How could prayer move mountains, if God has predestined all things? It would seem that prayer would not make any difference in the natural course of events.
2007-03-25 10:28:16 · 22 answers · asked by sokrates 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Talk of moving "mountains" is metaphorical. It evidently refers to challenges or problems in one's life.
2007-03-25 10:33:20 · update #1
God has not predestined everything but God is aware of all the possible outcomes (omnipotent). Our choices determine which posibility track our live move on. So, if we chose to pray for a mountain to move and do so in a way that sets things in motion to move it it will move. If we chose not to pray the mountain will remain based solely on our choice.
2007-03-25 10:35:23 · answer #1 · answered by mike g 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First, there are prayers, and there are prayers. The unfortunate part of your question about prayers is that truly spiritually advanced persons hardly use prayers to move mountains in the first place.
Back to the main body of your question. Predestination does not include the choices you make. All possible scenario has been worked out for you to pick from. Whatever choice you make will elicit a response, another of the scenario which has been thought of and worked out. The worked out scenario is the predestination part.
And you need to make the choices because you are going through a learning process. Through the mistakes you make, you learn to make better choices next time.
2007-03-25 10:53:08 · answer #2 · answered by RAFIU 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is not prayer but the priesthood which is the Holy Melchezidic preisthood which moves mountains. You can only use this priesthood to do good only not to move mountains for fun just to tauht God and prove or diss prove him
There would have to be a very rightious reason you wanted to move a mountain and you also have to have enormous amounts of faith to do it aswell beyond having the priesthood.
There is no science that will answer your ? beyond personal testimony and what God does for you.
To learn how to gain a personal testimony check out www.lds.org
www.mormon.org
I testify that with faith and the true priesthood anything rightious can be done and that there is a true church on this earth.
Good luck
2007-03-25 10:39:49 · answer #3 · answered by SEAN M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Things are still predestined because GOD knows when we will pray and exactly what we will say! He knew all this before the foundation of the world.
Prayer is for us so we can have a relationship with GOD. If GOD just did everything without us praying then we might not feel like we were part of it.
2007-03-25 10:35:29 · answer #4 · answered by Hawk 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, if you think about it, no matter what theory of origin you subscribe to, all things are predestined.
Look at the big bang theory, for instance. As soon as matter was set in motion, every interaction of matter since then has been a chain reaction, dependent upon the initial energy.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, our so called free will, is more like subjective will. We make choices depending on the world around us. And the world around us is the way it is because each action and reaction since the beginning has led it there.
Some choose to not believe in fate because it raises questins of control. However, we've always been out of control. Everything that happens is a reaction of the initial action.
2007-03-25 10:39:49 · answer #5 · answered by sevans87_nv 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As some have rightfully pointed out prayer helps the believer to have constant communion with God. As a believer we realize the source of our spiritual strength comes from God. As Jesus said "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God".
We as finite man cannot know God's purposes for events that happen in every person's life. All we can do is pray about them. All prayer done by faith will have an outcome though not in the way we want; but in the way God predestined it to happen.
The best example is when Jesus Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and asked God to remove the cross "this cup" from his future. But in the end Jesus surrendered his will to God's will. This is what every human believer is to do in prayer.
So much of God's will is accomplished by prayer. We may not see the physical outcome and it's very certain we do not see the spiritual impact of it either. For prayer affects both the physical and spiritual frontiers of man and the events he lives in.
As believers we always encouraged to prayer and not to faint. We are soldiers involved in a spiritual battle. And prayer is one weapon, our communion with God that enables us to remain steadfast in the faith and resist the devil and even our own weaknesses.
2007-03-25 11:54:03 · answer #6 · answered by Uncle Remus 54 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He hasn't predestined anything. He just knows what's going to happen. Moving mountains is up for interpretation. It remains a mystery as many things are in the Bible.
2007-03-25 10:37:37 · answer #7 · answered by Irish 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Perhaps God predestined that one was going to prayer, therefore he also predestined that the person praying could have their prayers answered.
2007-03-25 10:31:03 · answer #8 · answered by Deconstitutionalization 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God hasn't predestined everything. He could if he wanted to though. And I believe some things are absolutely fixed according to his will. But he left us in charge of some things. He can intervene. But he doesn't always. He just lets us make choices too.
2007-03-25 10:46:10 · answer #9 · answered by Amy R 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If prayer can move mountains, then why haven't any mountains moved? And if God is really an almighty being, why would he need our prayers? Wouldn't that show him to be emotionally unstable?
2007-03-25 10:31:58 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