Dangerous Faith

#71: Dangerous Faith– Prayer Is Not "Magic," So What Is It?

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Nate Williams clears up some misconceptions about prayer. Prayer is not a magic trick, and it really is simpler than people think. What is prayer?

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Nate Williams:

Prayer is not a magic trick. In fact, we'll talk about it. I think prayer is something much better. This is Nate Williams, glad to be with you on the Dangerous Faith podcast. We're going to talk about prayer today because my church is in the midst of a prayer vigil. It's a very special year for us for various reasons, and it's given me a lot of time to reflect on what prayer is Now. With me being also interested in apologetics, I thought I'll add that angle as well Talk about what prayer is, along with some apologetics points that we could make about it.

Nate Williams:

The problem with thinking of prayer as magic, as many Christians do and non-Christians as well, is that, okay, we think we can crack the code because with a magic trick, you go watch a magician and they do these incredible things. But you know, there's a method behind the magic, so to speak. There is something going on, something you're missing, that a skilled magician knows, that you don't. But with magic tricks, as soon as you figure it out, you can now take that magic trick. Well, you can do it yourself, you can manipulate it and you can kind of use it towards your ends. The specialness disappears and now you're in control. So what we do, when we view prayer this way, is prayer becomes a tool or a puzzle, a code, a magic trick to figure out. And if I jump three times, I clap my hands, I do a little dancey dance, I spin and then I offer a prayer and if that works, if that's the thing that does it in air quotes, so to speak, all right, I've mastered prayer and now I can bend the will of God to what I like, what I want to do. I have solved prayer, and what happens is prayer then becomes, like I said, a tool to for us to use, a weapon for us to yield a code that we broke. And now it becomes about us. You put in the formula, you say the special words, you repeat what you need to repeat, you say the fancy King James English language and before you know it, man, you are a pro prayer, a professional prayer person.

Nate Williams:

I think of Matthew, chapter six, and the advice Jesus gave in prayer not advice, that's the wrong way of putting it the instructions he gave Matthew, chapter six, verse five when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Really, I tell you they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door, pray to your father, who is unseen. Then your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And this is key, coming up when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your father knows what you need before you ask him. So don't look for special words that if you just pray a really pretty prayer and you use fancy vocabulary and maybe you rhyme a little bit, maybe there's a little poetry thrown in, that God is just super delighted. He's like ah, you did it, you mastered it, now the world is yours. No, that's not how prayer works.

Nate Williams:

And I'm going to go respond to a common atheist complaint about this, because I'm looking on Wikipedia, there's this article about the efficacy of prayer and people have done these empirical studies on whether prayer works. And that shows me, just by phrasing the question that way or the point that way, does prayer quote-unquote work? It shows you, miss, what prayer actually is. So it's not a magic trick. Well, we'll get to what it is in a moment, but atheists often miss that as well. They'll look and they'll say, oh, you prayed for this and God didn't give it to you. I Guess prayers meaningless, or this study was conducted where people prayed for this certain outcome and it didn't happen. Well, it looks like prayer is a waste of time. It shows me that you and I and I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I thought a prayer this way as well. Well, we don't know what prayer is.

Nate Williams:

So let's turn to Prayer, not as a magic trick. What is it we read in the Lord's Prayer? This, then, is how you should pray again. This is Jesus speaking our father in heaven. Hollowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. I'm reading NIV, so there are different versions, but this one says but deliver us from the evil one. And then some manuscripts include the ending For lioness the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, aw men. So that's Lord's Prayer, and I think there are several points in it that we'll talk about. First, let's look at the beginning, our father, that gives the game away right there.

Nate Williams:

Prayer is Communication. Now, it's a special type of communication. Yes, it's unique. Yes, but at its core, all Prayer is is talking to God. There are parts to it. The acronym that we often use is acts a cts. A is adoration you praise God. C is Confession you confess your sins. T is Thanksgiving you know God's done so much we thank him for. And then s is supplication, where you pray for your prayer requests. Everyone jumps to the s part Asking God for stuff. But there is so much more to prayer than that just asking God for stuff. Prayer is communication. That is the key.

Nate Williams:

So when atheists and Christians alike view prayer as a magic trick or a puzzle to solve or just Incantation to learn to get God to do stuff, you're missing the point. So when you try to test prayer and For example, in the Wikipedia article that says here's a quote by Sam Harris, a famous atheist Get a billion Christians to pray for a single amputee, get them to pray that God regrow that missing limb. This happens to salamanders every day, presumably without prayer. This is within the capacity of God. I Find it interesting that people of faith only tend to pray for conditions that are self-limiting. To Sam Harris, this test Disproves the power of prayer that, oh, if God doesn't regrow this limb from this amputee, then oh prayers a waste of time. It's fake, it's false. Throw it out.

