Philosophies of Prayer
My life is full of people who pray. And when they pray, the things they pray for
tend to vary, as does the response when what they’re praying for either happens
or doesn’t happen. There doesn’t seem to
be a consistent philosophy of what prayer is, who it’s for, and the expectation
from the recipient. These are a few of
the philosophies of prayer that I can deduct from various people in my
life. I’d love to hear your philosophy
of prayer in the comments. (To be clear –
my questions about prayer are because I’m genuinely curious about these ideas,
not because I’m mocking the idea of prayer)
The most common philosophy of prayer that I deduct from
people is that God is able to intervene in human lives, and depending on what
is said during the prayer, or how many people pray for it, God will choose to
intervene or not to intervene. People
with this philosophy express urgency about prayer, often forwarding messages
through prayer chains, or taking comfort if they know a whole bunch of people
are praying at the same time. “God,
please heal Samantha, as she has cancer.
Let the doctors do a good job, and help her family to be comforted.” This philosophy seems to assume that the
outcome of Samantha’s cancer is undetermined, and God, as prayer recipient,
will give an answer in the form of Samantha’s life or death, the success or
failure of the doctors, and the emotional well-being of the family. To those with this view, I ask: In your
opinion, is God inside or outside of time?
If God is inside of time, what does that say about God’s
omniscience? If God is outside of time,
is it consistent to believe that your prayers matter, as the outcome is
presumably occurring simultaneously with the sickness? Should the patient die, should it really be
believed that God’s will includes senseless things like cancer, or dead
children, or war? What does it say about
God that your prayers may or may not change God’s mind? What does it say about God if the quantity of
prayers make a difference in the outcome?
A different theory I heard preached recently is that God
cannot intervene in human events, but can provide comfort and express empathy
to people as they go through their experiences.
In this philosophy, because of human free will, people determine the outcome
of human events, with God present as a handcuffed companion. God is there to mourn with you, but she can’t
intervene the way one might hope. To
those with this view, I ask: If God wants to do something (say, prevent a
terrible crime), but can’t because of human free will, what does this say about
God’s omnipotence? Is asking for comfort
also asking for God to intervene, which this philosophy says can’t be
done? How does the philosophy of a
non-intervening God related to a potential afterlife? (I'm assuming that this person believes in human free will because it allows people to choose salvation in some way).
The last philosophy of prayer says that prayer is for the
human, not for God. Life is either
pre-written (because God knows everything that will happen), or if you’re a
deist, God isn’t involved with humanity at all now that life has been put in
motion. For these people, the expression
of prayer helps them on an emotional level, without the expectation that anyone
is coming to help them. For these
people, I ask: what is the difference between prayer and meditation? What is different about praying compared to a
conversation with a close friend?
What’s your philosophy of prayer?
