The Cage

Jake spoke on prayer last week.
This was the last sunday of CSI Sundays.
Various aspects of our faith were examined critically,
and "cases" were made to support our beliefs.

So talking about prayer was interesting, and got me to thinking about debates with a good christian brother of mine. He has developed a theology that does not include God answering prayer. To him, things are happenstance and coincidental. He has a great love for God, yet this love still does not include God answering prayer. This does not mean he does not pray. He says that prayer is the way in which relationship is built and maintained. Yet, because he does not beleive in miracles, he does not beleive that God answers prayers, in effect changing the course of history for the sake of one person.

Here is his logic.
1 God is a God of Truth, He can not be untrue.God put the world in motion, giving it laws like gravity and motion, action, reaction etc.God would not break his own laws. God is not untrue, Therfore miracles do not happen. They would in effect go against the truth that has been established. My friend believes that miracles indeed happened in the Holy Bible days, but that Just after Christ, they ceased.
2 He can not think of a time that God answered his own prayers, and wonders about all the prayers of people that go unheard. He wonders about where God was answering the prayer of the child being beaten, the women being abused, the constant innocent victims being killed or destroyed. Or the prayers of millions of staving children. He believes that if God answers one persons prayers and ignores another's, then that is untrue to the nature of God. He says, God would not pick and chose who He would help.
3 . My friend claimes that we have free will. He believes that any manipulation or alteration of a persons life, would in effect be against the concept of free will. That he says would be untrue, to a true God.

I follow and agree with most everything my friend says.,,,BUT
I can not say that God does not answer prayer because
1. Its not consistent with scripture.
2. Its not consistent with my life experiences.
3. I have no control over what God does with respect to my prayers,which means that if He should chose to answer my prayer, then I am powerless to stop Him. In other words, I can not put God in a birdcage and presume to understand or control His ways or desires.

I stop and walk a moment now in my mind, and walk in the shoes of my friend. He has had the shit end of the stick dealt to him in so many ways. He has had to endure trials beyond compare. He has called and cried out to God continuously, but he sees no evidence of God answering his prayers. He is a life passionate man and he sees a crumbling world around him where death and evil abound. He has never witnessed any miracles or answering of prayers. I have stood beside him in the dead of night, in a star laden sky as he called to God begging for Him to make himself known, or to answer his prayers. He waits. Obediently following Gods word to love God with all his heart. I admire the fact that he is faithful to God, even though he perceives that God does not answer his prayers. So through my friends eyes, he developed this theology.

So then I stop and think about my own experiences.
They are so different. I feel a great sadness for my friend.
I begin to wonder, why would God answer my prayers and ignore his.

Is this truth or imagination?
1. Does he only think that God is not answering his prayers when in fact God is?
2. Do I only think that God is answering my prayers when in fact God is not?
Why is one persons experience so different, and who is right?
Would it be untrue for us both to be right?
Now I feel like the cat in the birdcage.

If you managed to read this long winded message, you are welcome to comment.

P.S....If you think I'm gonna stop praying on my blog forget it!