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Sometimes I peek...
Sep. 3rd, 2021 10:48 amOne of the people whom I no longer follow on Facebook (she's an old family friend, and while I keep her in my friends list, I've blocked her feed) posts nothing but memes and shares. "I'll bet only 1% of you have the GUTS to share this." While some of the memes she shares are racist, or worship the police, the majority are about how the world would be a better place if we would all just prayed more. Rather than just ignore her, part of me wants to weigh in and ask why she bothers to pray.
I know that she'll just get defensive and have no good answer if I do, but sometimes I want to jump in and say, "Exactly what are you hoping to achieve by praying?"
I don't mean that in the "there's nobody at the other end to hear you anyway" sense of the question (though that's another issue unto itself).
My thinking is that praying to ask for stuff displays a remarkable degree of hubris. This person has also posted memes about how God has a perfect, immutable, inscrutable plan. Everything that happens does so because it is part of that plan. If something good happens then praise him because his plan is good. If something bad happens, well, obviously some good will come of it because it's just part of his plan and everything happens for a reason.
So... God always follows his plan, good or bad.
This gets back to my question of why one would bother to pray, or at least be arrogant enough to expect any change in results from praying. If God has a perfect plan, then he is going to follow that plan regardless of any petitions you happen to send his way through prayer.
I remember a preacher I heard a few years back talking about how God answers every single prayer he receives, but that sometimes the answer is, "no." He explained that God has a perfect, immutable plan and that sometimes he has to say "no" to a prayer if it doesn't align with his plan.
This makes sense - sort of. If you pray and ask for something, he will grant it only if it aligns with his plan. In other words, he will only accede if it was something that he was already going to do anyway. This means that if you hadn't prayed, the results would have been the same.
If he changes his plan to answer your prayer then his plan wasn't perfect. Expecting God to fulfil requests is founded on the tacit belief that God's plan - and by induction - God himself is imperfect.
I mean, I'm not saying that people shouldn't pray. I'm sure if God exists, he likes to know that his creations are thinking about him. Asking him to change things, though, is the height of arrogance. It's a way of saying, "Hey God, I know you've probably got a reason for killing millions of people with this new virus, but take it from somebody who knows better and maybe consider ... don't?"
I know that she'll just get defensive and have no good answer if I do, but sometimes I want to jump in and say, "Exactly what are you hoping to achieve by praying?"
I don't mean that in the "there's nobody at the other end to hear you anyway" sense of the question (though that's another issue unto itself).
My thinking is that praying to ask for stuff displays a remarkable degree of hubris. This person has also posted memes about how God has a perfect, immutable, inscrutable plan. Everything that happens does so because it is part of that plan. If something good happens then praise him because his plan is good. If something bad happens, well, obviously some good will come of it because it's just part of his plan and everything happens for a reason.
So... God always follows his plan, good or bad.
This gets back to my question of why one would bother to pray, or at least be arrogant enough to expect any change in results from praying. If God has a perfect plan, then he is going to follow that plan regardless of any petitions you happen to send his way through prayer.
I remember a preacher I heard a few years back talking about how God answers every single prayer he receives, but that sometimes the answer is, "no." He explained that God has a perfect, immutable plan and that sometimes he has to say "no" to a prayer if it doesn't align with his plan.
This makes sense - sort of. If you pray and ask for something, he will grant it only if it aligns with his plan. In other words, he will only accede if it was something that he was already going to do anyway. This means that if you hadn't prayed, the results would have been the same.
If he changes his plan to answer your prayer then his plan wasn't perfect. Expecting God to fulfil requests is founded on the tacit belief that God's plan - and by induction - God himself is imperfect.
I mean, I'm not saying that people shouldn't pray. I'm sure if God exists, he likes to know that his creations are thinking about him. Asking him to change things, though, is the height of arrogance. It's a way of saying, "Hey God, I know you've probably got a reason for killing millions of people with this new virus, but take it from somebody who knows better and maybe consider ... don't?"
