“I wish I could see the way God protects you,” the meme on Facebook began. “He canceled your plans to save your life. He let them leave you because He has someone better. He sent you in the other direction to avoid danger. He fights battles you don’t know about.”
The friend’s post received positive responses, except for one: “Just a reminder: extensive research has shown that God does not work in our daily lives any more than randomness would suggest.”
When challenged to produce those findings, “Negative Ned” dodged the question. “The faithful believe that God is working in their daily lives, and no amount of research, evidence or even common-sense reflection will change their opinion.”
But science can’t investigate the supernatural, I offered, since science is the study of the material or natural. Referring to the supernatural as “made up,” he then shared how, in second grade, a classmate was diagnosed with cancer and died despite the fervent prayer of his peers.
Little Ned concluded that either the students hadn’t prayed hard enough, God didn’t care, or God is real but uninvested in our daily lives. And when the teacher said, “God works in mysterious ways,” it left him further unsatisfied, convincing him that “Prayer is pointless.”
But prayer, I offered, isn’t like a bubble-gum machine that receives your coin and produces a gumball. Its purpose is relationship, not making demands on God and insisting our will be manifest. Prayer can reorient our hearts and help adjust our perspective.
Eventually, in seeking God’s will in difficult situations, a more hopeful understanding of life’s challenges can emerge. Acceptance of that higher will and vision can elevate our souls in a way that is eternally significant and even earthly satisfying.
“So prayer is good because it makes people feel good,” Ned said, putting his spin on what I’d said. Many other things can also make us feel good, he added, so prayer isn’t any more effective than other methods of seeking consolation.
But that’s not it. Prayer doesn’t always bring warm fuzzies, I said, but it can offer a satisfying conclusion. Prayer helps move us in right relationship with God and surrender our lives to a wiser reality.
Unimpressed, he said, “I’ll give you the last word,” insisting any further dialogue would be a waste of time and end with the Christians praying for him in a condescending way.
Though I didn’t feel moved to add more to that conversation, the discussion seemed worthy of another glance here. How would you respond to the contention that prayer is a waste of time? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Meantime, if you’re disposed toward viewing life from a spiritual perspective, or are just plain curious about those who do, local author Greg Lardy will be at Holy Cross Church in West Fargo today from 2 to 3:30 p.m., signing his new book, “ Come to Him in the Silence: Meditations for Life’s Journey .” I’ll share more about Greg and his work soon.
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on July 21, 2024.]
Leave a Reply