week 9 discussion posts #1-3

On the topic of Prayer


Like Miroula, I also think that having more people pray for a particular person doesn't necessarily imply that they're competing in a popularity contest against other "teams" or prayer groups. I take a slightly different slant on this concept - maybe its more the peoples' way of telling God that here is this fellow comrade, who needs extra care, or extra strength, as they battle through whatever obstacle or difficulty or illness they are faced with.

And as for the "orphan with no friends" - I think there are many people in the world who pray for "all the disadvantaged", or "all the poverty-stricken families", etc. And if they're really passionate about that prayer, i.e. not just going through the motions, that's fantastic.

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Anthony wrote:
"I am not sure why God would help the sick or the invalid if he was the instigator of the illnesses originally. It would be like changing your mind and if you are always right as he is supposed to be then he just wouldn't."

This raises a different perspective in my mind - perhaps God isn't always right. Perhaps the concept of 'perfection' and 'Godliness' is a completely delusional goal created by humans.

And another idea - what if God didn't create or instigate illnesses, and such bodily malfunctions were a by-product of humans' interactions with one another, which God may not necessarily have control over (assuming free-agent theory)?

Because the more I think about it, the more illogical it seems for God to be able to know every single little detail of our lives, or to be 100% correct, from start to finish - it's like having to eternally sit through a movie(s) that you already know the ending(s) to.

And Ariella wrote:
"I am not sure that I would interpret G-d being always right as Him being right in every decision that He makes, but rather that He is always right ... in His process, in His sequence of decisions. I think that allows Him room to change His mind."

This makes a little confused - correct me if I'm wrong, but that comment seems a little redundant.. because if God is right in his process, that means he has made the right decisions, doesn't it? If the sequence is correct, then the decisions were also spot-on? Perhaps I've misinterpreted :)

This is a little off-topic, but I think what I'm having difficulty with the idea that God has laid out all His grand, perfect plans, and is now sitting back to enjoy the show, and therefore He has no reason to change his mind.
Rather, it makes more sense to me that He is an active participant in our lives and the universe, tweaking things as He goes because He doesn't know what lies at the end (if there is such a thing).

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Anthony wrote:
"Does this mean that you don't believe that God is all-powerful and all-knowing?"; and
"If you think that god's relationship with his children is so inspirational, why does he let come to harm?"

To answer the first, I think it's quite possible that God is not all-knowing and all-powerful - in which case, prayer (to me) becomes more of a communication with somebody or something who is more of a friend, albeit a friend who has a bit more power that you do (perhaps). Not perfect, but not human either.
And heck, He might not even exist! In which case prayer is a way of making ourselves feel better, self-therapy so to speak.

To answer the second (which was actually asked to Claire but anyway) - people need to make mistakes to learn. A child knows to stay away from a flame after being burnt. No amount of "Don't do this, don't do that" will teach a child, nor stop them from doing what it is they've been prohibited to do, unless they're really obedient/un-inquisitive. The more overprotective a parent is, the more rebellious a child will be.
Everybody learns through their experiences (an easy example - you learn more in the workplace that you do reading a textbook about your job), and sometimes those experiences aren't pleasant. There will be pain and hurt, and there will be things that you instantly regret. But you become stronger and wiser. It's the whole concept of "you wouldn't appreciate happiness so much, if you didn't experience sadness every now and again"
If God were to protect us from all the "bad" things, we'd just be living, breathing potatoes. Your life is enriched by the plethora of emotions and events you experience.

That response was a little on the not-really-related-to-religion side, but oh well :)