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?

Because he's choosy?

God is an invention of man, designed to control man, written in books by man and, in the past, to attempt to explain many things that science now can.

it isnt god causing the horribleness- it's us humans.

Humans certainly do their bit in creating suffering, but certainly aren't behind all of it. Humans don't cause volcanoes. Humans don't cause parasites that live by growing inside another creature in ways that cause immense pain and suffering.

Not everything is about people. Many religions seem to forget that.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s perfectly natural to not want to see loved ones suffering, or indeed ourselves, whether you believe in a god or not. Even if I believed in a higher purpose, and that the suffering we encounter isn’t anything in the grand scheme of things, that doesn’t mean that it’s doesn’t hurt right here, right now, and have a negative effect on me. It’s a very understandable human trait/instinct to want to avoid pain, whether emotional or physical. Even if you accept that the pain, and your response to it, is part of the ‘testing process’ that I described.

From my perspective, I often see religion as part of that natural avoidance- our way of us dealing with and giving us hope that life isn’t it, and that it doesn’t end when our time on earth does. Again, just my viewpoint and in the context of this thread- I’m not trying to be disrespectful to anyone’s views here or provocative.

As an atheist, I obviously don’t believe in the higher purpose or afterlife. Basically, my viewpoint is that life and the world is nothing but a biological event (or indeed ‘accident’). So really isn’t very important at all in the wider sense. Still doesn’t mean that I take a pragmatic ‘so what?’ view on being punched in the face, or the death of my cat, for example. I suppose this ‘being human’ element is one of the things that both believers, and non-believers alike, share in common.

@cherry2727

Is everyone's non belief based purely around poorly kids dying ?

No. In my case I don't believe in Gods because I've never seen had reason to. There is no tangible evidence at all that they exist, and the universe appears to function perfectly ably without the concept of deities, so I see no reason to ponder all the irreconcilable and contradictory problems that comes along with introducing deities when there are no such problems posed by the concept of a universe without them.

On a philosophical level, the reason I can't 'buy' into deities being anything other than a concept completely invented by the imaginations of humankind, is it's ludicrously pompous to position ourselves as pretty much the centre of the universe and everything in it, then invent a 'god' to justify why that is. The reality is humankind is nothing more than a quirk of biological and chemical accident, there is no 'reason' at all for our existence beyond that, there is no 'meaning' of life, we're a species of sentient apes that the universe, in the grand scheme of things, couldn't care less about. We could be wiped from existence tomorrow and the universe would carry on it's merry way because we are entirely inconsequential.

Gods and religions have come about purely because that evolutionary quirk that has granted us a degree of self-awareness means we ponder why that is, so we've invented things down the years to try and explain things we can't fully rationalise. This might be the only life bearing planet in the entire universe, it might not. If it is we are the most advanced species on it, and by extension, the most advanced species in the universe, but that in itself does not mean we were 'created' or that is by design. Again, it's just quirk of coincidence. If the same were true of some random species on a random planet in some other, random galaxy somewhere, then that species would also be prone to granting themselves some completely unmerited 'special' status, because it is genuinely hard to grasp that our existence is just complete accident, and it comforts us to think we must be special even though there's nothing whatsoever to suggest it.

There are several other species on our planet that show a degree of sentience, self-awareness etc, so it's not as if we a truly unique anyway, we're just a bit more evolutionary advanced than they are and we're able to tangle with more esoteric concepts. I see no reason why we should be 'gods chosen race' when great apes, dolphins, pachyderms and so on really aren't all that 'lesser' than us, but again, that's the pomposity at work.

Do babies and small children have free will? Are babies able to make conscious decisions about life? When they are suffering in any way, is it their fault?

That's not what free will is. You have free will to make your own choices and decisions. There are no consequences (in this life at least) for what you did. Your baby won't die because he was actually conceived with gardener or live because you pray every day 10 times a day . Suffering, death,pain etc. is a result of being alive , not an act of God. The same with luck,happiness,love,success.

In the words of Garth Brooks: some of God's greatest gifts are often unanswered prayers.
I believe that some things are meant to be and therefore some things are not meant to be.
I don't understand why if there is a God that he lets bad things happen to innocent children in particular. Free will doesn't come in to that one.
I hope one day all questions will be answered by I fear they won't.

