This is why I asked the previous two questions. In Christianity, we all have free will and the freedom and choice to do whatever we want. Yet in Christianity, God will answer the prayers of the faithful. Surely 90% of the prayers people ask involve other people - and thus involve their free will.
That being that, how does God answer any of the following prayers:
- Please turn my father away from alcohol.
- Please let me get that promotion at work.
- Please keep my family safe from enemies.
- Please keep my parents from divorce.
- etc.
Either God adamantly will not answer any of these prayers or God meddles with free will. Which one is it? It must be one of the two.
2006-10-13 22:28:03 · 8 answers · asked by XYZ 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
That really is a good question - posed by someone who obviously takes the time to think about things. The short answer is God answers all prayers. But sometimes the answer is a resounding "No." Most people do not equate the answer "no" with an answer, even though it is.
God does not answer prayers in a way that interferes with free will. Neither does God answer prayers that are diametrically opposed to his divine will.
Thus, if my father wants to abuse alcohol, and I pray that he be turned away from it, God would probably say, "No, Hannah, I can't do that." Yet other contingencies must be taken into consideration. Is my father himself praying for God to deliver him? Is my father caught in a spiral of behavior from which he begs God for deliverance?
"Please let me get that promotion" may be, on the face of it, selfish. But God would know why the person is praying for it.
"Please keep my family safe from enemies" is grounded both in love and in selfishness. We love our families and do not want harm to come to them. And selfishly we want them with us always. There is nothing wrong with this. Yet, understanding WHY harm comes to people assists us in understanding why God does not miraculously deliver us from that harm. Deeper issues are involved here.
"Please keep my parents from divorce" is also a deeper issue. Kids want their parents to stay together no matter what. Did the mother have an affair? Did the father? If so, the innocent spouse has the right to a divorce. Will God interfer with the innocent spouse's pursuit of a divorce based on proper grounds? No.
In the final analysis, there is no either/or response to this question because too many contingencies and factors weigh in. God knows them all. We do not. That is why we cannot say definitively whether and to what extent God answers a certain prayer. We can say that God answers prayers that are in harmony with his will as revealed in the Bible. We can say that lots of times God says yes to his worshipers. And we can also say that lots of times God says "No."
Hannah
2006-10-13 23:09:20 · answer #1 · answered by Hannah J Paul 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I would say that god would never contradict free will. The person always has a choice. He can present things to influence people in certain directions, but he will never force. Free will is NOT based on a persons choices without outside influences. Dictionaries are not judges of truth, just because you found a certain definition does not make is true in every sense. If we take you premise that free will is a persons choices without influence, then there is no such thing as free will, as no choice can be made without some influence. The entire history of humanity influences every choice you make. I did debate for four years. We spent large amounts of time in each debate trying to prove that our definition was the correct one. Webster is not the arbiter of truth, it is something to help you understand the meaning of words, an imperfect thing created by imperfect people, that serves a function. Don't try to use it as the basis for an argument of morality. We must reject that definition of free will, as it does not allow for the existance of the very thing it attempts to define. God does not infringe upon free will. He does however influence events. He couldn't force pharoah to let the israelites go. He COULD present some VERY strong incentives to comply with his request. No one can take your free will, it is a part of you, you can always choose. But they can certainly provide some very good reasons for you to excersize your free will in the way they want you to.
2016-05-22 00:43:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Man... It sounds like you might be praying without belief!
You need a lot of power in the spirit world to ask on other peoples behalf! You can pray for the right circumstances to surround them... But they still make choices!
God doesn't answer prayers that are based on self gain!
You don't believe in God... do you?
The answer to your question is NO!
2006-10-14 04:42:41 · answer #3 · answered by Deegoor 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Excellent point Ed!
I somehow doubt you will get answers saying it is one or the other.. most will say both. My own family, the rest of who are christians of varying denomination, will say God answers prayers when he chooses to not when they want him to so given I would take it to mean he does when he 'feels like it'. Personally I've just never bought into the whole concept of my being a chess piece at the whim of some deity.
2006-10-13 22:36:19 · answer #4 · answered by genaddt 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Does prayer work? Hundreds of millions prayed for God to stop Hitler, but God did nothing and 30 million+ died. Either God is heartless, powerless, both, or does not exist at all.
2006-10-14 02:46:05 · answer #5 · answered by iknowtruthismine 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It must be one of the two? God hears all our prayers. He answers them his way and in his time. All we have to do is trust him.
2006-10-13 22:40:59 · answer #6 · answered by JAN 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
We have the free will to screw up our lives, God bails us out of our stupid choices.
2006-10-13 22:30:58 · answer #7 · answered by darlndanna 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes no
2006-10-13 22:30:51 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