I’m only a little bothered by atheists or agnostics who say when they were young they used to believe in God, prayed to him for something, didn’t get it, and then didn’t believe in him any more. What bothers me more are the atheists and agnostics who claim that prayer does nothing—that God does not or probably does not exist—but when the first sign of trouble comes (a terrorist attack, the death of a loved one, a divorce, a lost job, etc.), the first thing they do is pray to the God they were so disrespectful to before. I call the first group childish and selfish. The second I call fair-weather friends.
There’s something problematic about a Santa Claus approach to God; I’m not sure what it is.
I’ve always wondered what it means for God to “answer” prayer. Sure, some people say God actually “talks” to them, but most honest Christians admit there isn’t a real conversation going on. Sometimes I can feel an idea. Sometimes it’s actually nice to be able to speak out into the void and not have someone talk back. That’s the problem with humans. They don’t really listen. Silence is just too uncomfortable. You tell humans your problems, and they want to “help,” give you advice, “relate.”
Some people take a scientifically skeptical approach to prayer. If you can’t “prove” it exists, it doesn’t. If God doesn’t definitely answer “yes,” he isn’t answering. Others seem nonsensically devoted to the idea of prayer. If God doesn’t answer the prayer, he’s saying, “No” or “Wait.” If he answers, he’s saying, “Yes.”
There’s a problem with both of these approaches, and they actually feed into each other.
The skeptical approach still has that Santa Claus assumption about prayer. What can it do for me? If I ask for something, can I get it? I want a new job. I want a new car. I want this disease to disappear. I want my children safe. If God says, “No,” he couldn’t possibly want the best for us. Yet, when these same skeptics become parents, they realize the most important thing for them to learn is how and when to say “No” to their own children, the ones they love the most.
The nonsensically devoted idea is equally flawed. If God is saying “No,” “Wait,” or “Yes,” unpredictably, how is that different from rolling dice or praying to a wall?
I don’t know where I stand… somewhere in the middle, I guess. I can be skeptical about prayer. Sometimes when I’m praying, I do wonder, “God, are you really out there? It’s me, Margaret.” Other times, I do feel a connection to God. Maybe, as the haughty skeptics say, it is a psychological retreat I make up in my mind. Maybe, it’s all a mental illusion. Still, it feels real, a lot more real than some of the other things I’ve had to accept (I did finally get real proof that the state of Wyoming exists… when my car broke down in it. Before that, I’d taken its existence on faith alone).
I have seen miracles happen. I’ve seen them not happen, too.
Maybe it’s just Pascal’s wager, but I feel prayer is worth investigating, worth doing, worth experimenting with… and if it’s only a mental exercise, a psychological trick—me talking to myself—then, it’s one of the best tricks I’ve ever played on myself. God—omnipotent powerful being or the cognitive abyss that the wall next to me is—has been a great friend to talk to.
I’d urge all the skeptics out there to just give it a try, an honest try—not to get anything concrete out of it, but just to see if it could be real. They don’t have to tell anyone about this experiment. They can just try it for their own personal curiosity. They need a little honest self-examination: “Do I require scientific proof for everything or just religious stuff? Do I hold double standards for burdens of proof?”
And for the religiously unquestioning, stop pretending you can reason the power of prayer to others any more than you can reason a friendship, marriage, or other relationship to others. Just live it and enjoy it.
Yo Ubuntucat,
Hoezit from South Africa!
As a Christian myself I have some empathy with the things you’re going through… Interpreting sexuality etc.
Let me put quite a long post up here. I don’t know where in the world you’re based but generally most 1st world Christians are a bunch of pansies (myself included) who’ll go along with anything… So be careful what you read. The Word of God is as TRUE today as it was yesterday, and it is the final unchanging authority left us. It is the only thing that can be used (by a Christian) to test the validity of a viewpoint. And when I say that I mean the biblical way (Jesus Way) – not the polluted traditional way (Churches Way).
However, what I really wanted to say is the following. Living in South Africa (with all our problems) you really get to see that prayer is effective and powerful. I personally had and been witness to prayer being answered. I have been stopped in traffic because a quiet voice said “don’t go now” and ten minutes later came across the most horrific fatal accident about where I would have been if I left when I wanted to. My wife ;) When I became a Christian I told God I was sick of looking for diamonds on the dump (bars, clubs etc.) and I was going to sit tight until He sent my rib back. And boy did He (5 years of praying later). 11 years of marriage and 2 kids later it just gets better. I have seen: bones grow, backs become straight, aids lesions disappear from faces, demons be cast out shrieking, children be restored from the dead, husbands and wives be reunited, families healed and made whole, instant delivery from drink and drug abuse, delivery from homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, etc. And I testify that these things are true; some attested to by the medical practitioners treating the people who were unaware of what happened, except that their terminal patients are now healed; and some attested to by myself and others.
I see these miracles as a result of prayer, and I know that God is real and alive and He loves us sinners… (I’m not so sure He likes what we do sometimes tho ;)) and He cares about us. All He wants is for us to take Him seriously! Believe me PRAYER works… Although there is a catch. What you pray for must be directed by the Holy Spirit. (I’m sure that Lexus I ‘need’ is on it’s way.) Jesus will take care of our NEEDS not our WANTS!
Anyway… I hope this makes some sense and some-one is pointed to Christ because of it.
Keep up the good work and be strong in your faith. For those that endure there will be a great reward.
God Bless!!
Dude, there is no God. Get over yourself.
Daniel 3:14-18 – Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, Do you, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, purposely not serve my gods nor worship the golden image that I have set up? Now then, if, at the time when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music, you are ready to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well; but if you do not worship, you will be thrown into the midst of a blazing furnace of fire in that very hour; and who is that god who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, there is no need for us to give you an answer in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace of fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image that you have set up.
God answers our prayers, sometimes according to what we want, and sometimes not according to what we want. But, either way, we shouldn’t say that God does not exist because He does not answer our prayer according to the way we want. In the same way, just because we get what we want, that isn’t proof that God exists, or even that He answered our prayers.
Like a parent, God is good towards us, even when He causes us to suffer. Hebrews 12:6 – For whom the Lord loves, He disciplines. And He scourges every son whom He receives.
I agree with your suggestion that all skeptics give it a try. I wouldn’t say that this is simply a mental exercise or a psychological trick, or even meditation.
Prayer is something fundamental to the Christian walk. Someone once said, Why do we do so much and pray so little when we can accomplish so much more through our prayer than through our doing? In a way, that is true. As God is arranging everything, if we have His blessing, then we will succeed even if we make many mistakes along the way. If we don’t have His blessing, then we may not accomplish anything despite making all the right moves. Has that ever happened to you? I digress.