A bi-yearly self-carthasis exercise...no offense intended to any group/person - it's just a way of look/laugh at ourselves anew.

Q: If God has already decided what's going to happen, why pray?

Simple Foreknowledge
Your prayer was factored into His decision from eternity to ordain whatever came to pass. So your prayer does or "has" influence(d) God's plans/actions in some unfathomable "eternal now" in which God resides.

Middle Knowledge
God's decision was based on what He knew would've happened depending on whether you prayed or not. So if you pray, X happens. If you don't, X doesn't happen (at least not exactly the way it would've if you did pray). God apparently opted for X to happen and so picked the future scenario which included your praying. Confused yet?

Calvinist / Reformed
Your prayer was part and parcel of the entire divine plan in which - all together now - God can be glorified in all things. And I mean all things, even the very act of you asking the question and me giving this answer (and some weirdo blogging it). Soli Del Gloria!

Open Theist
He didn't know you were going to pray, silly.

Open Theist II
God hasn't decided, at least not every time. Your prayer helps to shape the very reality which God and His creation experiences. Put simply: if you pray, things happen. If you don't, they don't. So He's waiting for you to pray.

N.T. Wright
Like the early Christians, we should be more concerned with mission, not metaphysics; with suffering, not speculation.

Apologist Searching for Self-Stultifying Questions
This is like asking if you can pray for your brain to never have existed.

Open Theist III
God hasn't decided irreversibly because in many cases He decisions depend on actual prayers. Until you actually prayed, God cannot know definitely if you would because only you can render your own possible acts into actual ones. Before you actualise your acts (which include your prayers), God can only know them as possibilities (albeit really high ones).

Jesus
Did someone tell you about this? Or did you find out yourself?

Emergent Nice-Guy
That's a fascinating question. What do you think it shows about our culture's attitude towards religion and spirituality?

Pentacostal
Shekina-shekina-shekina-shekina-oooooooooooo-kurukurukurukurukuru-praise you, Jesus! For you alone know the answers to our deepest questions, Lord, we PRAISE you, Lord!

NLP
If you do know the answer, what new event or action may occur? What would no longer occur? If you don't know the answer, then what?

Emergent II (anti- Categorical Imperialist)
Whilst this issue is no doubt important, and certainly many helpful answers have been provided, I'm frankly tired with this set of questions and would prefer to explore others.

Standard Evangelicalism
Prayer changes you - duh.


I've wrote a more sober response many years back. Didn't have as much fun, though (smile).