Theology of Prayer

We remind persons that as far as we know the death rate is the same for everyone. It is still one per person. Most often our prayers for healing, especially intercessory prayers, if we reflect honestly about them, are for a delay in the death of a person. Our assumption is that the person still has something to offer the community and we would experience a loss if the person died with unfinished business remaining. We believe it is better to pray that a person be relieved from pain, experience acceptance of their own mortality, and know a sense of peace and comfort which only God can provide. Sure, we do pray for cures but we understand in faith that healing is always possible while cures remain under God's control. Occasionally we are surprised by cures and then celebrate in worship services with joy and thanksgiving.

With advances in genetics and the reading of the human genome, predictions are made about how genetic diseases will soon be cured in the future. However, we soon discover that the world is more complex than we thought. For instance, consider sickle cell anemia. One gene involved not only causes disease but also confers upon those who have the gene resistance to malaria.

The same thing is true about prayer: it is far more complex than we suspect. An example of this is shown in another recent film, Bruce Almighty.¹⁵ In this story a young man, played by Jim Carrey, complains about how his life is miserable because no matter how hard he tries he cannot become the radio and television anchor person he desires to be. He prays for God's help. To his surprise God answers him on his cell phone making an appointment for Bruce to come and see him. When Bruce meets God he is given God's almighty powers and is to respond to prayer requests while God is on vacation.

Initially, Bruce takes care of his own selfish desires but then God reminds him that his e-mail is overflowing with requests which he needs to answer. When Bruce begins to positively answer requests chaos and dissatisfaction build. Everyone who asked to win the lottery is told yes, they will win, and then when the lottery winners are announced the discovery is made that there have been so many winners the jackpot awards must be divided into only trivial amounts. No one is happy and Bruce learns that answering one prayer request positively results in bad effects for others.

Many believe that no personal activity is outside the purview of God. If one has a faith that believes in a personal God who knows you by name and loves you, then no request is trivial. Others, however, argue that God has more important concerns and that many of these simple requests are best handled by our own initiative and responsibility: by creatures who have been given free will and entrusted with stewardship of all of life.¹⁶

The conclusion is that creation has a lot of mystery remaining in it. Even scientists argue that every successful experiment expands our horizons and often leads to many more new questions—not the least being that it may not be possible to answer questions such as the efficacy of prayer by using the scientific method that has proven to be so useful to us in describing how the cosmos works. Experiments using scientific methodology proceed and no one seems to be satisfied.

In the end, perhaps, if God could conclusively, in a reproducible scientific manner, be described then there would be no need any longer for faith. As Keith Thompson puts it, "Would not God, in the end, be diminished or destroyed rather than magnified?"¹⁷

One interesting metaphor for intercessory prayer is provided from the physics of lasers. The light amplification which occurs in a laser is because light enters at one end of a crystal which has partially silvered ends, that reflect the beam of light back upon itself. If the length of the crystal is correct for the wavelength of the light positive interference occurs within the crystal increasing the amplitude of the light wave until it can emerge with much increased power.

So one could imagine that the same kind of amplification occurs with prayer. If a number of persons pray simultaneously for an individual then the added prayers are more likely to reach God and thus have a greater effect. It is a poor physical analogy to attempt to explain why intercessory prayers of a group are more effective than individual prayers.

In addition, how are the prayers from different faiths evaluated? Surely God does not differentiate between prayers from one faith as opposed to another.

Upon reflection, it would seem that this question about the efficacy of prayer is not about the way in which some prayers are answered but is at root merely an attempt to prove the existence of God. Perhaps it is blasphemy to attempt to force God to provide irrefutable scientific evidence of God's existence and that God can overturn the established constant laws of nature and provide a miracle to benefit a favored individual who prays.

Discussion Questions:

• If we are animals whose lives are largely controlled by our inherited genes and the environment what is our responsibility to live healthy lives by using our free will to choose appropriate actions?



• Do you anticipate that science will discover ways to extend healthy human life to many times its current average length?



• Does science or religion have the best way to determine objective truth about reality? What are the differences?

15. Bruce Almighty, Universal Pictures, 2002, written by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe. Jim Carrey stars as frustrated news broadcaster Bruce Nolan.
16. The question of how God works in the world has a long history and tradition. An excellent introduction to this complex area which cannot be covered in this brief paper is: Terrance Tiessen, Providence and Prayer: How Does God Work in the World? (Intervarsity Press: Downer's Grove, Illinois, 2000). This work includes detailed summaries of eleven models of Providence including Semi-Deist, Process, Openness, Church Dominion, Redemptive Intervention, Molinist, Thomist, Barthian, Calvinist, Fatalist, and A Middle Knowledge Calvinist model.
17. Thompson, p. 534.