If God Really Does Answer Every Prayer

[Zirconia]

Everstruggling:
I’m not sure I’m really making the point about the rarity of miracles. If I jump off a ledge, I will fall every single time. I will never levitate, go straight up, or fly straight ahead. Gravity is very dependable that way

If miracles happened all the time, they would in some way cease to be miracles and would become everyday life. Part of the definition of a miracle is its rarity.

Perhaps this is because if the laws of nature (such as gravity) were constantly being miraculously suspended and then reinstated on a regular basis, the universe as we know it would very quickly disintegrate into anarchy.

Zirconia

 

[MelanieAnne]

Tom

Your post really spoke to me. But in a different way. I remember VIVIDLY nearly 16 years ago praying to God for the life of my Grandfather. At the time, except for his illness that the doctors were late in diagnosing (and an early diagnosis may have changed the outcome) he was fit and spry and clear of mind even at 95 years of age, and I couldn’t bear to let him go. I had already lost my Mother (his daughter) 4 years earlier and my Grandmother (his wife) 5 months earlier, and I thought I just couldn’t bear another loss. But I felt selfish for praying for him to stay with us. I knew he wanted to join his Lord, even if he was too kind to tell me so.

And so I prayed, possibly the hardest, most difficult prayer of my life, to God that “THY Will be done”. And God gave me the gift of peace from that moment. God gave me total peace.

My grandfather passed away quietly two days later. I wanted him to stay and I am sure others in my family wanted him to stay too. But he wanted to go. And God gave him his heart’s desire. And God gave me the peace to accept it.

My grandfather had a 3rd grade education, but he read the Bible every day of his life and did as many good deeds as he could every day. According to him, that was how he was meant to live his life: to do as many “good turns” (in his words) as he could, every day.

At the time I prayed for his life, all he wanted at that point was to see his God and, if he could, to see the family members he had lost before to death. I can only suppose that God gave him that gift, at the same time as He gave me the gift of peace.

Tom, you asked that God’s will should be done, and it was, and it was a miracle to you. And I am telling you there are many miracles and sometimes the outcome of an event may not be as we might hope, and yet there is still a miracle.

Peace be with you Tom,

Love, Melanie

 

[wjp984]

I think the movie Bruce Almighty explains it best on what would happen if God answered yes to everything in the exact request that was given. Besides, even if God did provide more obvious miracles the skeptics and atheist would all get together and try ot come up with scientifinc explanations and still cast doubt on the miracles. Nothing would change.

 

[Tom]

And so I prayed, possibly the hardest, most difficult prayer of my life, to God that “THY Will be done”. And God gave me the gift of peace from that moment. God gave me total peace.

That is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. BTW your story brought tears to my eyes.

Tom, you asked that God’s will should be done, and it was, and it was a miracle to you. And I am telling you there are many miracles and sometimes the outcome of an event may not be as we might hope, and yet there is still a miracle. Peace be with you Tom,
Love, Melanie

Amen, may the peace and love of our Lord, Jesus the Christ, be with you also.

 

[Nita]

You must agree that many people “just get” things that they don’t pray for. I mean, it’s not like us non-believers have nothing but sadness and misery in our lives. I have passed exams, and…
well, I’ve passed exams without praying to pass them. I have prayed for many, many, many things and not gotten them. I don’t know for sure, but I think I have actually had my desires come true more often without praying for them than when I did. Like I said, I could be wrong on that one. I certainly don’t think not praying is why I get what I want; I think I am more successful because I am older and wiser.

Why would God tell a person to pray, and then say “No” more often than not? Why would miracles be so hard to come by?

Everstruggling,
Did you ever stop to consider that what you were praying for was not to your advantage in the long run? God knows when to say “yes” and when to say “no”. He knows when saying “yes” would not be for the good of your soul; or possibly even beginning to consider Him as some sort of sugar daddy.

Nita

 

[Evan]

Jesus said “Ask, and you will receive”
He said “Pray always”

But he also said “Pray in my name”

In the 1st century, ‘my name’ was and expression that means ‘pray as if I were praying, pray for things that I would pray for were I with you’.

So when someone acts in the king’s name, his actions are in accord with the king’s wishes even though the king is not there.

Are your prayers for things in accord with the will of Jesus?

