Does God Really Answer Our Prayers?
The Orlando Sentinel has been publishing letters to the editor regarding the value of prayer. Some of these have been quite peculiar, but the one by Don Maloney of Orlando, which appeared on May 23, 2013, certainly showed that people in this area have widely diverging views of prayer. Considering the views of others is always interesting, but the ultimate question ought to be, “What does the Bible teach on the subject?” With that in mind, we will compare what was said in the letter with what is taught in the Scriptures.
Some people may feel that praying is enough, that they don’t need to do the other things. But the evidence shows that God is hands off, and we are on our own.
What evidence would that be—that God is hands off? People have their prayers answered every day of the week, which may not constitute proof for the writer, but the Bible teaches that: 1) we ought to pray, and that 2) God answers prayer. Jesus not only taught His disciples to pray (Matt. 6:9-15), but He taught them that men ought always to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1), which it looks as if the letter writer has. In James 5:16, the brother of the Lord said that the “effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” He did not say that God was “hands off.” Then he gave an illustration of what prayer had accomplished in times past.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit (James 5:17-18).
First, it is noteworthy that James observes that Elijah was a man like us. Yes, he was a great prophet of God, but he was not super-human; he was just as we are. Second, although the nature of his request was most unusual, God honored it. He removed rain from the land and brought it back when Elijah asked for its return. Those prayers were powerful, but a person just like us had them granted to him.
James had previously written that prayers could not be offered by a double-minded man. One must ask in faith, nothing doubting (1:5-8). James also writes that prayers offered for purely selfish reasons will not be granted (James 4:3). Another important factor is that the one praying be a Christian. People assume that God will answer all prayers, but the Lord only requires Himself to listen to the prayers of the righteous—not those who practice evil (1 Peter 3:10-13). Therefore, some prayers are refused, and someone unfamiliar with the Scriptures may not know why.
Someone who is not a Christian or is asking for selfish reasons may feel that God does not answer prayers, but He does if the right conditions are met.
One might think that the writer of the letter to the editor is an atheist, but he seems more like a deist. He speaks of a reward hereafter and then concedes that it will probably not hurt anyone to pray “because it helps get our minds straightened out” so that we can figure out the right course of action. Here he seems to be suggesting that prayer has a psychological, therapeutic effect on us, which is possible. But according to his theory, Jesus knew that we would never get any response (because we are on our own); He simply wanted us to feel better. The problem with this idea is that it makes Jesus look deceitful, which is not possible, and some are going to be really disappointed, perhaps even leaving the faith.
This next sentence is nothing short of enigmatic: “The gospel is true in a secular sense, but not spiritual.” One can only guess at what Mr. Maloney means by this statement. Everything about the gospel, as defined in the Scriptures, is spiritual. The gospel refers to the good news of salvation from sin. Mark begins his gospel with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). Nothing of a secular nature leaps out from Mark’s introduction. The gospel does not concern things of this world but Jesus the Christ, Who is the Son of God and proved Himself to be so. A few verses later we read:
Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:14-15).
The gospel concerns the kingdom of God, which is the church. Nothing in these words has anything to do with any rulers of kingdoms in this world. The word fulfillment refers to the fact that the kingdom of heaven had been prophesied for centuries (Isa. 2:2-4; Dan. 2:44-45), and now it was about to be established. To repent of one’s sins is a spiritual concept, also, and is part of accepting the gospel, which (at the end of Mark’s book), he records Jesus as saying: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved…” (16:15-16). Salvation is a spiritual concept in which a person’s sins are removed. One could only speculate what is meant by the gospel being true in a secular sense.
The writer also affirms that “God put us here in a defective body and mind.” Apparently, he is speaking from experience. No, the fact is that, when God finished the creation, everything was very good (Gen. 1:31). The body God gave us was wondrously made. The decision to sin changed the perfect world that God gave us initially. Concerning the mind, most people can still think rationally, although some choose not to do so. God cannot be blamed for the ways in which people harm their bodies or the ways in which they degrade the mind.
The writer seems to have a little trouble making up his own mind about things. He says that people “are afraid to die, so they make up prayers like something is going to happen,” which indicates that he does not believe in heaven, but then he adds that when “we get to heaven, then we’ll see what happens.” Apparently, he assumes that all people are going there whether or not they believe the gospel or choose not to pray at all!
He says that he wants to help the people of this world as much as possible; so he stays home on Sundays “to learn about the world on the news shows,” he must be making a joke—or trying to provide a definition for his use of the secular gospel. Watching such programming only provides a little insight (and perhaps not always an accurate understanding) to what is happening in the world at any given moment. Jesus brought the gospel so that, regardless of what was happening in the world at any time, mankind could be saved.
He protests that “going to church” for him is a waste of time because he has already read “the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants and the Quran.” He concludes by saying that the more he reads, the more convinced he is that these were not from God, “but from man.” Of course, the latter three were from man: Joseph Smith authored two of them (one from a stolen manuscript), and the other was delivered orally by Muhammad and written down by his men after his death. None of these three works is particularly exciting to read; some might say they are repetitive and boring.
However, the Bible is not by any means in the same category as the other three. The fulfilled prophecies of the Scriptures make it different from any other book ever written. The Qur’an contains one prophecy that Muhammad gave and fulfilled; the Bible has hundreds of prophecies written by various men over the centuries that are all fulfilled in the New Testament. Nothing else comparable to the Bible exists now or ever will—because it comes from God. The Book of Mormon is Bible-like, since it was written in similar fashion, and it even repeats several chapters from the Bible. Imagine that! Joseph Smith allegedly found plates in the 1800s (which conveniently disappeared), and he translated the ancient “Reformed Egyptian” text (which no one has ever heard of) into King James English, which no one was speaking in 1830! Furthermore, archaeology has not established even one Mormon claim but has verified hundreds of Bible facts.
If Mr. Maloney had read the Bible with an open mind, he would have discovered great riches within its pages. The problem is that people like him just pick it up and read it without knowing how to read it. They do not know how it is put together; so it seems meaningless to them. The fault is not in the Scriptures but in those who have never taken the time to grasp the Bible’s structure or notice the significant portions, such as the promise in Genesis 3:15 and the three promises made to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-7.
One final thought that the editorial writer might ask himself is, if the Bible is not from God, how does he know anything about prayer, the gospel, the church, or heaven? These can only be mere assumptions on his part without any proof whatsoever—if the Bible is not from God. If men wrote it on their own authority, and it is not from God, then no part of it can be trusted, including, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Does he really understand the implications of what he is saying?