Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning preaching.

[Akar]

Cars work in mysterious ways.

[Sir Adrian]

Not really.

[Akar]

Well I don't understand them.

[basics]

Akar,

The point of the story was that prayer changed everything when all appeared lost.

[Akar]

So why does god choose to answer your prayer for your car to start but ignores the prayers of starving and abused children?

[Prodromos]

“Every man must give an account of himself to God, and therefore every man ought to be at liberty to serve God in a way that he can best reconcile to his conscience. If government can answer for individuals at the day of judgement, let men be controlled by it in religious matters; otherwise, let men be free.”

From the sermon, "Rights of Conscience Inalienable" (1791), by Elder John Leland, Baptist minister and 'Father of American Religious Liberty', who died on this day in 1841.

“Truth disdains the aid of law for its defence—it will stand upon its own merits... It is error, and error alone, that needs human support; and whenever men fly to the law or sword to protect their system of religion and force it upon others, it is evident that they have something in their system that will not bear the light and stand upon the basis of truth.” - Rights of Conscience Inalienable

“The notion of a Christian commonwealth should be exploded forever...Government should protect every man in thinking and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another. The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians.” - A Chronicle of His Time in Virginia

[basics]

So why does god choose to answer your prayer for your car to start but ignores the prayers of starving and abused children?

Akar,

How do you know that He ignores anything? Disobedience to God is always answered by Him but the question remains why are children starved and abused? I would place the blame on the abuser him or herself but then I have no beef with God.

[basics]

Whilst sitting here typing at this hour is because it is a wild night and my eldest is out there caring for elderly people making sure they get turned in safely and securely. He doesn't drive meaning he walks all over the town whilst himself carrying an incurable illness so I am up on standby until I know he's safely home, why? Because I love my offspring, never had abused them nor starved them and so I get teased that we have made life in this house too comfy for them. I cannot fathom why any parent would abuse their kids and that they would surely go without to see them fed. So why do men claiming to have their own will put the blame for such things on God? I mean if one doesn't believe in God why blame Him at all? Could it be that man has to blame someone and Who better than God?

[Akar]

I don't know what the first half of your post says.

As for the last bit; no one who doesn't believe in god blames him for anything. Nice strawman though.

[basics]

Akar,

You don't believe in God yet a few threads above you accuse Him of not answering the prayers of abused and starving children so, if God is a strawman in my reply that's the reason for me writing about my own son and the work he does whilst I worry until he is safely home. So, what do you do for abused and starving children?

[Kissaki]

Akar,

How do you know that He ignores anything? Disobedience to God is always answered by Him but the question remains why are children starved and abused? I would place the blame on the abuser him or herself but then I have no beef with God.

Who or what is to blame is neither here nor there. Presumeably God was not to blame for your car's malfunction, but he saved it all the same. And indeed, If I see someone lying in a ditch bleeding out, I do not start an investigation into who is to blame before I help the individual. The question is not "why do bad situations arise", but "why does God choose to prioritise your car over starving children?"

And if the answer is that you're so pious that God will grant even your trivial prayers, why did you waste a prayer on your car when you could have saved children from disease and starvation? You could have ended Covid, why didn't you?

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

And if the answer is that you're so pious that God will grant even your trivial prayers, why did you waste a prayer on your car when you could have saved children from disease and starvation? You could have ended Covid, why didn't you?

Wow, thats a very good rhetorical question. Chapeau.

[Akar]

Akar,

You don't believe in God yet a few threads above you accuse Him of not answering the prayers of abused and starving children so, if God is a strawman in my reply that's the reason for me writing about my own son and the work he does whilst I worry until he is safely home.

Just like I can criticize Thanos for killing half of everything without actually believing in Thanos, I can criticize god not answering prayers without believing in god. I don't believe in god, but you obviously do, so I'm putting things in a frame of reference you're more likely to understand. You've clearly missed the point though.

So, what do you do for abused and starving children?

