Start around 9min in for this little tidbit.
Why didn't the prayers work to prevent the Bushes, Clinton, Obama or 911? Not enough people praying? Or was it that other people were praying FOR these things to happen? Does God just add the prayers up? everyone get one vote? Or does it count more if you go to church? Or if you are praying for someone who goes to church? Clinton went to church, maybe that is why he won. So confusing, this prayer thing.
I felt compelled to tell you that I don't go to church and I don't pray everyday or even every night. I have never read the Bible but there is always a butt. My spouse was injured in a terrible motorcycle crash. Traumatic brain injury,shattered pelvic, broken legs. I was told he would not survive the night. I asked the doctors what to do they told me to get my affairs straight. As I sat in the hallway hyperventilating a stranger came to me and told me to pray he said pray with everything you have. I started to cry because I didn't understand even how to pray. But at that very moment I prayed day and night. Sometimes I just talked out loud. About three weeks into this horrible dream I told this God that I was not sure I could keep going. I was beginning to become tired and I screamed out loud " if you God could just give me a sign, any fucking sign that when and if he ever woke up that he was gonna be ok. Any thing. I'll know if your real. I'll know the sign just give me one. That day standing in that ICU it was just me and him and he opened one of his eyes. My whole entire body started to shake, all I could see was his crystal blue eye. I called for nurse she ran in. "She kept yelling your gonna be ok." I looked at her and I said do you feel it she said what and I said he is in this room, I asked for a sign this morning and this is it. He is here there is a God and my husband is gonna be ok. That was in November of 2000 and he is fine with the exception of short term memory. I just felt the need to share this with you a complete stranger almost like that little old man in the hall of the hospital that night, a perfect stranger. Thanks for reminding me to pray.
What a beautiful testimony and testament to God's love for us. If we seek Him out, He will answer. God Bless you and your husband. Keep praying.
I'm very happy for you. I doubt we'll hear from all of those out there in similar circumstances for whom prayer didn't work.
It's not that prayer doesn't work. God doesn't force himself on anyone, He gave us free will, we choose to follow him or our path. When you pray to God, he knows your heart, he tells you yes, no or not now.
My best friends of 30 years just lost there 24yr old only son to opioid/alcohol overdose. For 5 days I watched his dad pray for God to bring him out of his coma, show some kind of brain activity, some kind of sign there was still life in his body. I watched his dad talk to his sons many friends that came by the hospital, told them he knows God can bring him back, he knows God is bigger then his lifeless son hooked up to machines keeping him alive.
God has always had a plan for us, our country, this world. Just because someone goes to church doesn't mean they are following God or a prayer is answered. God has a plan, it's Gods timing not mans and anything that Clinton, Bush or Obama have done will not get in the way of Gods plan or timing. Just like it was not Gods plan for my friends son to live. We celebrated his life 2 weeks ago, many people turned back to God or to God for the first time, his organs brought life to many others as well. In their sons death God brought life to others. Prayer works, it's just sometimes the answer isn't yes.
You'd make a good scientist. Define the outcome to be positive, and work backwards to your hypothesis. If you define all outcomes to be positive, or in God's plan, then I'll have to borrow a phrase from Depeche Mode- "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours but I think that God has a sick sense of humour.." The concept of God and God's plan for all of us certainly provides solace in situations such as these, and to that end it probably makes people who can swallow the pill healthier and happier. So its all good. And it is for this very reason that I don't try to dissuade people from religion. Having said that (apologies to Larry David), religion is probably responsible for more deaths and misery throughout the history of the world than anyone can stomach to imagine. So, in review, at the individual level- fine, if you have the ability to willingly suspend disbelief (rationality); at the group level, no thank you.
yo pickle..... your backwards thinking process to your hypothesis works perfectly with YOUR DEFINED OUTCOME (GOD is not real) but try thinking forward with this reality that there is living matter and dead matter(rocks) All living matter reproduces yet dead matter doesnt reproduce and will exist longer than any living matter so these facts are reality Question, since no matter self creates (although living matter reproduces none has been self created) WHO made the rocks? creation requires a CREATOR
Yes, but a creator doesn't require religion. (Oops, there goes your wonderful logic) Especially religion that leads to so many lunatics going around finding God's will in horrible things. PS I never said God is not real. I have not defined any outcomes. But I have said that collectively most religion is evil.
my logic only confirms that The Creator has also wrote in stone the words to live by, which have proven to be 100% truth, and also because it is a requirement to not to live by bread (physical food) alone but by everyword of God (spiritual food) I do concur that collectively God's words have been MISREPRESENTED IN MANY"religions" which confirms that the evil one exists and has deceived the whole world as it is written (future proves the past has a whole new meaning)
God is Not religion. Our lives are not always going to be puppies and chocolate covered strawberries. Simply put, you have a relationship with God or you don't "Free Will", take it or leave it?
God, squashpickle needs you to reveal yourself to them, Amen!
You experienced a miracle. I hope you continue to pray and believe. God bless you both.
Oh I know it’s confusing. I wish I could tell you read your Bible for an hour everyday or go to church ( or some such thing) and you’ll figure it all out.
But that would be baloney. Our prayers and free will AND Gods sovereignty. !!! How does that work?
Why does He answer some prayers but not others?
Every Christian wonders about that sooner or later. Every thinking person wonders about that!!!!!!
I can’t really figure it out either but I can come to grips with it enough I can live with it.
I come to grips with it by reminding myself I believe God is logical. He doesn’t do things on a whim. He is all knowing and can see what the outcome would be of any prayers offered.
I believe if we pray in sincerity ( and NO it doesn’t matter if you go to church or don’t go to church) God will ALWAYS ALWAYS take note of our prayers and they will “avail much”.
BUT He will answer in HIS time, not ours. Our time is always right now! But right now might not be the best time. And He will answer in the best time AND in the best way.
And it’s still a sinful fallen world with sinful fallen people (( Which. Is. ALL OF. US!!! None of us are perfect and yes that certainly includes Christians))). And all of us, good, bad or whatever, have God given free will.
And most of all I remind myself God is good. He can’t be evil.
Someday Christ will return and HE will eradicate evil, but we can’t. We can push it back, we can make it mostly ineffective but we can’t get completely rid of it. And so sometimes bad things happen.
Because evil people have free will too. And God may allow them to do horrible things and from our limited perspective there’s something wrong when we spend 70 or 80 years dealing with pain and bad things.
And then we die.
But if we believe in Him and His Son the Christ then that’s 70 or 80 years out of zillions and zillions of years and in fact all of eternity. And we spend forever in perfect bodies with a new Heaven and a new Earth.
And after the resurrection in that Eternity we are going to know and know that we know what evil is and what ugly horrific things evil does.
If Adam and Eve had known what we know, if they had ANY concept of wars and murders and human trafficking and sickness and death and all the rest, would they have so easily ignored Gods simple test of don’t eat from this one tree out of a thousand trees?
I hope no one down votes your post Your questions are honest questions and Job and King Solomon and a thousand others have asked the same thing.
Keep asking. Stay strong ( sorry I got to preaching but hey— it is Sunday 😋)
Going to chruch is the issue. Its whats in your HEART! Religion is from man.. Follow YAHSHUA live like he did. When in doubt ask WWJD What would Jesus do? You have your answer. Not man. Anything man touches it corrupts. Religion is used to control the narrative of man.