(August 9, 2023 at 6:21 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: It occurs to me that if the Thomists are right about it being impossible for God to act against his immutable nature, then either all prayers must be granted, or no prayers can ever be granted. If God were to answer some prayers and not others, then God would be whimsical.Therein lies the problem. Aquinas came up with the modern idea of miracle as something outside nature. In this view, God sits around all day drinking tea, occasionally popping into our world to alter something He doesn't like before putting on another brew. This is seriously misleading.
The NT view is that God is always at work mysteriously within His battered but still beautiful world, and sometimes acts in unexpected ways. The New Testament speaks of ‘powerful’ or ‘unexpected’ deeds; of ‘paradoxes’.
God’s powerful presence is everywhere within the world, the hidden text that interprets and sometimes brings healing and hope to ordinary events. The early Christians saw this kind of thing as a genuine sign, an advance anticipation, of the new creation which Isaiah promised. These are glimpses of a new creation.
Quote:Since God granting prayers is impossible on the face of it (both teams praying to win, for example), the only option left is that God never grants any prayers, ever.
Because God is not a slot machine that does what we tell Him, asking for action in a football match is not a proper or meaningful use of prayer. Unless it's Liverpool vs Man Utd, obviously.
