New Apologetics Michael Zimmerman
Continued from the previous comment:
For the sake of our participation in the highest possible created dignity that God can bestow, God has given away all power and responsibility that can possibly be given, and has kept for himself only that which cannot possibly be given away (namely, those actions requiring infinite power). We are each infinitely significant to the destiny of every other person, and this importance is irrevocable. Such communal significance is a necessary aspect of our essence as persons, and what God had given, he has given such that no truer giving is possible. God cannot diminish it without destroying an integral aspect of what it means to be a person made in his image. We are integral to the community, and if we do not do our part, then nobody does and everybody suffers. If we were expendable in any degree such that our actions cease to be fully significant, then we are not quite real persons in the sense we are describing. We are all very accustomed to not believing ourselves to be completely real, and we see others as unreal too…
You wrote:
I can understand the psychological and spiritual benefits of prayer, perhaps, but I find it difficult to accept that prayer actually does anything to change the course of events.
We reply:
You don’t yet know that God has made it so that everything comes through you just like it does through Mary. It is true without any exaggeration. There is no good thing that God does that is not through exactly what you choose to do. Every decision changes the whole world forever.
You wrote:
This is especially true when it comes to requesting prayer from other people, notably the Saints: while I can readily accept that praying has psychic benefits for the one doing the praying, these same benefits are removed entirely (or almost entirely) when we ask someone else to pray for us, be they on Earth or in Heaven. I can see that requesting prayer from someone on earth might have some benefit in helping THEM, to give them a selfless reason to get on their knees. But a Saint in Heaven doesn’t require anything of the sort. So what exactly is prayer supposed to accomplish?
We reply:
The unfolding of divine providence can be altered by prayer without in any way entailing that the eternal, immutable God changes his mind. Prayer is not just for the person praying. God eternally wills to bestow his own power to creatures; therefore (without requiring a change in the will of God) the direction of divine providence depends on the prayers and actions of created persons in accordance with the sphere of influence that they have been given. Consequently, it is entirely fitting that, for example, a person could be awakened in the middle of the night by angels to pray for something which God (in his omniscience) already knows is needed. This act of entrusting so much to the prayers of creatures is a gift in keeping with God’s divestiture of all that does not require infinite power. Everything that can possibly depend on the asking of creatures does, in fact, depend on the asking. This is not for our burden, but for our glory.
In light of this, prayers to saints and angels for their intercession and intervention are entirely compatible with the worship and honor due to God. To say otherwise is to contradict God’s essence as absolute self-gift. The intercessory roles that they have been given in the unfolding of divine providence are a gift from God, and it is an honor to God’s generosity to recognize this and act accordingly.
You wrote:
To take this a step further, when we say God answers a prayer, how precisely does He do that?
We reply:
In keeping with divine chastity, if it pertains to events in the world that can possibly be influenced by created powers, he does it through creatures by leading those who choose to allow themselves to be led by him into the right situations to help those praying as quickly as possible. If the prayer has to do with one’s relationship with God in a way that cannot possibly be mediated, then it is answered directly as it is logically impossible to legitimately involve an intermediary in what is essentially a marriage relationship between the soul and God.
You wrote:
Many of the things we associate with His blessing have a secular explanation for how they all fell into place; miracles are not terribly common anymore. As I said, I accepted His existence out of sheer necessity; the God hypothesis is the best I’ve ever found to explain the existence and consistent, orderly nature of the universe. Had I not been shown the evidence for Christ’s resurrection, I might have been content to become a Deist. So I suppose the best way of phrasing this particular question would be, if you were to explain to a Deist how God continues to carry out His will in the natural world, and you couldn’t use the historical evidence of Christ’s resurrection or other ancient miracles, what would you tell them?
We reply:
God carries out his will in the world through leading those who are willing to be led into positions where the prayers of others can be answered through their actions. God does not say “no” in response to someone’s prayer. Rather, it is the network of “noes” given by people all over the world to God that causes the apparent “holes” in providential care that we all feel. If there were not such a network of refusals, then we would have a very different experience of our prayers being answered continually and without delay.
Continued in our next comment…
February 25, 2013 at 7:38am · Like