Why does God answer some prayers and not others?

[locationforna]

Just this really.

If you are a Christian, please can you tell me why God answers some peoples prayers and not others?

For example, one woman could be praying her baby survives. Baby dies. Another woman with the exact same situation of an unwell baby - Baby lives. Both prayed, they prayed a lot

Why is it you say 'God is good' and 'God does answer, this is a miracle' and 'we are praying for you'

Do you really think that if the first person prayed hard enough, her baby would've survived? Or if not, and it's just chance, why pray?

I believe in God by the way. I have been studying for a while and seem to lean towards Judaism but notice a lot of 'God is good, he answered my prayers. It's a miracle'

Why some prayers and not others? Why do people think He's helped you get a job offer you really wanted but not answered a woman across the road's prayer not to be raped?

There is suffering throughout the Bible. Jesus himself suffered according to the Bible. That's not what I mean - I mean specially, why some prayers can be answered and not others that are equally in need?

Otherwise, isn’t justice and civilisation a mythology too?

I'm not sure you understand the word 'mythology'. Civilisations exist - multitudes of them, with endless variations of religious basis or none. Some are now extinct, but they aren't myths.

Justice is carried out - or not - by people. Not by gods.

Fairness and justice are understood - and enforced by the social systems of - many non humans. Do capuchin monkeys or crows have religions?

I think for me Judaism answers most of what I want more than Christianity. It says we can't really known God in his enter form as we are humans with limited capabilities of understanding. Something in Judaism literally translates words like understand and proof as caged in examples

For me, I seem to believe in God the most because of creation. Something can't come from... so the only logical explanation is like the Jews say, a being beyond our comprehension

All time has to go back somewhere and end somewhere (to us). So how did the very first spark of light, universe or planet coke to be?

Something has to come from something and the only answer I see is God

That's handy for me as an atheist then. Means I can put my hand on the bible and still have no compunction about lying my tits off in court.

Human civilisation has a perfectly robust moral compass without the need for religion to impose one on them. It's a ridiculous argument. If you are going to contend that humans would be lawless and descend into savagery without religion to hold them in check and show them how to behave, then you are going to have some explaining to do about the fact that the most lawless and savage places on the planet are frequently the ones that are most consumed by religious zealotry.

Modern humans predate all the large religions by eons. The idea that we'd have no ability to regulate our behaviours without religion in our lives is absurd. We thrived without mass organised religion, and plenty of civilisations have folded despite being steeped in it. Some of them entirely because of it. Religion has no monopoly on morality.

As I said, a very convenient rule.

The op has said I am very interested in the views of those who don't believe. It's important. I would say similar and I do believe in God

I fell out with God for a long time after my parent died.
But I do believe - not in religion- which seems controlling ti me, though I respect others beliefs.
I believe there is something more....,bigger than what we see.
Something will just happen....and I just know.
My Dad (biggest atheist out there) put it best in this story.
(Once upon a time) there was a man who didn't believe in God witness something that changed his mind.
It was a lovely summers day and he was walking along the road.
Suddenly, a man on huge motorcycle sped passed. Moments later the biker had the most horrendous crash.
The other man rushed to see he could help - thinking there was absolutely no chance for the driver.
On reaching the scene he was amazed to see the rider, steadily getting to his feet, and dusting himself off. Basically, he walked away without a scratch.
The bike, however was smashed to peaces.
The passer by knew, that God had been there that day. (In his words) maybe in the daffodils by the road or the trees- but he was there.
Because what he had seen was - impossible.

And in first place for proving religion makes you a better person...

Something can come from.nothing, what about previous advanced beings e.g. Like how humans can genetically engineer new creatures or designer babies ect, what if their were whole other civilisations that spread life and creations across the stars, they would not necessarily be god, just other beings advanced enough ?

And how is that working out for the justice system? Who will hold the oath or affirmation accountable if not God? Or are you depending on humans who are not just creatures themselves? Humans can only do so much.

In this country, with the monarch as head of state and legal system, you can’t actually get around God overseeing the justice system, even by evading the oath with an affirmation. Even judges swearing affirmations instead of oaths still swear by the monarch (who, according to their title, is a monarch by the grace of God and defender of the faith).

The crown (or, corona in Latin) is symbolic of God. And I know a lot of people who believe corona is a message or sign from God.

God Is Not Nice: Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For - this book “reintroduces Christians to the true God―not the polite, easygoing, divine therapist who doesn’t ask much of us, but the Almighty God who is unpredictable, awe-inspiring, and demands our entire lives.
Stripping away the niceties with a sling blade, Lehner shows that God is more strange and beautiful than we imagine, and wants to know and transform us in the most intimate way. Lehner challenges the God of popular culture and many of our churches and reintroduces the God of the Bible and traditional Christianity. As Lehner writes in the book’s introduction, "We all need the vaccine of the true transforming and mysterious character of God: The God who shows up in burning bushes, speaks through donkeys, drives demons into pigs, throws Saul from his horse, and appears to St. Francis. It’s only this God who has the power to challenge us, change us, and make our lives dangerous." This book is not safe. It may startle and annoy many people―including those who purport to teach and preach the Gospel, but are missing it, according to Lehner. God Is Not Nice intends to overthrow all of our popular misconceptions about God, inviting us to ask deeper questions about the nature of our lives and our relationship with him.”

