SpelocapEmeme from Elvas, Portugal

Christians are passing out plenty of invitations to the almighty.

I quite agree. And how many amputees are healed? Very few. How many dead come back to life? Not many. And yet, we Xians continue to claim that God answers our prayers.

However, God gave this world to people to look after. He doesn’t interfere unless invited.

But kramii, what do you think prayer is, if not an invitation for God to answer those same prayers? Believe me, Christians are passing out plenty of invitations to the almighty.

In #16 you wrote:

Do you even pay attention to your own writing?

Not always! Your criticism is harsh, but fair. I did not need to repeat myself (although, in my defence, I was responding to two different comment – but still, there was no need for the repetition).

Millions are inviting Him. There’s no answer.

Indeed, that is the experience of many.

However, please understand that I was not actually commenting on the efficacy of prayer. In #14, for example, I was actually responding to ATM’s reply to a comment I made about his original post. He stated, “the act of prayer seems incoherent,” because “God is omniscient, she/he already knows all the details of the thing or people being prayed about”. My reply was intended to demonstrate that prayer is coherent, even if God is omniscient.

Hello! Earth to kramii…engage brain before responding now.

If you don;t mind, I prefer reasoned argument to childish put-downs.

Do you even pay attention to your own writing?

In both your posts you give the same “answer”. To wit:

From post 13: “However, God gave this world to people to look after. He doesn’t interfere unless invited.”
From post 14: “The reason that God does not answer un-asked prayer is because he does not go where He is not invited.”

Hello! Earth to kramii ! God is being invited!!! Millions are inviting Him. There’s no answer.

Engage brain before responding now.

In #7 you said:

“… another part of prayer is about getting something that you wouldn’t otherwise have.”

True

“if God knows what we are going to ask for and knows whether we are going to get it, what is the point of asking?”

Part of this question is meaningless: “If god knows what we are going to ask for, what is the point of asking?” is simply illogical. God, being omniscient, knows if we will ask or not. If not, why should he answer? If so, he knows because we actually do ask.

The reason that God does not answer un-asked prayer is because he does not go where He is not invited.

Imagine I am a cleaner, and I know your house is untidy. Would you expect me to break in without your permission and to clean up? No: in fact, you would have every reason to have me charged with a criminal offence.

Why should the situation with God + our needs be any different?

In #9 you wrote:

“if God cannot or will not cure the amputee, the AIDS patient, or the mentally retarded, then God cannot or will not cure anything. Any request is trivial to infinite power. ”

Absolutely right. The Jesus of the Bible had no problem with curing minor ailments like death, for example.

However, God gave this world to people to look after. He doesn’t interfere unless invited.

Most Xians (myself included) have a lot to answer for in the way we express our faith.