restating the case (on prayer pt II)

[Foreword: In July I wrote about my struggle to understand prayer (see "on prayer"). Since then I've had a number of discussions on the subject, none of which have led to any definitive conclusions, but I am aware that I've maybe delved a little deeper since then, so I thought I'd re-write the entry and see what happens...]

I don't think prayer works. And yes, I do know that the word "works" is kinda loaded because it implies that God is supposed to respond to what we ask by acting the way we want Him to, and that's a fundamentally flawed idea. If God's thoughts are truly not our thoughts, and God's will is sovereign, and we know that He knows best, it's probably a good thing that He doesn't (generally) do what we ask (/tell) Him to. But does He ever do what we ask? The standard /pat /most common answer is, Yes of course He does, even if we don't recognize it.

And yet, in this world where create suffering and pain, and where God allows Sin to exist and its consequences to play out, why would He choose to act? More pointedly, why would He choose to act sometimes and not other times? Because clearly there are lots of prayers that go unanswered (or if you prefer the more traditional Christian rhetoric, to which God answers, "Sorry, no") - try Googling "prayer requests" and find a couple boards online; they're totally despressing - and a lot of them seem to be things you'd think a loving, compassionate God would have a vested interest in answering... like millions of mothers in Third-World countries begging God to let their kids live (uh... these ones are not online, of course), for instance: isn't that a good thing to pray for? Generally, I think we'd say it was. In fact, I think God would say it was. And so saying something so thoughtless and callous as "God knows best" in situations like that, where someone dies before their time, tragically, falls dreadfully short of adequate.

Isn't it more likely that God hates when such things happen, but that He recognizes suffering of that sort as a consequence for our own actions? Living as I do in North America at the top 3% of the world financially I am both directly and indirectly responsible for the suffering and death of people in other less wealthy (spelled "s-l-a-v-e") countries. Sin (capital "S") trumps God's plan, I think. God may create a new baby and design him or her to become a brilliant oncologist, and then that baby is born into a family of 12 with two parents who die of AIDS before he/she is 2, and the child is forced into child labour or combat dies of starvation or worse... and I think it's patently stupid to say that God planned that for that person. Instead, isn't it more likely that God's plan - God's supreme will - got trumped by the Sin that He allows to exist, so that instead of a cure for cancer all we got was another wasted life?

SO... in the same way, how does it make sense for us to believe that God answers prayer and responds to our requests, when we are constantly, as a race, undermining His will and His plan by inflicting all kinds of evil on one another? I almost feel like God answering prayer would be God actually breaking His own rules and contradicting His will: that sin and free will should be allowed to continue. It's the classic can-God-make-a-rock-so-big-that-He-can't-pick-it-up? Either God allows Sin to continue to exist, and its consequences to play out, OR He intervenes and contravenes His own rules and selectively answers some prayers, but He can't do both at the same time. If He does, as we may think we see in miraculous healings and other "answers to prayer," how can He possibly play favourites and choose some people to save and not others? What kind of God allows one village to survive a plague while the next one over is wiped out by it? I suggest that, instead, the condition of our continued existence in this universe is that we have to pay - both personally and as a planet - for our Sin. God allows suffering and death because there even more important things He wants us to figure out, like how to be kind and compassionate to one another for Him, in His name, because under the rules of our existence we're the only ones who can alter the consequences of the things we as a race have done. I think I believe that God doesn't answer prayer because He wants us to take action, not rest on our laurels while we pray in earnest for Him to act. We are the physical body of Christ, his hands and feet and eyes and mouth and heart, and He calls us to be the change, to step up and be the miraculous power of the Divine.

So then maybe we're missing the point of prayer altogether. If prayer is not a cosmic shopping list - and I can't find any evidence that this is its purpose - what is it for? I think I can understand thanking God for things, just purely out of gratefulness, and I sort of get the idea of communication with God being integral to maintaining the relationship (though perhaps this over-personification? God knew us all intimately before any of us ever acknowledged His existence...), but I think we're off-base asking God to do things for us. For one, if we do believe that God is involved in our lives, He is likely waaay ahead of us on such things anyway, laying all kinds of groundwork, closing and opening various doors (to use popular jargon), setting things in motion etc.... and so what He really wants from us - particularly those of us in positions of such fortune - is for us to accept our responsibility as Christ-followers and start working out our own salvation, praying at least for the wisdom to see how and where we can be of most use, and even more for the humility to accept and submit to God's supremacy and will.