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?

I was a Christian for a long time in evangelical circles. In my time in this world I saw a huge amount of damage done to people through very dodgy preaching about prayer and its power.

In my experience, prayer for many Christians is more of a meditative process. Praying for wisdom, guidance, etc. Not necessarily for a miraculous outcome. This type of prayer can be enormously helpful and tends to be a much more C of E/traditional old-school Christian approach. When prayers are read for the community in a C of E church, for example, rather than praying for healing, the prayers tend to be for comfort and strength, and wisdom to the doctors caring for them etc, rather than expecting a miraculous recovery.

However, in Evangelical churches, this very American influenced idea of the 'power of prayer' - in that God really does hear the prayers of each and every one of us, can personally intervene in every area of our lives, and prayers are seen as a way of being able to intervene into circumstances, 'move mountains', etc, is the dominant mode of communication with God. From a young age you are encouraged to speak in tongues when you pray, pray over other people in tongues, be filled with the spirit, etc - all very dramatic and exciting but all a load of nonsense, really.

I was part of a church like this and I always struggled with the logic. We'd be praying for dying people to be healed, they would die, and somehow this still ended up being twisted into being an answer to prayer. 'God works in mysterious ways', 'God sees the whole map, we just see the road we're on' etc - all contradictory to the belief that prayers can directly influence what happens to us, but used to persuade people that despite unanswered prayers, God still cares. Claims that certain things were answers to prayers and that certain messages were given to certain people directly from God as a result of prayer were also often used as a way to justify dodgy decision making and avoid accountability. It's a frightening world and one that has very little to do with the true values of Christianity, in my view.

I no longer describe myself as a Christian, but I do still see value in prayer as a meditative act. Taking time to be grateful, to reflect, and to think of others is never a bad thing. I don't think it will achieve anything other than to make me feel calmer and more able to cope with whatever is coming my way, though.

God doesn't answer any prayers. Not a single one.

@locationforna ive sent you a pm

My god is mother nature ( if I have a god... not sure ) I know that when someone has bad news or bad health ( or terminal illness) to ask 'Why me?' just really annoys me.. Why not you ? It's the luck of the draw I suppose, or could it be management, not luck? Religion? The cause of hardship and wars the world over.

Basically if go appeared on the battlefield, most of humanity would go to war against the being.

I often wonder how people with a deep religious belief view those with no belief. I don't believe in God, but I don't see it as a choice. You can't make yourself believe in something.

*God

Cus he’s not real

The nature god I believe is gaia

@owdlass
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia

Regarding Judaism, my late Nans male friend was a Jew but he lost his faith in G-d during the carnage of D-Day.

My late Grandad was not all religious but he & his comrades often found themselves praying not to die during battle in ww2. Obviously, many soldiers did die so some prayers were answered, many were not.

And then, the Holocaust- many people wondered where God was then.

I feel I have a belief in a God that was brainwashed into me as a child and I'm fighting against that belief... as I think if God does exist then he or it is either not bothered about humanity or is actually evil, because how can a 'good' supreme being allow such terrible things to happen.

People want to believe that they have control over their lives. They want to believe that God will take action on their behalf, or on behalf of those they pray for.

That's why people say it and believe it. And if you pray over many, many situations, some will turn out as you hoped. Proof that God listened. When it doesn't work... there's an excuse.

It's not logical. It's faith and hope and desire for meaning and control.

God is a story a fairy tale. How any intelligent person can not see that really does amaze me It's nice people can find comfort in things they believe in but they aren't real

Have you read/watched 'The Shack' , it seems to to explain how God is 'with' you in those times of need and desperation and sharing in your pain rather than 'answering' your prayers .

Because God doesn't control the world. The Bible makes that very clear. He's not in control, someone else is

Have you seen the scene from Derry Girls in episode 1, season 3 where Sister Michael talks about the futility of praying just before they open their GCSE results? That sums up one aspect of the explanation very well.

I have always thought that the attitude that if you pray hard enough, God will always provide is quite arrogant. It places the 'blame' if a prayer 'fails' on the people praying and reduces an omnipotent deity to a wish giving machine. We aren't here to make demands on God. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't pray or that prayer has no value. It gives us time & space to listen to God and to also to meditate on our concerns.

The deep flaw with prayer is that when something comes to pass, for example a person has had a life saving operation, people lose their minds, thanking god, attributing this “miracle” to him, he gets all the glory. But what about the surgeon? The surgeon who has spent years and years learning and then practicing this skill, developing their expertise, dedicating their lives to this career - he should be praised, he should be thanked, not this god, that no one has ever seen. But when things don’t go to plan we are asked to accept that that this was “his” all plan along. And we are brainwashed to believe that we need to take comfort from that, that even when this god has actually failed us, we still give all the glory to him/her/it. It’s ultimately so messed up. So much suffering and we still glorify this god.

OP there are thousands of other religious and non religious mythologies and belief systems out there. You don’t have to stick to the Abrahamic religions - there’s so much more potentially better stuff out there.

You are supposed to pray always with “but God’s will be done”, which seems like a “get out” clause. (That sounds awful, but I can’t think how else to put it). It does make me wonder about the point of praying for anything specific, but the Bible has a number of places that tell us to pray and persevere in prayer. I don’t think anyone is going to have an answer that makes it crystal clear.

Because he's a sadistic old bastard, who cackles as he rolls the dice.

But mainly, because he / she doesn't exist. Prayer is worse than futile. Religious people who know that they are being prayed for have worse surgical outcomes than do people who don't know.

Christian groups like and claim that the opposite is the case.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo

I think that MN chat is not the place for this question as there are a lot of atheists of MN however I do think that people try to humanise God and try to rationalise events that have happened.

We have no way of knowing why God does what He does however we have the hope that all things will be made right.

This is a promise and God does not break promises, He cannot lie.

Unfortunately it is people that have ruined things, not God. We just want to blame him and not take responsibility.
Also there is an assumption that if you are Christian you are more worthy or more knowledgeable or more holy when the fact is a true believer realises how weak and imperfect we are and we need a Saviour. It doesn't mean that a Christian won't hurt you.
Ive been more hurt by Christians than by other people but that's not Gods fault.

So The late Queen, Pope President, government and ministers as well as billions of people have low IQs then

For me, praying is a way of talking to God about everything in my life. Sharing my pains and the things I'm finding joy in. Of course if there is suffering in my life I'll pray for it and the human nature of me wants the suffering to end. That's an element of the prayer, but the other element is to talk through and to understand the suffering with God. Suffering is never in God's plan but he gives us the tools to be strong against it. One of those is prayer.

I don't believe in praying hard enough to make things happen. But I do also believe God is sovereign. Just like our King is and Queen was. She had so many opportunities to step in and change the course of government for example, but didn't because she was sovereign.

So, I do believe to an extent in pre-destination. That there's a bigger picture and a path laid out for us. I don't believe prayer always changes that, but I do believe prayer is a tool to help us build relationship with God and is also a tool to help us understand our own faith more. It's also hugely comforting for me to be able to pray for someone, trusting that I can then hand it over.

With all due respect, it's humans that wrote all the books, not God or the being Q, ect therefore we know nothing of God,

Nah, they use the teachings of Machiavelli, and just appear to believe, it could be argued.