How far reaching are God's powers?

[MilesAbbott81]

Imagine that I set up a test of prayer, in a way that isn't known to the participants.  Their own hearts may or not be pure, but it isn't dependent on me doing the test.  As long as some of them have a pure heart, prayer must have an effect or the hypothesis of prayer is false.

Now, if God realizes that I'm performing a test, and ignores the prayers of people with honest hearts, what sort of god is that?

Your scenario hinges on too many what ifs. Who says God will allow you to set up the test in the first place, or if He does, who says He will give you a single participant with a sincere heart? He is, after all, in full control of your actions and thus in control of the experiment itself.

What is more likely -- that God purposefully acts to make sure there is no evidence of His actions, or that there is no evidence because no such actions have taken place?

I don't think you thought this one through. How could you ever know which? Doesn't matter what is likely, you're attempting an unprovable experiment.

Everyone that believes in an active God has an theory for how God works in the world.  But almost none bother to check if their theory is already invalidated by the existing evidence.  Those that realize that prayer or faith or good-living doesn't stop tragedy come up with all sorts of excuses like "God works in mysterious ways".

That's why I find that most zealots tend to be young or new believers.  Those who have had a life of experience have evidence that good and bad happens to everyone regardless of faith or goodness.

Well, it might seem that good or bad happens to everyone regardless of faith, but how do you know that's the case? How do you know that people you think have faith actually have faith? I can tell you that nominal Christendom is bursting at the seams with unbelievers who are deceived into thinking they have a relationship with God when they don't. In fact, there are very, very few people in the world today with genuine faith. You have to enter through the narrow gate - few find it.

I can't exactly blame anyone for being discouraged or disenfranchised from Christianity since there are so few genuine Christians. There is a lot of hypocrisy and ignorance going on. But anyone genuinely penitent will find God, or He is a liar. People don't find Him because they aren't genuinely penitent.

---

You'll pay with your life either way.  None of us get out of here breathing.

True, but I've gone through much suffering seeking the Lord. I have, in fact, already lost my life, so at least from your perspective, I am already the loser.