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From: nlt@duke.UUCP (N. Tinkham)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: A theological question
Message-ID: <4284@duke.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Apr-84 17:18:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: duke.4284
Posted: Mon Apr 30 17:18:42 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 1-May-84 07:48:27 EDT
Organization: Duke University
Lines: 34

[">" = David Palmer]

>    A simple question for anybody with a religion which supports prayer.
>
>    Does it have any effect to pray to prevent or cause something which
>may or may not have happened or refused to happen.
>
>    If, for instance, you see a house explode (or some other
>catastrophe that has no possibility of leaving survivors), would it do
>any good to pray that there WERE no people in the house at the
>time?

   I have no access to the mind of God, but given that prayers do affect
God's actions, I think it reasonable that a prayer made after an event
might influence that event (e.g., it might well do some good to pray that
no one was in the house that exploded 5 minutes ago).  At the time of
the explosion God, I think, knew that I would be praying 5 minutes later,
requesting that the house be vacant, and thus could, if he chose,
honor the request prior to the explosion.

>    Also, is god non-local.  That is, can different parts of him
>communicate at greater than the speed of light.

   If I understand your question correctly, the traditional doctrine of
omnipresence implies a positive answer.  God is not located at any particular
point in time and space, but rather is equally present to all places,
so that yes, he could communicate simultaneously to me and to a being
20 light-years away.  It's not so much a matter of communication travelling
faster than the speed of light; instead, it's that God isn't a physical
object in space.


                                          N. Tinkham
                                          duke!nlt