Thoughts On Prayer

A few months ago, a friend of mine was preparing to undergo surgery, and she called upon all of her friends to pray for her during this ordeal. I was included on that list at the time, and I must admit that it raised some rather interesting questions for me. This woman is a Christian. One with whom I have debated theology with on occasion. She has made it clear that she is of the opinion that the Goddess that I speak of and speak to is really the devil, or some demon working for him to ensnare my soul. (I don't know whether that is a step up or down from those who believe she is a figment of my imagination.) I don't take offense to this opinion of hers. She has the right to it. It does make me wonder, though, in conjunction with the above indicated prayer request.

I did bring up to her the fact that she has declared that the one that I pray to is an evil force, and as such, praying to Her would seemingly be something that would not be in her best interest if she is correct. Not that I am trying to be an ass, nor was I attempting to kick her while she was down. I just wanted to ascertain her actual position on the subject, and I still marvel at the thought process, and her response when I brought it up.

Why would you request that someone intercede with your god's adversary to assist you? Wouldn't that come kind of close to making a deal with the devil yourself? Wouldn't asking me to pray to my Goddess on her behalf be the same as her doing so for herself? So if She is who my friend says she is, wouldn't this be kind of crossing the line?

Of course I understand that making too much of this issue leaves me walking a fine line myself. After all, I am not looking to increase the tensions between pagans and christians, but in this case I wanted to verify. I have had people get angry with me in the past for praying for them.
To paraphrase the response she gave, that I don't have in front of me right now, she indicated that it was not an issue of who I was praying to, but who was listening. Of course, this concept blew me away. Not because I find huge flaws in it, but because I would presume she and many others would.

It presents the concept that if the christians are right about their one true god, it doesn't matter who I pray to, or what name I use, their god will respond or not the same anyway. Didn't one of my "Mother" posts have the Goddess saying the exact same, and drawing criticism from some of the christians?

What purpose does even focusing on your god's name or attributes have if there is just some big spiritual scanner picking up all the prayers anyway? Of course it isn't that simple either, but my point is that this seems an oddly un-Christian perspective. I will leave it at that. I wasn't actually intending to attack her. I was taking a look at a point that I kept thinking warranted further speculation, but now that I have brought it up I realize I didn't delve into it too far up to this point because right below the surface I had covered this already. The real surprise was having one of my opponents in some regards avow a position she herself had argued earlier.
Still, since I opened it up, I suppose any of you who still come around here can bat any aspect therein around if you so choose. Or don't. Either way, I have to get back to my life, or something close to it.