Imploring the supernatural to alter the natural
I have never witnessed a genuine miracle. I don't think anyone has but we can debate whether anecdotal evidence to the contrary is truly viable evidence. Has anyone really witnessed divine intervention or some supernatural event? The Bible describes many such events but then so does every tale of mythology from every culture and every era. I have met people in life making such claims but never for grandiose miracles like a man walking on water, a talking donkey, a guy with super human strength who loses it from a haircut but gets it back by petitioning the Lord in prayer. There it is, to petition the Lord in prayer and have The Almighty grant this alteration to the natural order on your behalf. Did that happen? Does that happen? By the rules of Christian dogma could that happen?
Let's start with basic Christian theology. God knows all and sees all. God is perfect. God has a plan. God grants life and decides when, where and how it will end for everyone. This means that when, where and how you will die is part of a perfect plan and any alteration to that plan would be less than perfect. In other words the events of human history are going to unfold the way God has ordained them and He is not going to change His mind on that no matter who asks Him because the asking is merely part of his plan anyway. He said (allegedly) to ask and we would receive. That means he already knows what we'll ask and plans to give it to us so we needn't bother asking. So let us say that your auntie is in hospice dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer and there is no hope and you petition the Lord to grant her a full recovery. According to the natural order of the universe she is beyond medicine to heal and she is going to die. If she somehow makes a full recovery and lives another 30 years cancer free it will be due to supernatural intervention. There is simply no precedent for anyone else ever recovering from this ever. So you pray. The Lord hears your prayer but pancreatic cancer is merely a part of the natural universe He created and people die from it and according to His perfect plan it is your auntie's turn. But He hears your prayer and changes His mind, alters His plan and mercifully grants your aunt a miraculous, supernatural recovery that baffles all of science. Why would He do that? Because you asked nicely? Because He loves you? Because He loves her? At your behest the Supreme Being and creator of the universe has altered His divine creation and intervened in the natural order that He created. Why would He do that for you? Are you that special? No? So He will do it for other people who ask just as nicely? Which people? How often? What type of prayer or petition will get the Master Of All Reality to alter it in such a way to supernaturally intervene in His natural order and alter his plan?
Let's get to what prompted my musings. An acquaintance said she prayed that the hurricane bearing down on the east coast of the U.S. would diminish and become harmless, or words to that effect. She prayed that everyone would be safe during the hurricane. OK then, let's dig in. Hurricanes usually kill a few people. I'm not sure I can name one that hit a populated coastline and didn't kill anyone. To pray for such an event to not cause death is to pray for a magically harmless hurricane. Somehow the tidal surge, flash flooding and 200mph winds need to cause only non fatal injuries and maybe if I pray hard enough not even those. This is asking for divine intervention to cause one of the most destructive forces in nature to be gentle. This would be like praying that an Ebola outbreak not make anyone sick, that an earthquake not break anything, that a fall from a 30th floor onto concrete merely cause a bruise or that the train barreling down on you suddenly leave the tracks and miss. These events are built into the design of the universe. The designer was God. Why would He, at any moment or for any reason, step in and alter that design with a miracle, a supernatural event, divine intervention? If He thought it was a bad idea for Ebola to kill people there would be no Ebola. Since He put it into play He must intend some people to die from it. It is part of His perfect plan. Praying for Him to not carry out that plan is horribly presumptuous on your part. I remember from Sunday School that when you pray to God sometimes the answer is "Yes", and sometimes "No" and sometimes, "Not right now". Here's the thing then, you don't know if you've gotten an answer at all. If the thing for which you've prayed happens then perhaps you have gotten a yes. If it happens at a later date you can declare that the answer must have been the latter. If it doesn't happen within your requested window or for a prolonged period of time then the answer was no, apparently. Couldn't that be said for all of your own efforts, even the ones for which you saw no need to petition the Creator. Some efforts succeed immediately, some have delayed results and some never accomplish your intent. That is merely how life works. Those are the vagaries of fate. Your request for divine intervention into those vagaries are, for reasons already addressed, presumptuous and futile. Divine intervention and alteration of the Master Plan are not going to occur. The storm is not going to be harmless. The bad guy is not going to rob everyone else and skip you because you prayed for that. The sidewalk is not going to cushion your fall from the 30th floor in defiance of physics. You are not going to get a miracle on request because you are not in a position to request that the creator and keeper of the Master Plan alter it. If you are and he does then it wasn't The Master Plan, he changes his mind and isn't the God we've been told he is.
"Thoughts and prayer to you." Cool. You are thinking of me. That helps me to...do what again? You are praying for me that God will perform a miracle in defiance of nature on my behalf as a "yes" answer to your prayer. He won't. He never has, outside of the mythology of the Bible. Not for me or you or anyone we know. He hasn't done that for 2000 years or so. He used to but not any more for some reason. I get it. You feel helpless as someone is in danger or is suffering and you want to do something but you are 500 miles away and working so you send a PM or a text and you actually do say a prayer to whatever divinity you believe might perform a miracle. At least you've done that and you hope it helps. It doesn't. You have to physically do something in order to help anyone or any situation. You have to lift something, shovel something, deliver some supplies, send money, give them a hand or a hug or a smile. You can't help people by remote control through a being they can't see or hear because you cannot control that being. That being cannot and will not control you or anyone you petition for it to control because we all have free will.
I'm going to lay it on the line. Don't tell me you will pray for me. I don't care if you do or don't as not one thing will change either way. Don't waste your time. If you think I need help and want to do something then do something. If you can't help me because you are far away or tied up with other stuff that is OK. I won't hold it against you or believe you don't care. If you think that offering a prayer helps me I WILL think you are an idiot. If God is going to help me it won't be because you asked Him to but because He was going to anyway. It is not mystical. Do something to help or tell me you would like to but can't. That is enough. No divine intervention or suspension of the laws of nature required, just people. We are the miracle. We are what fixes problems. We are the intervention that rights wrongs and repairs what is broken and brings healing. Our love for one another is miraculous and magical and powerful. No need for anything supernatural when we have that most powerful natural force. Don't pray. Get to work.
