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?

@XDownwiththissortofthingX again, we won't ever know how God can to be, not in this life. Because as I say, we are taught we have limitations to our understanding. God is much more intelligent than us (from teachings)

I am purely putting out counter arguments by the way, I don't necessarily agree with that

I don’t think belief is binary. Faith is more fluid, questioning and nuanced than binary ‘yes or no’.

Like Pascal’s wager, it is worth believing for the self - and (for the justice system) also the greater good. But even not knowing (agnostic ‘sitting on the fence’) is valuable for the justice system.

The danger, I believe, is when people think they ‘know’ god doesn’t exist and therefore take chances that a believer or agnostic ‘sitting on the fence’ won’t risk. Those risks are more serious in the justice system - and we need that for law and order to function properly.

Mathematics are universal, but the concept of 'zero' is not. That is entirely the construct of Middle-Eastern mathematicians. Prior to them conceiving it it did not exist in humanity. Earlier cultures had no concept of 'zero' in the mathematical/arithmetical sense of it. It's as much an invention of humanity as the Arabic numeral system is.

'Zero' is just that. A man-made, mathematical concept. 'Zero' in this sense is not the same as 'nothing'.

But your plans and what you're going to do for that day might change, as you say, if DC ask you. So if there's not much on and you'd DC asked for the park, you may say yes and go. But if they didn't ever ask, you wouldn't have gone (in this example)

With God, it surely doesn't matter if you pray for things or not? Because his plan won't change, it's in place and doesn't change like a human

^*@Letitrainletitrainletitrain
"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."*^

This a 'god of the gaps' argument and is a logical fallacy as it becomes a smaller and more painstakingly specific argument as scientific knowledge increases.

I beg to differ.

The Concept of Nothing: Ancient India Invents ‘Zero’ ‘Zero’ is a real number that indicates emptiness, absence and a lack of objects.

How can you say mathematics is universal but the concept of zero is not universal? Are you saying that emptiness, absence and a lack of objects are not universal?

Zero symbolises that we can have nothing; that is universal. Are you also saying that death (which is symbolic of nothing and zero) is not universal?

In the multiplication table, anything multiplied by zero is zero. Zero is universal - it’s just not as obvious. Or don’t you do subtlety?

I would read "The Shack" which is a interesting view of God

Wow! Then you haven’t even been reading all of OPs posts properly. OP did ask, up thread, that they wanted to hear from atheists as well!! Focus.

How can you say mathematics is universal but the concept of zero is not universal? Are you saying that emptiness, absence and a lack of objects are not universal?

No, as I've already said, the mathematical concept of 'zero' is not the same thing as 'nothingness' when that is used to describe emptiness. 'Zero' in the mathematical sense is a tool, 'nothing' is just a noun used to describe a state of emptiness.

This is probably just a semantic argument over language as much as anything else, but the gist of where I am coming from is that just because human beings have discovered the concept of 'zero', this has no bearing whatsoever on the concept of 'god' appearing out of 'nothing', and does not make it in any way more credible or likely.

Again, things which do not exist can not compel themselves to exist, and no amount of hand-waving and 'but god...' and granting 'god' extraordinary powers changes that fact.

But “science sits more comfortably with theistic notions on the basis that Men became scientific in Western Europe in the 16th and 17th century "[b]ecause they expected law in nature, and they expected law in nature because they believed in a lawgiver." In other words, it was belief in God that was the "motor that drove modern science".” - Criticism of Atheism

Scientific knowledge is important, but excessive faith in science is unwise because there are limitations to the scientific method.

Lack of faith risks destabilising the justice system, in my view, because you need people to have faith that if humans don’t catch dishonesty under oath or affirmation then it will be caught and ultimately punished by God (better the devil you know, because God is not nice).

“Science and faith have to go hand in hand because science provides focus and focus helps us solve questions, discover the truth and conceive inventions. Faith provides perspective and perspective helps us see how our creations and discoveries go on to impact a combination vital for the success of societies. If the two function true to their roles, they will work together for the betterment of humanity.”

This is a Calvinist view - predestination - there are a number of ways to view this though, and in some we are more or less like robots.
I like the option of Middle Knowledge which says that God works with our actions, rather than God having a plan and sticking to it no matter what we do:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination#Views_of_Christian_branches

I can’t believe you’re suggesting zero (a real number and integer) is not that important to maths. Importance of Zero in Mathematics

And I take issue with this statement you made: “That is entirely the construct of Middle-Eastern mathematicians. Prior to them conceiving it it did not exist in humanity.”

Are you suggesting Middle-Eastern mathematicians were not part of the rest of humanity? Are you joking? I say, Middle-Eastern mathematicians were humans too.

Zero came from a spiritual meditation on the concept of nothingness. All things in this world begins with a zero.

Lack of faith risks destabilising the justice system, in my view, because you need people to have faith that if humans don’t catch dishonesty under oath or affirmation then it will be caught and ultimately punished by God (better the devil you know, because God is not nice).

Lack of faith, or lack of god?