I agree with your viewpoint. I would also add that, in my view, the invention of religion was also a necessary part of our development as a society. In order to function and grow, a society needs rules, and the weaker elements need protection in order to survive and thrive. This requires laws (and a method of policing them), but in itself, that takes society to develop to a certain level before they can be implemented. Religion helped bridge that gap- along with providing answers to things we didn’t understand, as you have identified.

Religion was a way society policed itself, before the advent of police. Although very harshly compared to modern standards, there was an incentive provided for people to do the right things- not murdering, stealing etc, which was otherwise missing. I’d say it’s usefulness in that regard has long since passed, but then again, just watching the news regularly makes me question just how civilised our civilisation actually is.

I know this isn’t the thread for us atheists to come on and start trying to undermine or ridicule your views. I’ve posted quite a lot about my friends viewpoints on here (or at least, my understanding of them), so thought it only fair that I give my own, to help put my previous posts into context.

Perfectly summed up. Prayers are also an incentive

Flipping fingers with a mind if their own and no edit button!

Payers are also an invention of man.

Prayer is not supposed to be some divine slot machine where you "name it and claim it" and wish hard enough, or get enough people praying, it's supposed to be about relationship with God. Where you can get to the point where you say even if..(good thing doesn't happen or bad thing happens) God is still good/holy/in charge/knows best.

From a Christian's perspective, this life is not the only thing and is just temporary. The most important thing is knowing God as a loving Father and what happens after death. Not what we can get from God now... Though he does give good gifts just not all that people want..one of my kids would ask for unlimited chocolate probably... I might too ..

In Christian belief:The world was not supposed to contain sickness and death and bad things happening/buggered up creation/nature..it was supposed to be people created to be in perfect relationship with God. Some things are easier to explain: natural consequences or getting in the way of someone intent on doing you harm.

Prayer and belief sound completely foolish...as people have pointed out already!

Why doesn't God answer all prayers? Why does he only answer some, why do babies/children die?

Doesn't make sense to me either!

Especially why do babies die.
(I had an early miscarriage which, personally I find more explainable than a baby dying, maybe I wouldn't if I didn't have a child already...)

How people rationalize it will depend on their beliefs. No one is going to be able to prove it one way or another.

Have you got any research to back up that claim?

Binturong has posted for me.

Please post some evidence that Yahweh / Bubastis / Kali etc exist.

It's just like the Santa that brings bigger presents to some children than others. Very sad when people believe they are being punished in some way. The truth is so much easier!
I find it difficult to hear when a surgeon works for hours upon hours to save a life when 'god' then gets the credit.

@DomesticShortHair

Probably worth bearing in mind as well that since the advent of civilisation, different pockets of humans have, in isolation, come up with their own religions and deities, every single one of them utterly wedded to the idea that theirs, and theirs alone is the reality of things, yet many of these civilisations have disappeared completely and their various gods and religious systems along with them, yet still the universe shrugs and carries on regardless.

I suppose you could contend that one of the contemporary religions does actually have the correct interpretation, but then they are fairly modern inventions when you compare them to the length of time modern humans have been around, so you'd have to wonder why it's taken so many false starts, blind alleys, and abortive attempts to actually discover the secret formula. Like, "no, that ancient religion, that other ancient religion, that one that died out thousands of years ago, that cult that sprung up briefly in medieval times, in fact, every other religion ever, including all of the other contemporary ones, all of them wrong and misguided, except THIS ONE!, that's the real one! finally!".

Or it could just be the much more simple and credible answer that they are all nonsense because there are no such thing as deities.

That's fascinating
Do they have a hypothesis as to why? I can't see it on the paper.

Jesus does say in the Bible “do not put the Lord to the test”. I think this scientific study is an example of doing just that which is perhaps why the outcome came out as it did.

Just a final thought on the 'why does god allow bad things to happen?' poser -

My view on this ties in with what I said earlier about long-gone civilisations.