Let's start with basic Christian theology. God knows all and sees all. God is perfect. God has a plan. God grants life and decides when, where and how it will end for everyone. This means that when, where and how you will die is part of a perfect plan and any alteration to that plan would be less than perfect. In other words the events of human history are going to unfold the way God has ordained them and He is not going to change His mind on that no matter who asks Him because the asking is merely part of his plan anyway. He said (allegedly) to ask and we would receive. That means he already knows what we'll ask and plans to give it to us so we needn't bother asking. So let us say that your auntie is in hospice dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer and there is no hope and you petition the Lord to grant her a full recovery. According to the natural order of the universe she is beyond medicine to heal and she is going to die. If she somehow makes a full recovery and lives another 30 years cancer free it will be due to supernatural intervention. There is simply no precedent for anyone else ever recovering from this ever. So you pray. The Lord hears your prayer but pancreatic cancer is merely a part of the natural universe He created and people die from it and according to His perfect plan it is your auntie's turn. But He hears your prayer and changes His mind, alters His plan and mercifully grants your aunt a miraculous, supernatural recovery that baffles all of science. Why would He do that? Because you asked nicely? Because He loves you? Because He loves her? At your behest the Supreme Being and creator of the universe has altered His divine creation and intervened in the natural order that He created. Why would He do that for you? Are you that special? No? So He will do it for other people who ask just as nicely? Which people? How often? What type of prayer or petition will get the Master Of All Reality to alter it in such a way to supernaturally intervene in His natural order and alter his plan?
Let's get to what prompted my musings. An acquaintance said she prayed that the hurricane bearing down on the east coast of the U.S. would diminish and become harmless, or words to that effect. She prayed that everyone would be safe during the hurricane. OK then, let's dig in. Hurricanes usually kill a few people. I'm not sure I can name one that hit a populated coastline and didn't kill anyone. To pray for such an event to not cause death is to pray for a magically harmless hurricane. Somehow the tidal surge, flash flooding and 200mph winds need to cause only non fatal injuries and maybe if I pray hard enough not even those. This is asking for divine intervention to cause one of the most destructive forces in nature to be gentle. This would be like praying that an Ebola outbreak not make anyone sick, that an earthquake not break anything, that a fall from a 30th floor onto concrete merely cause a bruise or that the train barreling down on you suddenly leave the tracks and miss. These events are built into the design of the universe. The designer was God. Why would He, at any moment or for any reason, step in and alter that design with a miracle, a supernatural event, divine intervention? If He thought it was a bad idea for Ebola to kill people there would be no Ebola. Since He put it into play He must intend some people to die from it. It is part of His perfect plan. Praying for Him to not carry out that plan is horribly presumptuous on your part. I remember from Sunday School that when you pray to God sometimes the answer is "Yes", and sometimes "No" and sometimes, "Not right now". Here's the thing then, you don't know if you've gotten an answer at all. If the thing for which you've prayed happens then perhaps you have gotten a yes. If it happens at a later date you can declare that the answer must have been the latter. If it doesn't happen within your requested window or for a prolonged period of time then the answer was no, apparently. Couldn't that be said for all of your own efforts, even the ones for which you saw no need to petition the Creator. Some efforts succeed immediately, some have delayed results and some never accomplish your intent. That is merely how life works. Those are the vagaries of fate. Your request for divine intervention into those vagaries are, for reasons already addressed, presumptuous and futile. Divine intervention and alteration of the Master Plan are not going to occur. The storm is not going to be harmless. The bad guy is not going to rob everyone else and skip you because you prayed for that. The sidewalk is not going to cushion your fall from the 30th floor in defiance of physics. You are not going to get a miracle on request because you are not in a position to request that the creator and keeper of the Master Plan alter it. If you are and he does then it wasn't The Master Plan, he changes his mind and isn't the God we've been told he is.
"Thoughts and prayer to you." Cool. You are thinking of me. That helps me to...do what again? You are praying for me that God will perform a miracle in defiance of nature on my behalf as a "yes" answer to your prayer. He won't. He never has, outside of the mythology of the Bible. Not for me or you or anyone we know. He hasn't done that for 2000 years or so. He used to but not any more for some reason. I get it. You feel helpless as someone is in danger or is suffering and you want to do something but you are 500 miles away and working so you send a PM or a text and you actually do say a prayer to whatever divinity you believe might perform a miracle. At least you've done that and you hope it helps. It doesn't. You have to physically do something in order to help anyone or any situation. You have to lift something, shovel something, deliver some supplies, send money, give them a hand or a hug or a smile. You can't help people by remote control through a being they can't see or hear because you cannot control that being. That being cannot and will not control you or anyone you petition for it to control because we all have free will.
I'm going to lay it on the line. Don't tell me you will pray for me. I don't care if you do or don't as not one thing will change either way. Don't waste your time. If you think I need help and want to do something then do something. If you can't help me because you are far away or tied up with other stuff that is OK. I won't hold it against you or believe you don't care. If you think that offering a prayer helps me I WILL think you are an idiot. If God is going to help me it won't be because you asked Him to but because He was going to anyway. It is not mystical. Do something to help or tell me you would like to but can't. That is enough. No divine intervention or suspension of the laws of nature required, just people. We are the miracle. We are what fixes problems. We are the intervention that rights wrongs and repairs what is broken and brings healing. Our love for one another is miraculous and magical and powerful. No need for anything supernatural when we have that most powerful natural force. Don't pray. Get to work.
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