may have had a better idea. We all have to die sometime, and death of a loved one is a fact we all have to learn to cope with sometime (otherwise we'd all have to live here forever). We may not want a person to die, but obviously we are simply delaying the inevitable. Sometimes God grants this for a variety of reasons - as a kindness to someone who loves Him, to give the dying person further time to find God - and salvation if they haven't already done so, to prompt stronger belief in someone close to the dying person, sheer love.
But for a christian, death in itself is not a bad thing, though it brings tears. Death is a portal which we must pass through in order to reach something beyond this world. The physical body cannot go there. For a christian, the most important thing is dying in a state of grace, accepting Jesus as your saviour. Dying any other way is a disaster (as far as Christians are concerned, and we're NOT looking down our noses at anyone, here, just stating our beliefs).

Christians look at things a bit differently to what worldy common sense might dictate. There is a prayer to God that i think sums it up nicely; "God help me to change the things I can change, and accept the things I can't change" In other words what can't be helped (e.g the death of a loved one, God can at least help you cope with it. We can't always control our world but God can help us to deal with it.