My thoughts on prayer and God aren’t directed towards my situation at all since I am not petitioning God for wealth and prosperity.
No, my concern has little to do with me at all, but it is a general inquiry about God’s role and action in this world. My argument is more nuanced than simply denying God’s existence or action in the world; instead, my contention is that God’s action is not significant enough to be detected and does not warrant one to attribute anything to God.
For instance, a losing poker player can attribute a string of recent loses due to bad luck (negative variance), but does not get dejected due to his confidence in his process will have yield a positive excepted value in future games. But how does one know whether they are playing a bad game (a “fish” in poker jargon who has many easily exploitable “leaks” in their game) or one simply suffering from bad luck? In such a case, it is more important to be concerned with process instead of short term outcomes because a superior process will yield superior outcomes in the long run where variance.
My current view of the world leaves little room for divine providence because it would seem that the hegemony of chance and necessity eclipses God’s sovereign will. As a consequence, I fail to see any utility or purpose to praying. Furthermore, as an inhabitant of a deterministic and probabilistic world, I do not see human free will (or God) trumping these powerful forces. It would seem that if human free will exists, it would be a very weak, and insignificant force.
Read this to learn about Divine Transcendence and Immanence
newadvent.org/cathen/06614a.htm
God is not simply ruler of the universe. He holds it all into existence continually. Thus, nothing happens without Him letting it happen. If He wants anything gone, it’s gone. Thus, because He loves us, everything that happens happens for the best.
Then, read this
newadvent.org/cathen/12510a.htm
It is about Divine Providence. From your comment “My current view of the world leaves little room for divine providence because it would seem that the hegemony of chance and necessity eclipses God’s sovereign will.” it is clear you have little understanding of what Divine Providence is. Providence is not partial. There is either random chance, or providence. God’s providence is absolute. Therefore there is nothing that is a coincidence. Everything starts with God, and all that happens, though seeming like chance, is the will of God, either by His action or inaction. Hence any answered prayer is the doing of God. How does He do this? Simply, God does not exist it time. Past and future are all ‘present’ to Him. Thus, in His foreknowledge,
knowing that you would ask for it to stop raining heavily one night while you worry for your spouse, could have moved an atom that moved a molecule that moved a compound that moved oxygen molecule that caused a small gust of wind
one thousand years ago that eventually caused a strong wind to blow away the rain clouds
today so that your spouse would be safe. Or had done nothing since it would have happened anyway. But Immanence means that God is the active force behind the movement of the cloud, and indeed all things. God can work with nature to complete His miracles, not just in defiance of it. Conversely, God, in His foreknowledge, knowing that you would not ask for help, could do nothing at all, leaving things as they are.
Thus, God is intimately involved in all the changes and doings of the world. There is nothing that happens that is coincidental or not in His will.
