Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: uriel@oak.circa.ufl.edu (Scott Whitmore) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Prayer and Paradoxes Message-ID: Date: 24 Dec 90 08:29:49 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of Florida CIRCA VAX Cluster Lines: 59 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , lums@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Andy Lumsdaine) writes: >1) What is the actual mechanism by which God hears our prayers? >Certainly, it's not acoustic, since one can pray silently. Does He >pick up the electrochemical patterns in our brains that are composing >our thoughts? Is it something deeper, something in our souls, that He >picks up? If it is something deeper, what is it? While if it were somehow necessary for Him to use physical sensors to pick up the contents of our prayers, I'm sure He would, somehow I doubt that it's that way. What is the "actual mechanism" by which souls and bodies interact? What is the "actual mechanism" by which thoughts or dreams or prayers are created in the first place? I certainly don't know, and though Theosophists may be able to answer that question with a great deal more confidence than they should, I certainly can't. >2) Does God answer our prayers before we pray them? Of course, He is >outside of time, and can easily do so. However, and here is where the >paradox comes in, if He answers the prayer beforehand, wouldn't the >circumstances leading up to the prayer be changed, so that the prayer >might not be prayed? I ask this because of an experience I had a few >years ago. I had gotten away from my Christian walk and had gotten >myself into a real mess in my personal life. In my despair, I prayed >for deliverance -- I felt God's presence during that prayer more >clearly than ever before or since. My prayers were answered in >startling fashion and in short order. However, as I've been >reflecting over this experience, it seems that God was working in my >life well before then to answer that prayer, and even more remarkably, >to bring me to the place where I could pray that prayer in first >place. > I think you answered your own question, here. If your intention at Time X was to pray for Y, then at Time X-1 God will know this, and can (if it would be fitting) "set you up" for it "in advance." If your intention at Time X was NOT to pray, then at Time X-1 God knows this as well and will accordingly NOT set you up. But God isn't going to change your mind for you in any event, even though it may SEEM like it to you. >I don't expect any quick or easy answers to any of this. But, I would >like to discuss some of these issues with other Christians so that, in >any case, my understanding and appreciation of God can increase. Would that I understood it all better myself... but the duty of a Christian is not merely to understand, but to follow Him in heart, word and deed... >Regards, >Andrew > Andrew Lumsdaine "We don't understand the software, and > lums@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu sometimes we don't understand the hardware, > MIT RLE but we can *see* the blinking lights!" Scott -- Scott Whitmore Internet: uriel@maple.circa.ufl.edu 24-510 Tolbert Hall or uriel@maple.decnet%pine.circa.ufl.edu Gainesville, FL 32612 (USA) Friendly Neighborhood Standard Disclaimer "The Devil...the prowde spirit...cannot bear to be mocked." --Thomas More (?)