But then where did God come from?

That's the issue for me with the 'you can't get something from nothing so there must be a god'

But then God must have come from nothing, so how does that work

I am not an atheist but I can't see how that would make a true atheist believe in God. It isn't impossible. Highly unlikely and even with a possibility of 0.001%, if we're being extreme with the statistics. But still not impossible

I can fairly say nobody will win the Euromillions twice. It seems impossible but in reality it isn't actually 'impossible'

Just not going to happen, in all likelihood. But not impossible

@Inspecto

What about believing for the sake of the justice system? Otherwise, isn’t justice and civilisation a mythology too?

How can you believe "for the sake of..."? You either believe or you don't. What you're really saying is that it might be worth pretending to believe for the greater good.

I think there are principles and values that need to be promoted and lived out for the benefit of all of us. Religion has provided and to an extent continues to provide, a framework for that. And I can see value,
necessity even, in society having organisation that bonds and provide the societal framework that religion has done over the centuries. Religion could do this if it evolved as society has, and ditched some of its theological absurdities, accept the myths as myths and not historical fact, and ultra-regressive views of sexuality, but until it does, it risks becoming more of an irrelevance.

Something cannot come from nothing.

So where did god come from?

Because what he had seen was - impossible.

If it happened, it was not impossible.

Bikers surviving falling off their bike is perfectly possible. People have fallen out of planes without a parachute and survived. It's not impossible; it's physics.

But then where did God come from?

That's the issue for me with the 'you can't get something from nothing so there must be a god'

But then God must have come from nothing, so how does that work

That's the whole point. We can't know because we are limitations as humans. God does not, and knows the answer. Jews seem to teach this very early on in studies, that we can't begin to understand because we aren't God. We won't know in our lives

With the idea in mind that only a supernatural being would know or come from nothing, it seems a more sensible? or logical explanation that science because science can provide no answers at all to the start of everything

Have you not heard of zero? Zero is nothing and we still get a lot from zero in mathematics. Maths is divine.

the idea, concept and philosophy, of the deity we call god came from a human mind,

What ever the original purpose was of using god and religion as humans have is debatable.

I feel like you and I fundamentally believe the same thing but arrive at a different answer

So we both know we came from nothing to something and we don't fully understand how.

Your answer is to believe in God, mine is to believe in science, not just the science we know now but the science to come.

And how is that working out for the justice system? Who will hold the oath or affirmation accountable if not God?

Considerably better than faith-based justice systems. Trial by fire wasn't justice. Legal systems based on thousand year old books with no possibility for updating do not give results acceptable to modern society.

The court and legal system hold people accountable for perjury rather more effectively than promising things to a book. Are you seriously suggesting nobody lied under oath before they introduced secular affirmations?

Of course I've heard of zero, how patronising!

But I see zero as the universe at its start point without the need for divine intervention

@Letitrainletitrainletitrain yes I agree. It's so interesting

I suppose there's an element of 'faith' there with me, which is why I come to a different conclusion than you. So when it comes down to it, just something I feel in my heart of hearts

the other logical perspective is god is an extraterrestrial being

With the idea in mind that only a supernatural being would know or come from nothing, it seems a more sensible? or logical explanation that science because science can provide no answers at all to the start of everything

Did god will itself into existence then? If it did, why did it not do it sooner? If that was a choice, then that in itself disproves this story because, first of all, something that does not exist can not wish itself to exist, and neither can it 'wait' for the appropriate point in time because a thing that does not exist has no concept of time.

I'm not sure what the intent of last part of your statement really is, but for the avoidance of doubt, science does have some pretty convincing hypotheses regarding 'the start of everything' that do actually fit with what we know about the universe, and more importantly, the more new knowledge we discover, the more it's validating these hypotheses.

@Hawkins001 Genuinley, I hadn't thought of that

But it still makes me arrive at the same place, where did that being come from? If there's another system of life thousands of light years away that made us all, what about them? Where did they all start too?

Very interesting

The way I see it is that it's like parenting with God being the parent and us being the children. I don't let my children eat as many sweets as they want, not brush their teeth, not have medical treatment etc. Sometimes they understand why and sometimes they don't. Same as when my dc ask to go to softplay or the park. Sometimes I was planning on going anyway, sometimes it's a no as we already had plans, weather is bad or something like that. Sometimes they ask and I just say yes. The dc don't always understand why we can't always do what they want. Prayer is important because it's us communicating with God. God wants us to talk to him, the same as I want my dc to talk to me.

then at some point yea, in not sure beyond that