Nate Williams:

You wouldn't say that about basic communication with anyone else. So, for example, let's take our earthly fathers. You'll talk to your earthly fathers and from time to time, you'll ask them for something. Now, if they don't do what you ask, does that mean your earthly father does not exist? Does that mean your Talking to your earthly father is a waste of time? Because from time to time, or, depending on what you're asking for, maybe all the time they don't always grant the things that you ask for. Hey dad, I'd like a Lamborghini. Hey dad, I'd like the ability to Fly. I don't know whatever. You know, just different things. You'll ask your earthly dad for just making up stuff at this point. But Because you're communicating with your earthly father, there's a lot more to it than just asking your dad for stuff, because that's what communication is.

Nate Williams:

Sometimes you ask for things, but other times you're just talking to talk. Sometimes you're venting, sometimes you're seeking advice or wisdom and describing your day. There's just so much more to communication than asking for stuff. That's how it is with prayer. Prayer is not magic, so we need to chill out sometimes with trying to figure out prayer. It's talking to God. Tell them about your day, what's going on and what's going on inside and the things you wrestle with and you struggle with. As our Heavenly Father, he wants to hear those things. Nothing's too small for us Excuse me, too small for him.

Nate Williams:

Now, I did say it's unique in that God fills multiple roles in a way that an earthly person does not. So, for example, an earthly person, when you talk to them, they can have a couple different hats. They can have a friend or a boss, maybe a father or a mother, but also someone who shares a hobby with you, and so you talk to them like your mother or father, but also they're into the same hobby as you. So, for example, people can have several different hats, but with God that happens, but on a vast scale. God is our friend. We learned that about Jesus in the Gospels. We're called his friends. Well, that's wonderful. But also, what do we read in the Bible? King of kings, lord of lords. We see the different names for God in the Old Testament provider, rock fortress banner, all those things. Well, elohim, jehovah, Yahweh, just we could get into that. That's its own topic. But lots of different roles, titles, hats that God wears, creator of the universe, and all that. Father, son, holy Spirit, there's the Trinity.

Nate Williams:

So what happens with communication with God and this is the unique, special part that I mentioned earlier in the episode is our communication is to reflect that. There is the element of worship, that, yes, god listens, and there's the intimacy there. You know, jesus cried ob-a-father. That's wonderful and I love that, but also there's a respect there. God is God, he's almighty, he's infinite, all wise, all powerful, all loving, all knowledgeable, all the omnis, you think of omniscient, omnibenevolent. I was about to say, like vanilla, omnibus, omnibat.

Nate Williams:

And so what happens then is, yes, prayer is still basic communication, but we need to be respectful, we need to be worshipful, we need to be hesitant before saying really stupid, foolish things. We need to. You know, through the Psalms, we know that you can convey emotions, but you definitely don't want to be nasty to God. I don't think that's ever warranted. So there are some limitations that we might not always have as we communicate with people on earth. Some of those filters might not always be there, because, also, the people on earth are people and God is God. There's a difference there as well.

Nate Williams:

But the point of what I'm saying is prayer is not a magic trick, so we can take off the pressure, the pressure of trying to figure it out. I got to pray a certain way and I got to orient my body a certain way. Yes, you can fold your hands, you know, clasp your hands together, bow your head, close your eyes. There are certain physical postures that are helpful for us to focus when we pray. You can be kneeling, you can be prostrate, you can be just all these different things that might help. But, all in all, prayer is communication, nothing less than communication, to be sure, but it's a lot more than just asking God for stuff, and both believers and non-believers alike miss that when they focus on, in the axacronym, supplication, that prayer, the only use of prayers asking for stuff.

Nate Williams:

What God does with prayer is he orients our souls to Him. Prayer is one of those tools that God uses to shape our desires, to shape our will, so that our heartbeat can match His heartbeat. Our eyes, the things we look for, match His eyes, our eyes match His eyes, our feelings match His feelings, etc. So the things that God cares about, we care about. Going back to the Lord's prayer. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. What is this? Your kingdom, come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom, come, your will be done. Ultimately, prayer aligns our souls with God, god's desires, god's will. And what prayer does is it removes us from the throne of our life and places God in His rightful place as our ruler. God is on the throne, not you and me. So prayer humbles us. Prayer makes us realize that really we control very little, from the weather to politics, to just about everything, and we give over that control that we never had, if we're being honest. But we're giving over that control to God.

Nate Williams:

What are your thoughts? Did this make sense? Do you think it's a? Do you agree that prayer isn't magic? Do you agree that prayer is, at the very least, simple communication between God and man? I want to know. Send me a comment. We're on social media, just various accounts, dangerous faith. Go, check us out and your feedback helps me with these topics so that when I come back and I talk about prayer, I can incorporate those thoughts. But anyways, just remember that there is not. There's no pressure on you to solve prayer, to scientifically test it out whether it's worth your time or not. Again, that's missing the point of prayer. Just like you wouldn't test communication with a family member, it doesn't make sense to test communication with God Almighty, just something you do. Anyways, I am all done. Those were my thoughts on prayer for now and I'd love to hear your thoughts Until next time talk with you later.