As I see it, lack of faith is inconsequential, because if god exists it's universal so the punishment for lying will be applied to believers and non-believers alike. People lie in court as it is, and there's no sign yet that the justice system is about to crumble. Lack of god would mean that there is no ultimate universal punishment for telling lies in court, which is surely the worse of the two situations, yet, funnily enough, people who deny the existence of god and therefore have no fear whatsoever of being punished by god, do not compulsively lie as a consequence.

It would seem to me that your fear is not only unfounded, it's entirely based in false logic.

@Inspecto
Do you have evidence that:

a) atheists are more likely to lie under oath than believers?

or,

b) more religious societies have better, more ethical and effective justice systems than more secular societies?

The current state of the world does not reflect this.

God is a made up entity by.man

You may as well pray to spiderman or a potato

I can’t believe you’re suggesting zero (a real number and integer) is not that important to maths

Pardon?

I have said no such thing, and I have absolutely no idea how you could possibly conclude that I have.

Are you suggesting Middle-Eastern mathematicians were not part of the rest of humanity? Are you joking? I say, Middle-Eastern mathematicians were humans too

You are either experiencing some serious reading comprehension issues, or you live under a bridge.

Apologies if English is not your first language and something is being lost as a result, but again, I can not see how you could possibly, honestly contend that I am suggesting I do not view Middle-eastern people as human based on that post. That's a completely bizarre assertion.

Lack of faith risks destabilising the justice system, in my view, because you need people to have faith that if humans don’t catch dishonesty under oath or affirmation then it will be caught and ultimately punished by God (better the devil you know, because God is not nice).

I wouldn't lie under oath because I am a good person. I don't need to be scared of divine punishment to be a good person.

On the other hand you currently have people being sentenced to death in Iran for protesting about something ultimately religious. The people sentencing them to death are not good people, but they are using religion to justify bad deeds

We don't need religion in order to have a working justice system. We need a population that is made up of a majority of law abiding citizens. And law makers who make just and civilised laws based on logic and reason.

@Inspecto
You have (perhaps wilfully) misrepresented every point made. This doesn't put your faith in a good light.

I should preface this by saying that I don’t believe God exists, and am now firmly an atheist, but I did a deep dive into Christianity years ago.

Have a read of What’s so amazing about grace? By Philip Yancey. Some CS Lewis, especially The problem of pain might also help you on your spiritual journey.

I think it's human nature, human psychology. It's the most addictive type of reward system, triggering our ?dopamine receptors-when there are variable size rewards from tiny trivial requests to life changing, life saving, and the 'prayers' appear to be fulfilled/answered randomly. It's like in gambling scenarios, the behaviour is reinforced and reinforced most strongly when the payouts can come at any time, you never know if your next prayer will be 'answered' and it might be worth everything. It's very addictive, and totally fuelled by humans. Human biology, human psychology, human behaviour. And every time someone wins big they try to recreate exactly what they did, roll the dice a particular way, stand on one leg, pray to god.
If there was no god, if humans existed just because they could. Because the circumstances were right, all the ingredients there at the right time, we'd always create religions and believe in gods. Because they're a product of us, of the way we think and act, our societies. Time after time in place after place.

That's fine for small things, but what about someone praying to God when they are starving to death, or praying for their cancer results to come back clear, or praying for their unborn child and then they find out the baby has a condition which is "incompatible with life"? If you were an all powerful loving parent, why on earth would you let your children suffer so badly? What possible reason could there be? Hardly the same as saying no to the park!

Yours is based on false wisdom.

“People lie in court as it is, and there's no sign yet that the justice system is about to crumble.”

That is an awful attitude that proves my fears have grounds.

How can you (someone who seems to consider themselves logical) not see that the judiciary crumbles a little every time someone thinks there are no consequences for lying to get themselves off the hook in a legal process? That is about more than denying another person (who they might not like anyway) justice because it also cuts at the heart of justice and the judiciary itself (that’s why perjury is very serious and ultimately a matter for God).

The fall might not happen instantly, but gradual degradation is worse because it’s subtle and harder to fix (not helped by poor attitudes and a lack of foresight). Crumbling to the point the judiciary risks eventually collapses like an avalanche is terribly awful.

Lack of god would mean that there is no ultimate universal punishment for telling lies in court

Corona is Latin for Crown (I assume you’ve heard of ‘Crown Court’). How do you know for absolute certainty that God has not been behind the pandemic that applied to everyone?

God knows more about what’s going on than us; we don’t know everything. But I believe God is trying to get our attention to something to do with the Crown (which also means corona - of all the many viruses that could have gone pandemic, why was it the one called corona that reached pandemic status?)

People with faith have asked if God is behind the pandemic because the bible shows that God is capable of sending plagues and pestilence. But we believe God uses his powers purposefully.

God Is Not Nice: Rejecting Pop Culture Theology and Discovering the God Worth Living For Ulrich L. Lehner 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.

@Inspecto

Connecting the Latin for Crown with coronavirus via the justice system and trying to work that into a justification for your version of god is deranged conspiracy thinking.

When Christians talk about their belief in God, they sound nuts.