This is something I've been struggling with a lot, and it directly ties in to questioning faith in Christianity (or any god) as a whole. I'm not looking for a lecture because I've already gotten one or two of those and more of thoughts from others who have dealt with similar issues regardless of the outcome. I'm surely not the first.
Looking back at things I (and the wife) have prayed about over time, it seems like "success" comes along only as often as basic probability suggests it should. Take serious cancer since this one seems to come up a lot in my life. Lots of people were given about a 5-10% chance of making it beyond a certain point and that's about the percentage of survivors have been. Is it a miracle that the one has survived about 4 years and God's will that the remainder are dead, or the result of an accurately calculated survival rate given a large enough population?
When it came up in conversation last week someone cited Mark 11:24 (Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.) With the most recent death people did exactly that, all the way into hospice and then to her last breath, but she died and then it just becomes this nebulous "God's will" again. We also prayed similarly for years for my brother to be able to get a decent job and be able to move out from our parent's place the same way, right up to his sudden death. Misinterpretation of scripture may explain it away but that's another deep rabbit hole to go down.
The logic of it all doesn't seem to hold up. Follow God's word in Mark 11:24 / Matt 21:22 in prayer but if whatever the situation is doesn't happen there's always the God's will trump card that can be played. There may be some sort of good feeling about it that the person gets, like praying for someone's situation may make them feel like they're helping but with no measurable, tangible result besides additional feeling of success or confirmation bias if they're part of the minority who happens to beat the odds.
It seems as though there is no point to it, and that the very act of prayer may be nothing more than a human reaction to scary situations that appear to be beyond our control. Thoughts from anyone else who has been down this road? Sorry if that's not how forum 15 works, I don't come here often.
Looking back at things I (and the wife) have prayed about over time, it seems like "success" comes along only as often as basic probability suggests it should. Take serious cancer since this one seems to come up a lot in my life. Lots of people were given about a 5-10% chance of making it beyond a certain point and that's about the percentage of survivors have been. Is it a miracle that the one has survived about 4 years and God's will that the remainder are dead, or the result of an accurately calculated survival rate given a large enough population?
When it came up in conversation last week someone cited Mark 11:24 (Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.) With the most recent death people did exactly that, all the way into hospice and then to her last breath, but she died and then it just becomes this nebulous "God's will" again. We also prayed similarly for years for my brother to be able to get a decent job and be able to move out from our parent's place the same way, right up to his sudden death. Misinterpretation of scripture may explain it away but that's another deep rabbit hole to go down.
The logic of it all doesn't seem to hold up. Follow God's word in Mark 11:24 / Matt 21:22 in prayer but if whatever the situation is doesn't happen there's always the God's will trump card that can be played. There may be some sort of good feeling about it that the person gets, like praying for someone's situation may make them feel like they're helping but with no measurable, tangible result besides additional feeling of success or confirmation bias if they're part of the minority who happens to beat the odds.
It seems as though there is no point to it, and that the very act of prayer may be nothing more than a human reaction to scary situations that appear to be beyond our control. Thoughts from anyone else who has been down this road? Sorry if that's not how forum 15 works, I don't come here often.