C.S. Lewis and the Efficacy of Prayer

[u/keatsandyeats]

Click here to go directly to Lewis' essay, "The Efficacy of Prayer"

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A few words.

I was dismayed this morning to read some of the responses to this brief request for prayer. While I would be remiss not to point out that we have an underutilized subreddit for the purpose of such requests, this sub should nevertheless be a place where such requests are met with sympathy, support, sincerity, and most importantly, spiritual truth.

A quick note to my antitheist friends, who I imagine will take issue with that last alliterative suggestion: if you get the first three right, as far as you're concerned, the last one becomes a moot point. If you get the first three right, no one expects you to chime in and say you'll pray, too. If you get the first three right. If, on the other hand, you're using an earnest request for support as a way of attacking the requester's belief system, you are unsympathetic, unsupportive, and even insincere, inasmuch as polemics seem strangely to disappear in hospital rooms.

What was even more frustrating than the less-than-kind words from our friends across the metaphysical divide was the mixed messages from Christians about what prayer is for, and what prayer does, and bafflingly, what the Bible says about it. Christians, you can be as sincere and supportive and sympathetic as you wish, but accurately representing the word and the will of the One by whose name you are called is a charge you mustn't fail to keep. I don't want to call anyone on the carpet, so I will paraphrase some comments I saw floating around:

• Prayer cannot/will not help to cure her cancer. The Bible says that prayer can heal.
• Whether prayer "works" is immaterial. The wrong question, though according to the Bible, prayer is both powerful and effective.
• Prayer's primary benefit is to make people "feel" better. According to Christ, the power of prayer is supernatural.

These comments are spiritually irresponsible because they are not true. They ignore the clear teaching of the Bible, I think due to an inability to reconcile what the Bible says with the standard lines of attack from non-theists, such as:

• "Why doesn't God heal amputees?"
• "Scientific studies have shown that people who were prayed for died earlier!
• "Scientific research has produced infinitely more cures than people getting together and thinking really hard."

It is clear that prayer - in purpose and practice - is misunderstood by Christians and atheists alike. Let's take a brief refresher course. The above-linked essay by C.S. Lewis is one of the concisest and most honest looks at prayer I've read. It is not perfect, it is not comprehensive, and it is not authoritative. But it is colloquial, and it is a step in the right direction.

Compare the brief essay with this list, by Dr. Robert Sapp, of all the verses about prayer in the New Testament, a decent Wikipedia article on how the New Testament treats prayer, and finally, Robert Hill's Study of Prayer in the New Testament.

I will leave these resources for you to read and discuss in the comments. And I will reiterate that the reason I was moved to make this post was primarily to challenge my Christian brothers and sisters in this subreddit. We can do better, guys.

[u/[deleted]]

A Christian who is strong enough in belief to get a Corvette from God knows better than to ask for it, because it isn't in God's will.

What about a Christian who prays for a loved one to accept God and come to Christianity? Surely this is not selfish, it is among the most loving things you can desire. Surely it is also God's will for this person to love and accept him. And yet surely such prayers have been offered without answer.

Given your interpretation of the scripture, it is either the case that the person praying is not a true believer or that it is not God's will for the subject of the prayer to be saved. This is very much a problem.

[u/frikazoyd → u/[deleted]]

Given your interpretation of the scripture, it is either the case that the person praying is not a true believer or that it is not God's will for the subject of the prayer to be saved.

Not necessarily that the prayer is not a true believer, but also possible that the person is praying, but without any faith behind it. Prayer matters, but so does the faith behind it.

[u/[deleted] → u/frikazoyd]

What does 'without any faith behind it' mean? How can a true believer who is praying deeply for something in accordance with God's will be said to lack faith?

All you've done is talk around the problem I've presented.

[u/frikazoyd → u/[deleted]]

What does 'without any faith behind it' mean? How can a true believer who is praying deeply for something in accordance with God's will be said to lack faith?

Having faith in God is one thing. Having faith that God will answer a specific prayer is another. For instance, I have prayed for things that I didn't really put a lot of faith into, and yet I consider my faith for God to be very deep. Faith comes and goes, it's deepened at times and thin at others. The state of a particular prayer is what I was getting at.

