Different in degree or kind; language (Introduction)

by dhw, Sunday, December 28, 2014, 19:47 (3618 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

TONY: When you were a kid, and you asked your parent for something, did you get what you wanted ever time you asked? Of those times you didn't, was every one of them a case of your parent not wanting to give what you asked for, or were there generally reasons beyond your understanding (at the time)? Some prayers get answered, the way we want, some don't. Most often, for me at least, they have been answered in far better ways than I could have ever imagined.-Dhw: Doesn't this suggest that God will only answer your prayers if what you want is what he wants? (See below, re God's will.)-TONY: As a parent, did you ever WANT bad things to happen to your children? Could you, or should you, prevent every bad thing from happening to them? Did your children ever see something positive that you did as something negative, or something negative as something positive?-Much of your post follows the same line of reasoning, which is at a tangent to the point I was making. Basically, you are saying God knows best. That's fine with me (if God exists). My point is that if God knows best, he will do what's best, and so there is no point in praying to him, other than to tell him how wonderful he is.
You go on to give an excellent guide to good parenting, i.e. teaching children to say please and thank you, to be grateful for all the benefits they receive, to do the right thing, not to hurt other people...Nothing to disagree with in this, but you don't need prayer to teach your children decent social behaviour. Your final comment is:-TONY: What about the benefit of the conversation. Isn't there some benefit to just being able to talk to someone that you know is listening, someone that loves you and cares? It is most certainly NOT a futile activity.-Clearly this form of prayer (as opposed to praying for help in a specific situation) has psychological benefit for those who truly believe that God loves them, cares for them, and is listening to them. Having an invisible friend is often a comfort for those who need one, and so you are right, in that case it's not futile. I myself prefer to have or be a friend who shows that he/she is listening by actually responding, and who shows his/her love and care by their direct actions - but perhaps I'm an oddball.