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losttreasure -> RE: Honestly...does prayer REALLY work? (7/29/2007 7:18:14 AM)
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Fast Reply:
I can only try to relate my own personal thoughts on prayer. I don't profess to have any great understanding or insight. I consider myself a Christian, but I don't think I'm a particularly good one. I grew up in a fairly religious environment, but I honestly had trouble understanding or agreeing with the things I was taught. What I came to understand may not be correct. It might not be perfect or able to withstand debate... but it is what I am able to believe.
God created man and gave him free will. Free will to choose what to believe. Free will to choose right from wrong... good from bad. God could have created man with no choice. We could have been kept like ignorant pets... unable to think what he did not wish, do what he did not want us to do, living out our lives with the sole purpose of praising and worshiping Him. But I don't believe God wanted that.
Why, you ask? I don't know. Do you have children? Did you create your children with the idea that they would always do as you wanted... live their lives how you felt would be best... exist for the sole purpose of serving and revering you?
Maybe you did. [;)] But, to me that sounds pretty boring.
As an aside, although I can't (of course) say what Heaven is like, I personally doubt it is the idyllic setting where all we would do throughout eternity is sing praises to God. What a bore that would be! For man and for God. If God wanted that, he could have created that to begin with.
So, man was given free will. Like anything that begins perfect, once flaws are introduced, it can never be quite the same. Original man (Adam and Eve, if you will) made a choice. Some feel that the forbidden "apples" was a set up, but I think that in order for there to be true free will, there had to be temptation... there had to be an alternative choice. Original man took that choice.
I don't think every child after that was born "sinful", but I think the concept is that every child born was born into a "flawed" world. You cannot maintain perfection in a contaminated environment. Our world became "contaminated" not with our free choices but with our poor choices... our mistakes. And to be truly "free" will, there had to be the possibility of suffering consequences.
Ever play a computer game in "God mode"? It's where your character cannot die. No matter what you do, you aren't negatively affected. You can face any danger, battle any demon, explore any realm without worrying about suffering any damage. You always win.
It's great for a while. But then it becomes boring. The challenge is gone. There are no risks, so there aren't any rewards.
If you could choose your risks... limit your consequences, it might help a little. But in the end, it still wouldn't be the same as if you'd faced all the dangers on your own, without a safety net. You'd not be able to finish knowing that you'd survived on your own skills and abilities.
I've digressed a bit, but having an understanding of the purpose for "bad things" happening in this world helps me to understand the concept of prayer. So many look at prayer as if it were a "get out of jail free" card in the game of life. I don't think it is, though sometimes it might manifest itself that way.
If you have children, it's a bit easier to understand the dilemma faced when your child asks you for help. There is the desire to save your child from every hurt and discomfort. But there's also the knowledge that sometimes the hurt serves a greater purpose. It isn't that we enjoy seeing our children suffer, but we know that if we were to swoop in every time they made a mistake or a bad choice, they wouldn't develop the ability to avoid those mistakes in the future. They would become dependent upon us and would miss out on the satisfaction of knowing they "won the game" on their own merits.
There are also things outside of our control. When your child is crying because a beloved pet dies, you wish you could spare them the grief and bring the pet back to life. When they come home afraid of the classmate who bullies them, you wish you could make the bullying stop. But you can't. Our world has such things as death and bullying because we have free will. Not just us, but every other man and woman. We live in an environment where we must live with not only the consequences of our own actions, but of the actions of every other person who lives or has lived. Good consequences and bad consequences.
But God could control these things... it's not beyond His power. True. But if God were to swoop in and save us from the consequences of living, He would be mucking with free will. Interfering with the world we have created.
I do believe that occasionally God will answer a prayer and "lend a hand"... just as occasionally, as a parent, I will step in and "save" one of my sons from some misfortune. I can't do it always, but when I'm able and I see that it will give them something beyond just a material rescue... a renewed hope and a brighter outlook, I will help.
I think prayer is a bit like that.
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