 

[Verisimilitude]

Why would God tell a person to pray, and then say “No” more often than not? Why would miracles be so hard to come by?

Your life, the air, the planet, and everything in and out of it is a miracle. To believe that, you must believe in God, but then you wouldn’t have asked this question because you would see those miracles and the many more that are out there and happens everyday.

To believe in God you can either have blind faith, or knowledgable faith. You appearantly claim no faith, so your path, if interested, is through knowledge.

You never know, you could be one of the rare lucky ones that gets to be a part of a new miracle, they happen, but I wonder if you would really believe it. If you were at the beach and was walking out into the water to swim, but instead walked on the water never getting wet; I’ll wager some would be mad at having their swim disrupted instead of acknowledging God.

Why should God keep proving to every individual that He exists over and over again? When He does it for you, the guy next to you wasn’t looking and wants Him to do it again. What makes you so special?

I don’t mean to be mean; I mean to say only you can decide what you believe and why. I could tell you of the events that shaped my belief, but since they didn’t happen to you they are only stories.

Can you answer these questions:
Does God exist?
What is God- what does He say, and who is speaking for Him?
What am I to God, and He to me?

Untill you answer those questions, all other questions and answers mean little, because if the first answer is no, it doesn’t matter. My guess, once you answer those questions, most of the others become answered as well.

 

[Keikiolu]

Everstruggling:
Again, no offence, but to an outside observer this looks a lot like the miracle of turning bread into bread. I know that the eucharist is a miracle to the eyes of over a billion people worldwide, but it isn’t really something that is all that accessible to the rest of us.

Well, if you’re going to define miracles as something that is impossible, then you’ve rather severly limited the “possibility” of miracles, haven’t you?

Very cool news about your father, by the way.

I’m not sure I’m really making the point about the rarity of miracles. If I jump off a ledge, I will fall every single time. I will never levitate, go straight up, or fly straight ahead. Gravity is very dependable that way. If I get enough exercise, get enough sleep, and eat the right food my health is usually pretty good. At least, it is enough of an improvement that I notice the difference when I am not doing those things.

And this is related to the answering of prayers HOW, again…?

Jumping off a ledge is not praying.

When most people pray, do they notice a difference?

I don’t know about “everyone”, but I always notice a difference in the state of the world and myself. Every single time.

I didn’t. Not at all. I didn’t get what I asked for, usually, and I didn’t get something better, usually. I am not saying that my prayers were 100% unanswered… that would actually have been noticable difference.

This is why we’re told not to test God,… because it’s simply an act of confirming to oneself that God doesn’t exist.

Were you “praying” or something else?

You’re starting from the point of seeing if you will get what you want.

Proper prayer starts from the point of KNOWING that God will give you what you need.

We simply need to take the next step and figure out what it is that God is telling us that we need.

It’s really easy to convince yourself that God doesn’t exist by the simple act of insisting that only receiving wants, and not needs, are proof that God exists.

So, what is more important to you? Your wants or your needs?

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.

 

[Everstruggling]

Hi Everyone,

I feel that I need to clear something up.

For some reason many people seem to be under the impression that I am somehow disappointed that gravity works. Or that the reason for my post is to suggest that if there were a God, then gravity would somehow be defeated. That wasn’t the point.

Let me put it this way:

Gravity = Reliable

Praying = Unreliable

That was the point.

 

[Everstruggling]

So… I have some questions:

1. Why do I need to ask God to do what He is going to do anyway? Does God ever act ***not ***according to His will?
2. Why is everyone so sure that the things I ask God for are stupid and trivial? Or that I can’t determine, at least sometimes, what is in my own best interest?
3. Is God really so busy that He can’t prove His existence to everyone? If anyone has the ability to adjust his schedule this is the Guy. Does He not want people to believe?
4. I could chose to view everything as a miracle, but why would I? If my life isn’t going to be any different, if God isn’t going to be anymore present, why would I make the effort?

Everstruggling

 

[Keikiolu]

Hi Everyone,

I feel that I need to clear something up.

For some reason many people seem to be under the impression that I am somehow disappointed that gravity works. Or that the reason for my post is to suggest that if there were a God, then gravity would somehow be defeated. That wasn’t the point.

Let me put it this way:

Gravity = Reliable

Praying = Unreliable

That was the point.

Oh,… OK.

