I read this in an article at the Christianity Today website (which I read regularly) on praying more effectively. It’s a fantastic example of typical vacuous Christian logic:
I spent endless hours in the hospital waiting room while Mom sat on a cold metal hospital table just beyond the waiting room doors. In those hours I prayed—or at least I tried to.
I didn’t quite know what to say: “God, please take these growths away from my mother”? But what if he didn’t? Or how about, “God, please don’t let there be any cancer cells”? But what if there were? Or, “God, just let this be treatable”? But what if it wasn’t? So here’s what I prayed: “God, I don’t want to go through this. And I don’t want Mom to go through this. Yet you must have Mom and our family here for a reason. Help us depend on you during this difficult time. Now, God, I really don’t want to lose her. But since I truly want your will above my own, I leave my mother in your loving hands—as difficult as that is to do. Amen.”
One of the first answers to that prayer was a peaceful calm in myself and in both my parents. The second answer was the good report from the doctors: The growths were benign. But even if they hadn’t been, my trust in God had been challenged to mature as a result of the prayer I’d learned to pray for Mom.
The logic of that is wonderfully transparent: uh, what if God doesn’t give me what I pray for? I’d better ask for something that will have to be answered, so no matter what happens, I can say that God answered my prayer! But what use is God if you can’t petition him for anything specific? What use are specific prayers if, when your prayer is not answered, you conclude reluctantly that what you’d asked for was not God’s will? Of course there’s a psychological benefit to prayer, as there is to meditation and many types of wishful thinking. But if all prayer gives you is a sense of peace and acceptance, God isn’t even necessary.
Christians will never tire of giving God more opportunities to be right. That’s why they have to create questions with no wrong answer. That’s the beauty of “Thy will be done”. It creates a world where God can never be wrong.
btw, using phrases like “typical vacuous Christian logic” belies a smarmy and intellectually-superior attitude that likely has more to do with why you are having difficulty keeping friends than your disbelief of Christ as God.
Think you have the statement backwards, though. Christians aren’t looking for an excuse to give God more chances…
We humans have a very small view of time even with all the history books and knowledge accumulated about the world. If a situation does not work out like I want, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t bring good. It may not satisfy my selfish desires, even if those desires are based in my love of another person. I’ve heard of that “good” coming many years, or even generations later where that “good” can be directly attributable to the actions or prayers of another. Yes, God may let a person I love die or even suffer temporary pain. Does that make God cruel?
One of our pastors shared a story of his son falling on a metal stake in the yard. It punctured his torso and they had to take him to get a tetanus shot. The boy was old enough to know what was going on, but not old enough to articulate. His father looked down in anguish as his son received a very painful shot while his son looked up at him with confusion about why his father was letting this happen. His father had a wider view of time and understood how important that shot was, thus he permitted it to happen though his instinct was to scoop up his son and run.
You know where I’m going with this. Some might say, “Yeah, but that situation with the Pastor & his son was very cut-and-dry.” Yes, but only because we have that understanding. Most people don’t want to admit how little they know, and 10 or 20 years later, I’ll think the same thing. However, every time I look back, I realize that I have grown in wisdom, understanding, and patience.
I think a prayer that admits a lack of control over circumstances and leaves the timing to God is very mature for any Christian, even though they may not have written it out in a manner that made sense to your beliefs, understanding, and experiences.
That being said, I think you have an excellent blog and am glad you are keeping this account of your experiences.
Out of curiosity, how is “Help us depend on you during this difficult time” not a specific prayer?
Truly committing the situation to God’s capable hands and trusting Him completely with the outcome is a very hard thing for anyone to do. Yet I know that anything, even what we intend for evil, comes about because God intends it for good. We may not understand it at the time. We may never understand why in this lifetime.
But this whole post belies an immature understanding of prayer. Sure, “centeredness” works. Sure, Eastern meditation works. But these are nothing compared to the power of a prayer placed in God’s hands and sincerely requested in accordance with His will. Those things are only shadows of what God intended prayer to be.
[...] by an atheist at a christian university. While browsing the posts over there, I ran across this post from a few days ago. It discusses an article from the ‘Christianity Today’ website [...]
Matt & Cory:
Is there any outcome to prayer that would be wrong?
Would the outcome have been any different if the person hadn’t prayed?
LE, I haven’t read the other comments yet, but I think this blog is an absolutely brilliant insight into the subconscious Christian logic of Thy Will be Done.