Prayer
Why do we pray? What are we really hoping to accomplish? If we believe in the Calvinist Predestination Theology, prayer is illogical.
I grew up in that tradition and was often told that since you don't know what God has predestined you should still pray. But if it's predestined then it doesn't matter except that God possibly predestined you to pray for that thing so that He could give it to you, etc, etc, this goes on and on and logically is impossible to reconcile.
Others from that tradition taught me that prayer is not there to change God, but to change you. To put you in the right will and mindset of God. To humble you, to remind you that you need Him and that you can do nothing without God.
But all of this doesn't match up with the Bible. For instance James 5:16 tells us that "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." The prayer is effective i.e it does something. It's not about my state of mind, it's about gettin' the job done. Jesus tells the story of a woman who harrasses a judge until he rules in her favor, and says that God is the same way. If we are persistent God might actually rule in our favor.
This is also a common theme in the Hebrew Bible. God listens to people and lets them have their input and at times He even changes His mind and does what they've suggested. Abraham talks God down from 50 people to 10 people as the condition for saving Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses calms God down before He wipes out the Israelites when they make the Golden Calf. Amos 7 contains a nice dialogue between God and Amos with God throwing out options for punishing Israel and Amos basically shooting down the ideas of the Most High. In the end God takes Amos' reasoning to heart but promises that Israel will be punished in some way.
In all these situations there is no hint of God playing the psychologist. He's not toying with people in order to bring them to some deeper self realization. He actually values human opinion and desires. God wants to know what we think. He says He will listen to us and might actually do what we ask of Him. There's not a script that God will not deviate from.
Too often, I feel like we don't allow ourselves to really converse with God--not in the modern "Let's chat 'cause God is my best buddy" scenario but more father to child. The prophets and God have conversations all the time. Loving parents really want to know what their kids think and want and act accordingly. God is that same way. That's why people should pray because it really can do something.
The idea of effective prayer is partly why I don't believe in predestination. This engaged, loving, open to options God that is portrayed in the Bible is the antithesis of the God who would predestine some to Hell and some to Heaven. It is why I believe what I do about time and God's Omnicience. I think this depiction of God is not only more accurate to what we see in the Bible but is also a better depiction of a perfect God. (More on that later).
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Theology
4 comments:
I'm dying to respond, but I have no time! lol...I'll be back though!
I was raised Calvinist, so for most of my life I held that view and I am comfortable with it if someone wants to believe it. I tend to think more now that it is a little of both sovereignty and free will (though some will tell you it is not possible)...meh, he's God he can do what he likes.
In general it doesn't matter to me if I have free will or if God is sovereign (in general) however I do need to worship a God who knows more than I do or I really don't see the point! HA
As to prayer, from a Calvinist perspective I saw prayer as more of a worship of who He is and not as someone to ask things of. I usually just talked to Him about everything, not necessarily requesting things. I think I prayed more when I held that view than I do now.
For me, I have to believe in freewill or religion means nothing to me, but you make a good point about worshiping a God who knows more than me. Certainly that's the case, and I'm not saying that I know as much as God. He has the freedom to respond with a yes or no, and I trust that whatever His answer it will be for the best. But I also think that we need not be afraid to ask for things.
Not that the dialogue is only for things we want, but also the way we think things should be. For instance the Amos passage. God wanted Amos' input on how to punish Israel, and Amos gave it and God listened.
This kinda' hints at the whole relationship with God idea, and probably deserves a post all to its own.
For something completely different: How's cell phone life treating you?
I ignore the phone most of the time. I check it about 4 times a day for messages and keep it on in the evenings. but it's nice not haveing a phone ringing off the hook all the time...quieter in my house!
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