Praying IS indeed unreliable, if you insist on getting what you want, and not what you need.

Can you buy that…?

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.

 

[Everstruggling]

Are your prayers for things in accord with the will of Jesus?

Yes.

At least, they were when I still prayed. I prayed for faith. I prayed for understanding. I prayed for my friends and family. I prayed God’s will be done.

Perhaps that last one was answered. That is the most frightening thought of all.

 

[Keikiolu]

So… I have some questions:

1. Why do I need to ask God to do what He is going to do anyway? Does God ever act ***not ***according to His will?

You don’t. If you know OF God, but don’t know Who He is, then He is only a concept, and “praying” to a concept is silly.

If you Do know Him, then you need to pray to Him as the only authority possible who could show you what you need.

You have free will. God respects that. He would like that your will and His are aligned, which prayer helps with, but since His will is to allow you to have a free will, His will is always what happens.

1. Why is everyone so sure that the things I ask God for are stupid and trivial? Or that I can’t determine, at least sometimes, what is in my own best interest?

What you get is what is best.

If you’re not getting what you want, it’s not what you need, at that time. End of story.

1. Is God really so busy that He can’t prove His existence to everyone? If anyone has the ability to adjust his schedule this is the Guy. Does He not want people to believe?

He wants them to believe as they SHOULD believe, not as they’d like to believe.

It’s the same old story of wants and needs, again. It is most wise the way it is happening, not the way you’d like it to happen.

1. I could chose to view everything as a miracle, but why would I? If my life isn’t going to be any different, if God isn’t going to be anymore present, why would I make the effort?

Well,… if you DID choose to view everything as a miracle, how could you tell the difference between that and what your life is like now…?

Is that a difference, or not?

In other words, if you can’t tell the difference, as you stated above, why not choose the “believing” kind of life for a while?

Just to see what happens.

Go for it…! Or are 'ya chicken…?

Everstruggling

Just remember:

• Idols are wants.
• God is needs.
  Idols, baaaaaaaaaaaaaad,… God, goooooooood…!

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.

 

[Everstruggling]

A lot has been said about the wants of children. I have thought about this. Thought about the kind of father I would be.

I know one thing for sure. I would never let one of my children rape another one. I would never let them beat, torture, murder, and enslave each other either. I wouldn’t put one in charge of the others unless that child had earned the honour. I wouldn’t make the girls follow the boys rules, and I wouldn’t teach them to hate the ones that were different.

I would treat them all the same. They would all get the same amount of food, clothes, and toys. Any rules that I made would be made for a reason. Punishments would be clear and direct. If they were being punished they would know why. I would never punish one child for the sins of another. I would do what I could to comfort the children that were hurt by the wrong doer.

I wouldn’t test them. I wouldn’t make them do ridiculous tasks in order to prove their love to me. If I they did fail me, I would never cast them out forever. If they wanted to leave, the door would always be open. Always, not just an arbitrary amount of time.

They would know, know, know that I love them. I would speak to them. I would reach out. I would walk amongst them, and they would never have to ask twice for my attention.

I would never let my own emotions get in the way of my love for them. If I did, I would repent and ask their forgiveness. I would do what I could to make the problems better.

I might not grant everything that they asked me for. But I would never tell them I would either. Most of all, I would never make them ask me to show them I love them.

 

[Everstruggling]

What you get is what is best.

If you’re not getting what you want, it’s not what you need, at that time. End of story.

Whatever you say, Mr. Pangloss.

In other words, if you can’t tell the difference, as you stated above, why not choose the “believing” kind of life for a while?

Just to see what happens.

Why not bang my head against the wall to see if it really does hurt? Or maybe I should try brussel sprouts again for the 50th time just to see if I ***still ***don’t like them.

Why don’t you give non-belief a try? What are you chicken?

I’m sorry, it was rather rude of me to imply you were chicken. Hey, wait a minute…

edit:

I don’t know if you have read any Voltaire, fell free to skip this explanation if you have. Mr. Pangloss is a character that says “In the best of all possible worlds, everything is for the best.” This was just the type of positivism that drove Voltaire batty. I was implying that I feel much the same way that Voltaire does. That my observations of life differ considerably from yours on this matter.

