“God answers prayer!”
Christians often confidently proclaim that God answers prayer, and they find comfort in that fact. But what does it mean to make such an assertion?
If I pray for some thing or some end and the results are not forthcoming, has God really answered my prayer? When I pray for a new car but no new car shows up in my driveway, has God actually answered my prayer? The usual response to such cases is the declaration that God did answer my prayer . . . it is just not the answer I was hoping to receive. In this case, God has answered with a NO to my request for a new vehicle. God does answer our prayers, but not always in the way we would like.
This may satisfy us when it comes to items like new automobiles, but what about when we are struggling with profound needs? What about parents, for example, who plead with God to heal their young child who is suffering from some painful and devastating disease? Can we blithely claim, when the child dies an agonizing death, "well, God’s answer was 'no'?" Desperate parents do all that they can to save the life of their beloved child. Can a God who is perfect in both love and power refuse to do less than the loving parents? It is hard to conceive of a truly loving God who would stubbornly say "no" to such frantic pleas. The Christian will often proclaim that God “knows best” and that the answers to our prayers come, but not on our terms. This interpretation rings hollow to the parents and, frankly, to me.
This view of prayer seems to assume that whatever happens after we pray, that is God’s answer to our prayers. If a person is healed, God answered 'yes' to our petition. If the person is not healed, the divine response was 'no'! Is this really how it works? Can we honestly believe that whatever happens is, in fact, God’s answer to our supplications? Under such a construal, is it meaningful to claim that God answers our prayers? Isn’t this simply to interpret every outcome as the divine response to our desperate pleas? Such an interpretation seems to make meaningless the assertion that God answers prayer. More important, it doesn’t provide us with much comfort to think that God’s answers to our prayers are simply the facts of what happens, whatever the outcome. I would like to believe there is more to God’s answers to my petitions than just this.
Perhaps the truth is that even though God desires to bring about certain consequences, there are times when God is simply unable to do so. If it is true that God works in concert with humans to achieve particular ends, then it may be that what happens is not always what God wishes. It may be that our propensity for hatred and war results in consequences that are at odds with God’s will. Perhaps our reluctance to properly care for the environment inevitably leads to diseases that cause us great suffering. It may not be enough simply to pray for certain ends, we may need also to labor together with God to help bring them to fruition. God may require our faithfulness and help in order to answer our prayers.
Brad Beach, Associate Professor of Philosophy
If I pray for some thing or some end and the results are not forthcoming, has God really answered my prayer? When I pray for a new car but no new car shows up in my driveway, has God actually answered my prayer? The usual response to such cases is the declaration that God did answer my prayer . . . it is just not the answer I was hoping to receive. In this case, God has answered with a NO to my request for a new vehicle. God does answer our prayers, but not always in the way we would like.
This may satisfy us when it comes to items like new automobiles, but what about when we are struggling with profound needs? What about parents, for example, who plead with God to heal their young child who is suffering from some painful and devastating disease? Can we blithely claim, when the child dies an agonizing death, "well, God’s answer was 'no'?" Desperate parents do all that they can to save the life of their beloved child. Can a God who is perfect in both love and power refuse to do less than the loving parents? It is hard to conceive of a truly loving God who would stubbornly say "no" to such frantic pleas. The Christian will often proclaim that God “knows best” and that the answers to our prayers come, but not on our terms. This interpretation rings hollow to the parents and, frankly, to me.
This view of prayer seems to assume that whatever happens after we pray, that is God’s answer to our prayers. If a person is healed, God answered 'yes' to our petition. If the person is not healed, the divine response was 'no'! Is this really how it works? Can we honestly believe that whatever happens is, in fact, God’s answer to our supplications? Under such a construal, is it meaningful to claim that God answers our prayers? Isn’t this simply to interpret every outcome as the divine response to our desperate pleas? Such an interpretation seems to make meaningless the assertion that God answers prayer. More important, it doesn’t provide us with much comfort to think that God’s answers to our prayers are simply the facts of what happens, whatever the outcome. I would like to believe there is more to God’s answers to my petitions than just this.
Perhaps the truth is that even though God desires to bring about certain consequences, there are times when God is simply unable to do so. If it is true that God works in concert with humans to achieve particular ends, then it may be that what happens is not always what God wishes. It may be that our propensity for hatred and war results in consequences that are at odds with God’s will. Perhaps our reluctance to properly care for the environment inevitably leads to diseases that cause us great suffering. It may not be enough simply to pray for certain ends, we may need also to labor together with God to help bring them to fruition. God may require our faithfulness and help in order to answer our prayers.
Brad Beach, Associate Professor of Philosophy
posted by Religion and Philosophy at Houghton at
10:34 AM
2 Comments:
From The Smarmy Carny:
Brad Beach raises some interesting questions regarding prayer over at Houghton College's Religion and Philosophy Blog.
Christians (as well as other religions that include prayer to an omnipotent, omnibenevolent being) tend to deal with the results of prayer in a questionable method. When we pray and the requested end comes to fruition, then the response is obvious: God answered our prayer. What about when we pray and our requests never come about? The common response is that "God's answer was 'No.'"
So what then do we do when dealing with "unanswered" prayers of any type? Beach offers some suggestions in his article, which I suggest you read. I suppose much of the answer to this question hinges on . . . Read entire post . . .
By
Novac, at 5/15/2006 10:32 PM
Without dismissing what we would call the "supernatural" power of prayer, I'd like to offer the idea that perhaps God has designed us in a way so that prayer is actually a catalyst for action. What if prayer is a means through which, by faith in God, we are empowered to become the answers to some (not all) of our prayers?
For example, vast psychological research points to the fact that humans emulate that which they worship. Similar psychological studies will support the relationships between mental thoughts and action.
What am I saying? I'm saying that when you pray for justice every day you may start to act on it! If you pray for a friend to be delivered out of depression, you may find yourself helping her/him. If you pray for "Thy Kingdom come" you might just happen to live in a way that exemplifies God's Kingdom on earth.
I am reminded of the muslim adage in which a human asks God why He does not act upon the injustices of His world; to which He replies: I did, I made you.
Obviously there are situations concerning prayer that we cannot explain, but I am not interested in addressing them here. I am merely pointing out that God may desire that our prayer be a catalyst for action, not just an end in itself; not just a petition for His action.
Thanks Dr. Beach. Miss you guys!
- Your Fancher Neighbor
By
NED KELLY, at 4/27/2008 1:17 PM
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