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CAN PRAYER DETERMINE THE WILL OF GOD?
Results of surveys and experience
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Americans' prayer life:
Most adults in the U.S. and Canada pray to their God. In 1999-MAY, the Gallup
Organization at Princeton NJ reported the results of a number of public
opinion polls taken between 1991 and 1995. They concluded that for American
adults:
 | 9 out of 10 pray. Among those who do pray, about:
 | 75% pray daily. |
| 15% pray at least weekly |
| 6% pray infrequently |
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| Most pray to a Supreme Being; only 1% pray to "a transcendent or
cosmic force, to the 'inner self,' or to the 'god within.' " 1 |
Beliefs about the effectiveness of prayer:
Beliefs differ:
| There are countless anecdotal stories of individuals who are totally
convinced that prayer works. According to the Gallup report cited above, most of those
who pray "report experiencing a deep sense of peace and the strong
presence of God through prayer." They often say that they "have
received an answer to specific prayer requests. Still others say they have
gained a deeper insight into some biblical truth, and that they have been
inspired or led by God to perform some specific action." 1 The vast
majority of those who pray "seek guidance [from God] for decisions"
1 that are before them. Teleministers frequently
mention that God has spoken directly to them in prayer; so do many
individual believers. Clergy often recommend that their members pray to God
to find out his will on all significant matters. |
| On the other hand, some liberal theologians believe that prayer is useless
when a person is trying to assess the will of God. Garry Williams
reported in the Dallas Morning News that Rowan Williams, the new
archbishop of Canterbury and the leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion "discusses
how people who hold different views of Jesus should understand their
differences. He argues that they do not have the voice of God to tell them which
beliefs are right. They have their own differing visions of Christ, but Christ
himself is silent." 2 |
Observations from life:
Many conflicts arise in life that might be settled through prayer. A
few examples are:
| We have have received Emails from Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christian couples, whose marriages are headed for "the rocks."
Both prayed separately to determine whether God
wished that they:
| Stay together and try harder to make their marriage work, or
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| Separate and perhaps divorce in the future.
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| Within Christianity, there are countless disputes over theology. For
example:
| Conservative Christians often view the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints as a heretical "cult" --
many
feel that the LDS church is not even Christian.
Meanwhile, Mormons
generally regard their faith group as the only accurate reconstruction of the
early Christian movement. Many Mormons regard other contemporary Christian
denominations as having deviated from primitive Christianity and
from the teachings of Jesus. Obviously, only a maximum of one of these
two groups could be correct. |
| Even within a single wing of Christianity, there are many
conflicts about religious belief. The Zondervan Publishing House
has produced a Counterpoints
series of books. Each book considers a single topic, and allows
three to five leading Evangelical Christians to discuss their opposing
beliefs about that topic. Some of the topics discussed are:
|
| Similar disagreements can
be seen within debates over the role of women:
 | The Council on
Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is composed of thoughtful,
intelligent, devout, knowledgeable born-again Evangelical believers. They
promote very separate roles for men and women - roles that they feel are
God-given. They consider women and men as being of equal value and
importance, but advocate that women not be in any position of authority
over any man or have a position of equal power to their husband in the family.
They are able to support this position with numerous quotations from
the Bible. 3 |
| The Council on Biblical Equality
is composed of other thoughtful, intelligent, devout, and knowledgeable
Evangelicals. They promote an equal status for men and women, with no
reserved roles for either gender. They also support their beliefs with
numerous biblical quotations. 4 |
Each group sincerely,
devoutly, prayerfully believes that they are representing the true
Biblical message on the roles of men and women. From their literature, it is obvious that
both feel that God is on their side. Yet only one, at most, can be
holding the correct view. |
| The membership of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) is almost evenly divided on the question of ordination of
sexually active gays and lesbians in committed relationships:
| Conservatives in the denomination generally believe that the
Bible condemns all homosexual activity as sinful, even if it occurs
within a devoted, committed, loving, permanent relationship. The
concept of lowering ordination standards to allow ministers who
engage in such sinful behavior is repugnant to them. |
| Liberals in the church generally believe that homosexuality is a
normal, natural, fixed, and morally neutral orientation for a
minority of humans. They accept committed same-sex civil unions and
relationships as equivalent to marriage. They view homosexual
ordination as a human rights issue. |
Presbyterians on both sides are thoughtful, sincere, dedicated,
devout, intelligent and committed to their faith and church. Yet they
seem unable to resolve this issue. Members of the
Episcopal Church, USA and
United Methodist Church share this
conflict. |
|
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A test of the effectiveness of prayer:
If prayer to assess the will of God were truly effective, then all
of the above conflicts could be very easily resolved. One could simply
assemble the thoughtful, devout believers with diverse beliefs, ask
them to pray, and determine the will of God. The true answer would then
be obvious to all.
By following this method:
| Individual couples in troubled marriages would be able to determine whether
God wished them to separate or to continue in efforts to remain
together. |
| Believers would be able to determine which, if any, Christian
denomination(s) out of the approximately 1,200 Christian faith groups in
North America represent the true church.
The other approximately 1,199 denominations could then close down.
|
| Church schisms would never occur. Debates could be settled
before conflicts rose to the point where a denominational split
was inevitable. |
| There would be
no need for Zondervan, and other publishers, to sell books which explain conflicting
biblically-based beliefs among Evangelical Christian leaders,
because all would hold the same beliefs. |
Results of prayer:
When couples pray for God's wishes about their marriage, each
spouse is usually certain that they received a response
from God. However, when they compared notes, they often found that
God's messages conflict. One spouse reports
that God wants them to stay together; the other believes that God
wants them to separate.
In such matters as:
| Which is the "true" Christian denomination, |
| The role of women in the church and family, |
| Theological debates, and |
| God's wishes concerning homosexual orientation, etc., |
it is apparent that Christians on both sides of various issues feel
that they are receiving communications from God; but the messages conflict.
Thus, conflicts in families, within denominations, and between
denominations continue. Disagreements cannot be resolved. One is led
to suspect that devout, thoughtful believers may not be able to assess
the will of God. One has to look for alternative explanations. Two might
be:
| Believers are unable to get a meaningful response from God during
prayer. They are generating answers within their own minds, and deluding
themselves into believing that the messages come from God, or |
| Believers obtain conflicting messages during prayer, presumably from
different sources. |
This throws great doubt on the use of prayer as a method of assessing the
will of God.
References:
- George Gallup, Jr., "Poll releases: As nation observes National
Day of Prayer, 9 in 10 pray -- 3 in 4 daily," 1999-MAY-6, at: http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr990506.asp Unfortunately,
the Gallup Organization now restricts public access to its historical
data base. It is now only available to subscribers to the Gallup
Organization's "Tuesday's Briefing."
- Garry Williams, "Garry
Williams: Archbishop's theology not orthodox. Author says differences not
restricted to sexual ethics as frequently reported," Dallas News, at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/
- Council on Biblical Manhood
and Womanhood maintains a web site which promotes defined roles for men
and women. See: http://www.cbmw.org
- Christians for Biblical Equality has a home page promoting
non-discrimination on the basis of gender . See:
http://www.cbeinternational.org
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Copyright © 2000 to 2003 incl., by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Latest update: 2003-JAN-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
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