My apologies if my message seemed snide. I haven’t been sleeping well, and it’s making me irritable.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

But, ES, you cannot ‘guarantee’ that your children will not choose to do evil. You cannot ‘make’ them. Even if you were to somehow blind, gag, and render them powerless, they could still think evil, right? And if you take that power away. . .what do you have left?

And as a parent of children now 25, 23, and 21, ‘treating them all alike’ sounds just so wonderful. . .except, guess what, they are not all alike. Ever. And if you insist that all play sports, or none; all play instruments, or none, all have exactly the same clothes, hobbies, etc. or none. . .you don’t have individuals.

Male and female are NOT exactly alike–no matter of PC pushing and coaxing or even brainwashing will make them so, nor will two males be exactly alike, two females, etc. etc. Trying to ‘make them so’ is a lost cause. God is not silly (or naive) enough for that, even if we are.

Where God has us all equal is exactly in the ‘right way’–equal opportunity. Doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor, black, white, brilliant, stupid. . .you have exactly the grace you as an individual need to gain heaven. You have exactly the same chance. No, it doesn’t matter if you were ‘born’ in a world that never heard of God–you still have the chance of salvation through the Catholic Church. It doesn’t matter if you were born the 9th generation Italian Catholic to a family who sends off a priest in every generation–you still have the same chance of salvation. It’s up to YOU. . .not to your status, your ethnicity, your gender, your family. . .

God does ‘leave the door open.’ Anybody who does not come to Him does not do so because GOD failed, but because he or she failed. God would be a terrible father if he pretty much denied all your ‘egalitarian’ rules when it came time to judgment because 'I cannot send you from me permanently, even if that is what YOU freely choose." That isn’t a father, it’s an OWNER. Somebody who changes the rules ‘just because’; who holds one person who does good responsible for his goodness, but refuses to hold the badness of the person who does bad against him. Not fair. Not fair at all.

 

[Everstruggling]

But, ES, you cannot ‘guarantee’ that your children will not choose to do evil. You cannot ‘make’ them. Even if you were to somehow blind, gag, and render them powerless, they could still think evil, right? And if you take that power away. . .what do you have left?

How can you think evil?
Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I really, really don’t. I suspect hearing the answer would just make me angry.
I am quite content for anyone to think anything they like. It is what they do that concerns me.

You wouldn’t stop one of your children from harming the other? Really? I’m pretty sure you must have. My mother was constantly clawing us kids apart. True, I can not watch my children every moment, but last I heard God doesn’t have that problem.

And as a parent of children now 25, 23, and 21, ‘treating them all alike’ sounds just so wonderful. . .except, guess what, they are not all alike. Ever. And if you insist that all play sports, or none; all play instruments, or none, all have exactly the same clothes, hobbies, etc. or none. . .you don’t have individuals.

Did you starve one to feed the others? Did you clothe 2 and keep the other naked? Did you let them all live in the same house, or did you keep a couple in the yard? I was suggesting treating my children equally, not identically.

Male and female are NOT exactly alike–no matter of PC pushing and coaxing or even brainwashing will make them so, nor will two males be exactly alike, two females, etc. etc. Trying to ‘make them so’ is a lost cause. God is not silly (or naive) enough for that, even if we are.

Never said they were. I just said that one shouldn’t be made to be the slave of the other. Do you not agree that on a world-wide scale women fare much worse than do men?

Where God has us all equal is exactly in the ‘right way’–equal opportunity. Doesn’t matter if you are rich, poor, black, white, brilliant, stupid. . .you have exactly the grace you as an individual need to gain heaven. You have exactly the same chance.

Do you really believe this? You don’t think that some people have just a tad better chance? I guess you kind of have to believe it. If you believed otherwise it would mean accepting the fact that the God you believe in is unfair.

Exodus 4:21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perfom before Pharoh all the wonders that I have put in you power; but I will harden his heart, so that ye will not let the people go.”

***Everyone ***has an equal chance?

God does ‘leave the door open.’ Anybody who does not come to Him does not do so because GOD failed, but because he or she failed.

Last I heard we only get about 80 years to get to know God. It is nice to think that the only people that suffer an eternity of torment are the people who chose that freely and openly. Not sure how a person could ever really knowingly do that.

There are many people who think that I have damned myself for my stubborn refusal to accept that God exists. Eternal damnation seems like a rather stiff penalty for following what seems to me a logical conclusion.

