(January 5, 2015 at 3:11 pm)robvalue Wrote: Check out thishttp://godisimaginary.com/i1.htm
Sorry I was being a bit snarky. Long day. But check it out.
First of all, all the examples in the article are directed at believers, so these promises are to those who are his followers. According to scripture, a follower of Christ is one who seeks only to do God' will, and we are instructed to pray according to his will. God doesn't listen to the prayers of those who really don't want to accept his will.
(1 John 5:14New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.)
In the following quote from your article Jesus is referring to God as our loving Father and he is saying "ask and you will receive."
(In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says:
Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!)
Receive what? What any loving father would give--what is best for you. If I ask for a tank or a rocket launcher, will he give it to me? Probably not. If I have incurable cancer and I ask to be cured, he might have a plan for me here and heal me or it might be time for me to go home. A loving father always gives a child what he feels is best.
(In John chapter 14, verses 12 through 14, Jesus tells all of us just how easy prayer can be: "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." [ref])
The above is another quote from the article. For one thing h said they may ask for anything "in his name". When we speak in the name of someone, we are speaking for him. Again, we are asking as he would. It's as if Jesus is asking the father for us. What is greater - to move a mountain or to save a soul? Jesus brought the message to the Jews. The apostles would carry the message to a much greater number of people as well as perform miracles among them. Jesus was also speaking to this disciples at this time and not to the people as a whole.
I'm not going to comment on every single reference in the article, but the same facts apply to all. Do you think that God really meant that if I asked God to move Mount Everest and place it in Ecuador, that he would do it - just because? These were real people having a discussion. What meaning would they have gotten from the conversation?
