Prayers for rain answered in West Texas – and how!
Reservoirs overflowing 1 month after officials made case to God


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: September 4, 2006
10:39 p.m. Eastern



© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com



Heavy rains impact Lubbock, Texas (courtesy KCBD-TV)

There was some snickering in certain parts of the country when city officials in the drought-stricken Texas towns of Lubbock and Rockwall took their case for rain to God in the form of resolutions calling for prayer.

While the votes made national news – sometimes in the "quirky" sections of big-city dailies and news services – the results didn't, until now.

Within seven days of the Lubbock vote, the rains started. And they haven't stopped.

Some three and a half inches of rains fell in the town over the Labor Day Weekend alone, overflowing some reservoirs and spillways.


Jody James from the National Weather Service recalled: "We were dealing with red flag warnings, fire danger, and extremely dry conditions earlier in the year."

Without mentioning the prayer requests, Channel 11 KCBD reported: "Looking outside, you'd never guess a month ago that Lubbock was described as parched, and in serious drought conditions."

James said: "We were very behind on rainfall, several inches below normal as we got into the early mid-part of summer, just in the last 3 days we have got 3.5 inches."

In January, the Lubbock City Council implemented stage one of its drought contingency plan because of the dry conditions. By June the situation had reached the desperation point. Lake Meredith, Lubbock's primary water source was at a record low, and losing water daily.

In July, Lubbock had received only about half its normal rainfall of 10 inches. Between June 1 and the Lubbock vote at the end of July – which represented the growing season for cotton – the area got only .75 inches, far less than the normal 4.43 inches. As September gets underway, the area is on track to reach its annual average for rainfall.

"All areas lakes and reservoirs are doing better, but we still need more rain. We can't just recover from a long term drought in one episode of rainfall, but this is what we needed to get started," said James.

Apparently taken with the results in Lubbock, the Texas town of Aledo is considering a similar resolution for prayer.

It's not the first time prayers for rain in Lubbock have met with good results. In January 2004, after a year of drought, the city and county set aside a Sunday to pray for rain and got the second-wettest year since records have been kept.

They did this weeks ago and did not get any rain until now???

Heck they got floods instead, I would not be quick in praising any deity for something that was bound to occur anyway...

Post hoc ergo proptor hoc

My wife and I laughed when we saw this on the news. Do they have any idea how backwards and ignorant it makes them look?

I'm gonna pray for a general cooling trend over the next couple of months.

73 We live in West Texas, Midland, to be exact, and this truly has been miraculous. Let the "nay sayers" say what they want. We have been blessed with 6inches of rain in the month of September, and that's great. Our Bishop designated August 27, as a day of prayer for rain and you can't dismiss the results. God bless.

Gig'em, Ole Army Class of '70

We'd appreciate some rain here in Temple.

My church prays for rain every Sunday.

Maybe God doesn't like Lutherans?

If Janag is praying for rain and it doesn't, there are three possible explanations:

1) There is no God.
2) God doesn't answer prayers.
3) There is a God who answers prayers, but he didn't answer that one.

Assuming the answer, as most of us believe, is #3, then a good question would be, "What is the difference between the prayers God answers and the prayers he does not answer?"

I'll stop the post here, but this could actually be quite a good discussion.

quote:

---

"What is the difference between the prayers God answers and the prayers he does not answer?"

---

The former is used as evidence that prayers work while the latter cannot be used as evidence that it doesn't.

Has there been an official government declaration for rain prayers anywhere else?

[This message has been edited by texasag73 (edited 9/6/2006 7:01p).]

Does prayer change god's mind on whether or not he should make it rain?

Yes, it can, because He wants us to ask Him.

How does an entity that does not exist in time change its mind?

quote:

---

They did this weeks ago and did not get any rain until now???

---

God's inbox is probably pretty full...at least as that Jim Carey movie would lead us to believe.

God is eternal, but interfaces with us in time.

That doesn't answer my question. If it is a timeless being, how can it change?

People are taught to praise god when good things happen and say "God works in mysterious ways" when your prayers are ignored.

Are you going to praise god for the damage the flood waters create and any lives that are lost.

quote:

---

That doesn't answer my question. If it is a timeless being, how can it change?

---

He can't, but we can.

The sun melts a stick of butter, but hardens a piece of clay. The sun is the same, but the results are completely oposite, depending upon that which it is operating.

Prayer changes us, which in turns changes the way the unchaging God responds to us. Even more complicated, it is not only us that the unchanging God is reacting to, but the whole web of people and situations that surround us.

Further, to say that God exists outside of time is not to say that he lacks the ability to interact with us who are bound by time.

quote:

---

Prayer changes us, which in turns changes the way the unchaging God responds to us. Even more complicated, it is not only us that the unchanging God is reacting to, but the whole web of people and situations that surround us.

---

Wait, so REQUESTING something from god directly is actually about changing yourself and when god gives it to you he's not filling your request but merely changing the way he's reacting to you.

How would you apply that in THIS context? People asked for rain. It rains and they attribute that to god fulfilling their prayers. It doesn't seem like they're saying "Asking for this changed us and therefore god changed how he reacts to us."