Human beings often venerate their god because they consider them the creator being, so it makes sense to offer some sort of thanks for their existence. I suppose they could content that should humankind cease to exist then that's rather inconsequential because god is much more than humankind and would continue on regardless. Ok, that seems fine, but then I'd ask why a god would create humankind and give it all the benefits of being the most advanced being around, accept their veneration, then sit idly by and watch it circle the drain and then vanish completely. Why would, indeed, should you venerate such a capricious entity?

The whole thing seems like a rather nonsensical self-perpetuating cycle. God creates humankind, humankind venerates god, humankind ceases to exist, god shrugs and moves on. I mean, why would god bother in the first place if god really isn't all that concerned with the fate and wellbeing of the thing they created? Doesn't it seem a bit of a poor investment to devote all that time and effort in deference to a being that would passively sit and watch you fall victim to extinction? If god is powerful enough to create the entire universe, then I doubt it would be beyond them to prevent one single species passing into non-existence, yet that's what we see happening to human civilisations down the ages. Did those civilisations simply choose poorly and venerate the wrong god, or gods? Well, surely not, because that in itself posits that there are many if not a multitude of gods, which many religions utterly deny and expressly forbid their adherents to speculate about.

Perhaps the reason 'god permits bad things to happen' is simply because that's just human beings anthropomorphising the quirks of the universe again. God is neither responsible for the bad nor the good, because there is no such thing as god.

*contend

In reality, despite being a believer , I think it's rather self important to think that with everything going on in the world, you or your child are God's priority at any given moment, so much so that he will answer YOUR prayers but not other's.

I don't believe prayer works for things we want to happen/would like but I also don't agree with this idea as God is suppose to be benevolent and powerful, not like a human who can only grant one person their attention at a time

God can focus on us all at the same time, seems to be the general idea from religions

@Molly70 that's really an example of why Christianity can feel so much like torture as to make atheism the only way I felt at peace: the idea that God can heal depending on whether they receive the 'right' kind or number of prayers, and above all that the people involved feel the right thing, but that God may easily decide not to heal based on the thoughts of the sick person or whether they have signed up for a research study. I mean - bleurgh. It makes zero sense!

As an agnostic, I'd say that there is an answer, there has to be some explanation to why we're here. An agnostic is often mistaken as a fence sitter but ultimately we believe that the answer is unknowable; that humans don't have the capacity to answer this question definitely.

Could the answer be "God"? Depends on what you view "God" as. It sounds like you don't recognise the cruel "God" who committed Genocide (Noah) or murdered Job's son just to prove a point to the devil, or specifically one who is selective in answering life and death prayers. However, if Judaism appeals then the best place to start may be a Rabbi rather than a Mumsnet forum.

It's interesting that you're moving your faith rather than losing it altogether. Have you heard of Pascal's Wager before? If not you might find this interesting iep.utm.edu/pasc-wag/

Pascal’s wager always seems like a clever joke to me, not a real reason for belief. Why would an omniscient God be impressed by that kind of self interest?

I think that Christians over the centuries have created an impossible conundrum for themselves. God has to be omniscient and omnipotent,
as otherwise he isn’t perfect. So when awful things happen, we’ll blame ourselves and make up the doctrine of free will to explain it away. Which then leads to my friend being told by her church that she’s chronically ill because she doesn’t believe hard enough.

If an omniscient and omnipotent God really existed, I think he would want us to use our brains and thank the doctor.

An agnostic is often mistaken as a fence sitter but ultimately we believe that the answer is unknowable; that humans don't have the capacity to answer this question definitely.

But that's what Jews believe too

2pence · Today 07:22
As an agnostic, I'd say that there is an answer, there has to be some explanation to why we're here“

Why? All of the required conditions coming together at the right time is sufficient.

Yes, I just don't understand the contention that there must be an underlying reason why human beings came into existence.

The combination of biology, chemistry, evolution, the passage of time, and a good helping of coincidence and fortune adequately explain the existence of the human race.

The simple fact that we are here and we are sentient enough to realise it and ponder it does not in any way mandate that we must be here by design, or that there was any outside intelligence involved. That's the pomposity of humanity at play again. The reality, as amazing as it is as a story, is pretty mundane and transparent.