Doesn’t God make all the rules? I mean God is the one who decided that he demanded a sacrifice. He decided to make a species that seemed to anger him endlessly. He is the one that decided on the whole “hands off” parenting technique.

Does no one else seem to think the attempts to justify God’s actions and motives are slightly forced?

 

[Everstruggling]

Someone is praying for you.

Not to seem rude, but what is someone praying for?

 

[LilyM]

How can you think evil?
Wait, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I really, really don’t. I suspect hearing the answer would just make me angry.
I am quite content for anyone to think anything they like. It is what they do that concerns me.

That’s because you can’t usually read other people’s thoughts. Our thoughts are very real and present to God, almost as much so as our actions - if they were to you you’d start to care about them too.

Did you starve one to feed the others? Did you clothe 2 and keep the other naked? Did you let them all live in the same house, or did you keep a couple in the yard? I was suggesting treating my children equally, not identically.

Never said they were. I just said that one shouldn’t be made to be the slave of the other. Do you not agree that on a world-wide scale women fare much worse than do men?

God isn’t responsible for the inequities in the world - we are. We deny food, water, money, employment, education, to each other. I’m content that those who treat me badly in this life will have to account for it in eternity, just as I will have to account for anyone I’ve treated badly.

You’re talking human talk, if I may so express it. God thinks in terms of eternity. Everything we know in this life is kinda like a big audition or job interview for the afterlife. And most auditioners or interviewers are somewhat tougher on some candidates - usually the more impressive ones - to test them out thoroughly - than they are on those they are pretty sure won’t pass anyway.

 

[Keikiolu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keikiolu forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_cad/viewpost.gif
*
What you get is what is best.

If you’re not getting what you want, it’s not what you need, at that time. End of story.*

Whatever you say, Mr. Pangloss.

Not being overly edumacated, I had to look up the “Mr. Pangloss” reference.

I LOVE IT…!! :clapping:

The only thing Pangloss go wrong, of course, was that his thinking wasn’t based on God.

Quote:

In other words, if you can’t tell the difference, as you stated above, why not choose the “believing” kind of life for a while?

Just to see what happens.
Why not bang my head against the wall to see if it really does hurt? Or maybe I should try brussel sprouts again for the 50th time just to see if I ***still ***don’t like them.

If you can’t tell the difference between “normalcy” and “banging your head”, what’s the difference?

Why don’t you give non-belief a try? What are you chicken?

Gotcha there. Tried that. Didn’t like it.

I actually COULD tell the difference between “banging my head” and not “banging my head”.

You’re the one with the difficulty discerning between the world with prayers and without prayers. No difference? Are you sure you’re praying, or just wishing? Are you not seeing what’s presented, because you’re looking only for what’s desired?

I’m sorry, it was rather rude of me to imply you were chicken. Hey, wait a minute…

You can be as rude as you like with me, dude. I really and truly cannot be insulted.

I especially like clever “rudeness”, where you find some bit of truth and exploit it for comic effect. Like the Mr. Pangloss reference. Absolutely wonderful…!! I bow to your prowess…!

edit:

I don’t know if you have read any Voltaire, fell free to skip this explanation if you have. Mr. Pangloss is a character that says “In the best of all possible worlds, everything is for the best.” This was just the type of positivism that drove Voltaire batty. I was implying that I feel much the same way that Voltaire does. That my observations of life differ considerably from yours on this matter.

And unfounded optimism is indeed a ridiculous and lamentable thing to watch.

But that’s (one of) the lovely thing(s) about God. He’s the one, singular, positively ONLY thing (aka “being” in 3 persons) that optimism CAN be based on…!

I imagine Voltaire, whom I don’t know due to my aforementioned unedumacatedness, didn’t have much of a clue about God.

I could be wrong,… but that would be my first guess.

My apologies if my message seemed snide. I haven’t been sleeping well, and it’s making me irritable.

No,… I like snide,… and rude,… and curmudgeonly,… but they must be accompanied by humor,… and if at all possible, profundity,… but at least pointedness.

Thanks for playing,… next thumb-wrestling match will start in 15 minutes,… Your waitresses need to have some floor time to make some tip money…

Mahalo ke Akua…!
E pili mau na pomaikai ia oe. Aloha nui.