I know it's been discussed before but it makes so very little sense that an omniscient being, unrestrained by time, would alter his actions solely because someone asked him to. Other places have prayed for rain and not received it. If you point that out though, it's dismissed as our lacking understanding of how god operates, yet when prayers ARE answered its used as evidence that god exists. It can't be one or the other.

God's goal in all of this is to bring His children to Himself (including you). He is not chiefly concerned with whether or not it rains in Lubbock. I do believe that He loves us like a Father loves His children, and I think he hurts when we hurt. However, he is concerned primarily with the eternal spiritual well being of all of us - over and above the temporary suffering of any of us.

I don't know why he chooses to answer some prayers and not others, at least not the specific why for each case. It is too complicated. I do know that there is power in faith through his son Jesus, and I testify to that power.

Now, you can do what you like with my testimony.

...moisture from Hurricane John, a cold front and voila! warm moist air is lifted, condenses and precipitation forms by collision and coalescense...a very simple explanation...stop painting it with some supernatural brush...it is rain and it happens, all over the Earth!

Amazingly, the northern part of the US will get snow come winter! it's like...WOW!

Yikes!

quote:

---

I don't know why he chooses to answer some prayers and not others, at least not the specific why for each case. It is too complicated. I do know that there is power in faith through his son Jesus, and I testify to that power.

---

Would you agree then that it's a poor argument to say answered prayers are proof of god's existence but unanswered prayers do not support the opposite case?

I would agree; most certainly in cases like this.

I have never had a "miracle" happen to me, at least not in terms of something that defied natural laws.

But I have talked to people whom I trust who have told me stories that I believe. I think that if something like that happened, then that could be considered a proof of God's existence.

However, although I spend a lot time on these boards defending the rationality of a belief in God, I do not think God's existence is something that needs to be proven. I think God has put that knowledge within all of us, and, to be frank (and truly not meaning to offend; forgive me if I say too much), I think all atheists are deceiving themselves. They don't really fail to believe in God; they just tell themselves that they do.

I believe that you don't mean to offend, but yes, I've always found those remarks offensive. I TRULY do not believe in god. I'm not deceiving myself. *I* know what I believe. There is no way that YOU can. It's the single biggest negative to Christianity in my opinion. It's not possible to be more arrogant than telling someone they do not believe what they believe. If an atheist claimed here that no one REALLY believed in god they would be rightly ridiculed. A Christian does the same and no one bats an eye.

I'm sorry to offend.

I am told almost daily on these boards, by implcation, that the only reason that I beleive is because I need security in a scary world, or that I am afraid of unknowns, or that I need a crutch. I don't think that I have allowed these comments to offend me quite so much as you were just offended. I am much more offended by intellectual dishonesty, which I don't think you possess, which is why I enjoy "posting together."

Again, I didn't mean to offend.

Do you see the difference in telling someone why you think they believe they way they do and telling them WHAT they believe?

Why is it more offensive for me to tell you that I think that you are being dishonest with yourself, because I believe God has put an innate knowledge of Him within all of us, than it is for you to tell me that I just believe because I am too much of a coward to face the hard truth?

I just don't understand why one is more offensive than the other.

Still, though, I truly am sorry to offend you. It wasn't my intention.

1. You believe in god because of _____ reason.

2. You don't ACTUALLY believe in god.



You don't find the 2nd statement more presumptious? Both are pretty bad, BUT the first one is speculation as to the cause of what someone believes. The latter is telling them YOU know what they believe better than they do.

Look, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm just telling you that I believe that God put a knowledge of himself within all of us. That is how I explain why the vast majority of people throughout history have believed something which is impossible, in a sense, to prove.

That's just what I believe, and I think I have good reasons for believing it.

But I can tell you for a fact that what you believe is simply not true. There is no part of me that believes in god. This isn't some delusion. I'm not being dishonest by saying that. I'm not deceiving myself. Can you understand how incredibly arrogant it sounds to tell someone you know what goes on in their own head and they don't?

One way lars might see your perspective is to turn his statement back to him. Maybe something like:

"I think all christians are deceiving themselves. They don't really fail to believe in (insert any of the infinte number of other deities mankind has come up with ex: Rah, the FSM, Mithra, Zeus, etc.); they just tell themselves that they do."

quote:

---

I know it's been discussed before but it makes so very little sense that an omniscient being, unrestrained by time, would alter his actions solely because someone asked him to.

---

That's because you are blinded to the fact that God is our loving Father, not some far off being in outer space.

Why he answers some prayers and not others is the same reason why you give your kids ice cream on some occasions, and not on others - It depends on the circumstances, and whether it is good for them to get it this time, but not the next time.

God answers all prayers. Some just receive a "no."

Jesus prayed in the garden that if it were possible, the cup (of affliction) would pass from him. It did not. Did God not answer His own son's prayers? No, He answered it with an unspoken from very visible -- "No, this cup must be taken by you, son."

Right on - Jesus prayer was answered by His Father with a no, but the greater good resulted from it - His resurrection, and heaven was finally opened for us.