One of the biggest myths perpetuated on CAF is that God doesn’t answer the prayers of those in a state of mortal sin. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
I know from personal experience, first of all, that such claims are false. A number of my prayers were answered despite the fact that I was in a state of mortal sin from January of this year to Friday of last week. An example of one of my prayers being answered was that I prayed that I would be able to get some funds for my first ever World Youth Day trip. It was answered in the end and definitely showed signs of divine intervention.
The claim also reeks of utter nonsense because by and large, it would be safe to say that most people in the world are not in a state of grace. It’s safe to make such an observation because sins of the flesh in their own right drag people down very easily. Given, how do proponents of the legalistic way of seeing God explain how millions of people across the world witness miracles in their lives everyday? How do they explain the recent atheist who won the lottery the next day after praying to God? Surely if their way of thinking was correct, God would have ignored the petitions of millions and listened only to the select few, the living saints as it were.
Their claims become more dubious as we examine them more thoroughly, so as an act of desperation, they resort to the Bible. They claim that verses such as “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16) supposedly supports their viewpoint. But their viewpoint is flawed on two counts. Firstly, if you ask a saint or a righteous living person to pray on your behalf, even though you yourself are in a state of mortal sin, the saint’s righteousness overshadows the state that you are in. It’s for that reason that if you look at the verse in it’s entirety, it instructs us to “pray for each other” (James 5:16) so that “we may be healed” (James 5:16). Why else are we to pray for each other were it not for the fact that some of us are closer to God and can therefore help those who are a little bit further away? The claim is also dubious on a second count. God doesn’t answer prayers based on the state of your soul. God answers your prayers on how close your will is to His will. If the two converge, then the prayer is answered. You can not “bribe” God by going to Confession and thinking He will answer everything. God is not a vending machine. You go to Confession to make amends for the fact that you have not lived up to your expectations. You do not go to Confession to squeeze God out of more favours. Indeed, “For the LORD your God . . . ] shows no partiality and accepts no bribes” (Deuteronomy 10:17). King Nebuchadnezzar points out himself: “and none can [hold back] His hand or say to Him, 'what have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35).
Now it is indeed true that sometimes God “ignores” us if we commit a grievous sin. The LORD said in the Book of Isaiah, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:15). This is the exception rather than the rule. When God ignores “someone” in this context, it’s usually because they persistently commit a sin that cries out to Heaven for vengeance (James 5:4). These sins include things like murder. When God ignores a person, God is implying: “Get your priorities straight”. Another reason why the prayers of a murderer is unlikely to bear fruit is because a murderer is highly unlikely to pray a prayer that will converge with God’s will. As said before, the efficacy of a prayer is based on how close a prayer is linked to God’s will. To that end, a murderer will not see the favourable outcome of his prayer. But to make the allegation that all those in mortal sin are murderers is nothing more than a strawman argument. Not all mortal sins “cry out to Heaven for vengeance”. They are deemed mortal sins because they cut one off eternally from God. In other words, such sins are just not compatible with God’s holy presence, who is described as a “consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29).
Unfortunately, a lot of legalistic users are found on this forum, and can even cause scrupulosity. The people who advance such a viewpoint of God inadvertently liken God to a vending machine - if you do XYZ, you’ll get your petition answered. If you’re in a state of mortal sin, continue to pray for what it is that you are praying. God is listening, and hopefully God will answer you favourably. Make sure you confess as soon as you possibly can however, as no one knows when their last breath is, and we know that mortal sins not confessed will lead one to eternal damnation.