I pay my taxes which goes towards government funding of programs that address those issues. Also, I'm not an all powerful deity responsible for the original issues

You sound like this now, btw;

[Prodromos]

Two modern retellings of the Parable of the Good Samaritan

[basics]

Who or what is to blame is neither here nor there. Presumeably God was not to blame for your car's malfunction, but he saved it all the same. And indeed, If I see someone lying in a ditch bleeding out, I do not start an investigation into who is to blame before I help the individual. The question is not "why do bad situations arise", but "why does God choose to prioritise your car over starving children?"

And if the answer is that you're so pious that God will grant even your trivial prayers, why did you waste a prayer on your car when you could have saved children from disease and starvation? You could have ended Covid, why didn't you?

Kissaki,

How do you know God prioritised my car over starving and abused children since the questioner had no idea if there was at the time of my prayer that happening? We both know it was a trick question but I'll answer you anyway. Every day when I pray I do so for unfortunates but on this one occasion I was the unfortunate. I didn't waste my prayer at all since I am an invalid and my wife is suffering a prolapse as well as a hip disorder so getting home safely was a priority at the time. As far as covid is concerned I also pray for all them that have suffered by it praying that it will end but as I am not God nor am I pious as perhaps I should be, only God knows the answer to that one.

[Kissaki]

Kissaki,

How do you know God prioritised my car over starving and abused children since the questioner had no idea if there was at the time of my prayer that happening? We both know it was a trick question but I'll answer you anyway. Every day when I pray I do so for unfortunates but on this one occasion I was the unfortunate. I didn't waste my prayer at all since I am an invalid and my wife is suffering a prolapse as well as a hip disorder so getting home safely was a priority at the time. As far as covid is concerned I also pray for all them that have suffered by it praying that it will end but as I am not God nor am I pious as perhaps I should be, only God knows the answer to that one.

That's kind of what I was driving at. You were fortunate, ie. it's a matter of luck. As you yourself have said just now, you don't get everything you pray for. So praying is incidental to the result. But, of course, as a believer you are naturally going to have faith that your prayers are being answered.

[ggggtotalwarrior]

Confirmation bias that when something does work out, even something absurdly minuscule and irrelevant, it’s “God answering my prayers, so it’s proof of my religion being the right one” while ignoring the hundred and thousands of times it hasn’t resulted in any positive change.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Individual experience is generally a bad way to impute conclusions in aggregate, but some people who experience something rather profound and unexplainable may be tempted to consider the supernatural. I never believed in God so fervently as I did when I almost (and should have) died, but instead walked away with a scratch. It took rather dramatic exposure to incontrovertible evidence years later to part me with that belief, so I can understand why many people who’ve attached their sense of value and identity to that belief can’t accept any other alternative, especially people who are closer to death themselves or stuck in unbearable circumstances. Everyone needs a reason to keep going, and the bittersweet aspect of realization is the loss of identity and security resulting from such inconvenient truth. You may lose your proverbial chains, but you also lose a core part of yourself. I never cried so hard as the day I found out Jesus isn’t real. I’m as grateful as I am devastated that he was taken from me. I think non-religious people would struggle to understand what it feels like to believe words like these with every ounce of your being:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=M98sTXVvftY
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4XRmGEbH0qs

“Muh Santa Claus” doesn’t begin to compare. Even now, the words call to me like nothing else can.

[Cope]

That's kind of what I was driving at. You were fortunate, ie. it's a matter of luck. As you yourself have said just now, you don't get everything you pray for. So praying is incidental to the result. But, of course, as a believer you are naturally going to have faith that your prayers are being answered.

Prayer is an opportunity for reflection and for the worshiper to reconcile his desires with God's will. When Jesus prays to the Father in Gethsemane, he begs to be spared the tribulations of the crucifixion, but acknowledges the supremacy of the divine will.

Matt 26:39 "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."

Prayer, then, is about accepting God's will above our own, however difficult. This is a central theme of the Lord's prayer (Matt 6:9-10):

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heav'n.

[basics]

Cope,

Absolutely!