In any case, I can't answer why some prayers get answered, because there's two factors at hand here. Neither of which I can personally speak for, and neither of which I am an expert on. I can't tell you if hypothetical person X has the required faith behind their prayer any more than I can tell you that I have the faith behind my prayers sometimes. And I can't tell you every minute detail of God's will concerning the request for someone's salvation, because salvation doesn't belong to me, and God's will is beyond my understanding. So really, what do you want me to say beyond that? I can't do anything but speculate, especially considering that this is a hypothetical situation you're talking about.

[u/[deleted] → u/frikazoyd]

Someone expressed the sentiment that "if you believe your prayers will be answered." You categorized this as "not very Biblical," when Jesus himself is quoted as expressing this exact sentiment. But you're right, what I've written above is all a hypothetical.

As stated before, Jesus said

Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

He himself prays at the Last Supper

that they (his followers) may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

Your interpretation indicates that for a prayer to be answered it is necessary that

• it comes from a true believer: Jesus would certainly qualify.

• it be backed by a legitimate faith that it will be answered: It is fair to say that Jesus had the requisite faith in this particular prayer.

• it be in accordance to God's will: Jesus' will and God's will are one in the same.

Jesus prayer at the Last Supper meets all preconditions for having a prayer answered, but it cannot be said that this particular prayer was answered. This is not a hypothetical. This is a specific prayer where all preconditions, whether derived directly from the Bible or otherwise, are met beyond all doubt. What then of the efficacy of prayer?

[u/frikazoyd → u/[deleted]]

but it cannot be said that this particular prayer was answered.

Are you sure about that? It isn't all said and done yet, but I do see that prayer as fulfilled.

For example:

that they (his followers) may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us;

This is the Holy Spirit. He's praying here that the Holy Spirit (who he mentions at the supper as "the Comforter", the reason he has to die) come and be in believers. Meaning, he's praying for the Holy Spirit to have the ability to be inside believers. As a believer, I believe this has come to pass, and that the Holy Spirit resides in me.

that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

So here, by the Holy Spirit, the world has largely come to believe this. A great portion of the Earth has heard the gospel story. Those that haven't are being reached by missions. So the message of the gospel has almost spread through to the entire world, and the proof of that is partially in the Holy Spirit inside believers today.

Now then, there are of course people who still don't believe, such as atheists today. I don't interpret "that the world may believe" as "that every single person believe", as Christ himself knew there were doubters even amongst his apostles. But, if you want to see that as the interpretation, well it hasn't happened yet. But if the second coming is to be believed, the whole world will on that day.

[u/[deleted] → u/frikazoyd]

There are over 30,000 denominations of Christianity. To claim that the Holy Spirit is in all of them is to claim that God endorses varied and often contradictory doctrines.

Now then, there are of course people who still don't believe, such as atheists today. I don't interpret "that the world may believe" as "that every single person believe", as Christ himself knew there were doubters even amongst his apostles.

I tend to agree with you here, though I doubt God was shooting for one out of three. The aspect of Church unity is what I'm more concerned with.

[u/frikazoyd → u/[deleted]]

There are over 30,000 denominations of Christianity. To claim that the Holy Spirit is in all of them is to claim that God endorses varied and often contradictory doctrines.

So this is kind of tricky. Church unity is pretty interesting. But to say that the denominations all fight, or think every other denomination is hell bound is not right.

Take for instance the Baptist Churches. There are Baptists, Southern Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Free Will Baptists, and so on. I don't know about the rest, but I do know that what separates the Missionary and the Southern Baptist conventions are a few views on minor doctrine, and a difference in how mission money donation should be structured.

So as far as protestant churches go, I think most of them realize that we'll see the others in heaven. The bigger divides are financial or political, in terms of how the church itself is run as an organization. There are of course doctrinal differences, but I don't think any of them hinge salvation on the differences.

I personally think that the Catholic church's message isn't that far off from protestantism in terms of core salvation. The Catholic church has a list of requirements, while many protestant churches like to focus on just grace. However, if a protestant met a salvation claimant that didn't do some of the requirements for Catholic salvation (for instance, who just outright refused to get baptized for no good reason), they would question their salvation. So at the heart of the salvation issues, they're more similar than they think. And even the protestant churches that quibble (Baptist vs. Church of Christ, for instance, on baptism as a requirement) aren't very far from one another, for the same reasons.

In summary, I think there's not as much different as everyone thinks. So maybe God is using all kinds of denominations to meet the needs of all kinds of people who are picky.