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Monday, November 23, 2009
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was quite sian-ed by studies so i decided to surf! heh. came across an interesting extract from C. S. Lewis' "The World's Last Night". it is talking about prayers. i've once asked why do we bother praying? since we won't or will not be able to change God's will anyway. through "Screwtape Letters", i've came to learn from C. S. Lewis that praying enables us to know ourselves better and to see what's God's will for us. However after reading the extract, the explanation in "The World's Last Night" was even more plain. "The question then arises, “What sort of evidence would prove the efficacy of prayer?” The thing we pray for may happen, but how can you ever know it was not going to happen anyway? Even if the thing were indisputably miraculous it would not follow that the miracle had occurred because of your prayers. The answer surely is that a compulsive empirical proof such as we have in the sciences can never be attained. Some things are proved by the unbroken uniformity of our experiences. The law of gravitation is established by the fact that, in our experience, all bodies without exception obey it. Now even if all the things that people prayed for happened, which they do not, this would not prove what Christians mean by the efficacy of prayer. For prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant and sometimes refuse them. Invariable “success” in prayer would not prove the Christian doctrine at all. It would prove something much more like magic—a power in certain human beings to control, or compel, the course of nature." i liked the way he describe the struggle that many Chrisitians face. i have a tough time dealing with failure and there were definitely times where it hit me real hard when my prayers arent answered. but i'm glad to know that my life is not in my hands but the hands of God. i mean, come on, how many bad decisions have i made? my suggestions and way of doing things arent always sound (in fact, usually not sound);p. my life is in the hands of a God who knows what's best for me:) but what do we do then with an unanswered prayer? how then do we seek assurance when we're all lost and vulnerable? "Our assurance is quite different in kind from scientific knowledge. It is born out of our personal relation to the other parties; not from knowing things about them but from knowing them. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctu ary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate." Amen to that! o, the book seems rlly interesting. should i buy it??? |
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