Can Prayer Ward Off “Evil” or Otherwise Affect the Physical World?

Can prayer prevent deadly accidents, natural disasters, or even make lost car keys findable?

In other words, can prayer circumvent the laws of physics?

Let’s start with “evil”:

“In the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil with that of a God who is, in either absolute or relative terms, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent.” – From this page in Wikipedia

It doesn’t take much research to reveal the complexity involved with the philosophical examination of the word, “evil,” and everything it implies.

Are we humans making (the concept of) evil a problem where none really exists? After all, we do have a bad habit of complicating things. Perhaps “Occam’s Razor” should be used here.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this article, the concept of evil needs to be clarified, starting with a definition:

Actions and thoughts can be considered evil, as in the Old English definition, “extreme moral wickedness.” Another definition: “profoundly immoral and malevolent.”

…Of course, now we must define “morality” as the baseline or standard from which we can determine whether a thought or action has strayed far enough to be considered “evil.”

Without getting too deep into philosophy, morality is usually defined as a standard of accepted behavior that is associated with everything “good and right.” Ok, fine, but what’s “good and right?”

Religions set standards for morality, although there is no evidence that good moral standards of conduct depend solely on religion. (But we’re not going into that epistemic subject here!)

Let’s just all agree – for the purposes of brevity and clarity – that “good moral standards” are necessary for a society’s harmonious daily survival and ability to thrive. For example – theft, murder, rape, and adultery are not conducive to a society’s harmonious existence, much less its ability to thrive.

…So now we can re-focus on evil as any action (or thought) that is not morally good.

Is “Evil” the Exclusive Domain of Humans?

Perhaps the capability for choosing ‘wrong over right’ scales with intelligence.

…For example, it is unlikely insects – with their automated robotic-like brains – are capable of discerning moral values beyond those which are pre-programmed into their simple brains (such as carrying out their specific societal duties for the good of the nest or hive, for example.)

When you start moving up the ladder of neural complexity, however, there comes a point when a creature is capable of weighing the pros and cons of progressively more options.

It doesn’t take an animal behaviorist to realize that eventually an option will present itself to a creature with a brain of sufficient complexity that — by selecting that option — would qualify the creature for ‘evil status.’

Where this point precisely lies is not likely knowable, but there is some evidence that mankind is not the only mammal capable of “moral” thoughts and actions (and therefore capable for selecting a ‘non-moral’ option):

The books, “Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals” (Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce) and “Can Animals Be Moral?” (Mark Rowlands) – both available on Amazon – may change your mind about some animals’ capabilities for morality (and, perhaps, “evil.”)

But there is no evidence that evil can exist on its own outside human (and perhaps certain other mammalian) brains. In other words, evil cannot exist on its own without live humans (and perhaps certain other creatures) who choose to think and/or perform actions considered “evil” anymore than hatred or jealousy can exist on their own — outside a human brain.

Obviously, many people disagree with this outlook, preferring to believe that evil can exist in the form of a being such as satan, demons, and the like. If you’re one of them, great. There is no evidence, however, this is true. (But that’s the great thing about belief — while no one is entitled to his or her own facts, we are all entitled to our own opinions and beliefs!)

Onward…

Whenever I hear about a spectacular answer to a prayer, I’m happy for the beneficiary and everyone involved; it’s proof God answers prayers, right?

But if I’m completely honest with myself, I realize there should be a disclaimer somewhere that says, “Unique experience. Results may vary.”

The evidence shows that God does not answer all prayers. While this may be a painfully obvious understatement, perhaps I’m being unfair about this whole unanswered-prayers business…

I vaguely remembered a couple of scripture verses that addressed this very issue, but was surprised to find about 350 Google results (35 pages of 10 results on each!) to the search query, “Biblical reasons for unanswered prayer.”

Each link went to a Christian website that listed Biblical reasons – with the accompanying corresponding passages – for prayers going unanswered.

Here’s a sampling (with the specific corresponding passages omitted for brevity):

• It was not God’s will.
• Unconfessed sin.
• Closing your eyes to the needy.
• Lack of faith.
• Doubting
• Faulty motives; praying for wants, not needs.
• You rarely spend time in His world; You are not having regular fellowship.
• You won’t forgive others, so why should God answer your prayers?
• You’ve been treating your spouse badly.
• You’re giving up too soon; you must persevere.
• God is testing you; making you rely and trust in Him more.
• You have too much pride.
• God has something better planned for you than your prayer request.
• God is protecting you from an unforeseen danger by not answering.
• God answers prayers in His own time.
• You didn’t ask; He can’t answer prayers not prayed.

…This is just a partial list. Each bullet point summarizes a specific Biblical passage that more or less clearly illustrates the point:

The Bible gives ample reasons for prayers going unanswered.

Case closed.

But hold on a minute. Something doesn’t quite add up here…

Most Biblical reasons for unanswered prayers make sense — providing you ignore the prayers of children. Because otherwise you’re forced to acknowledge some (troubling) logical conundrums.

Before you read my “Adult Theory on Prayer” (so named because I was an adult before I’d finally cobbled together a satisfactory reason for prayers going unanswered), it’s necessary to make a case for the ‘theory’ to make sense. Which is to say, show you some examples of the “logical conundrums” of which I speak.

Because remember — being a skeptic (optimistic or not) — one must examine all points of view; both/all sides to an ‘argument.’ To be completely fair and balanced, one must be willing to expose even religious beliefs to the indignity of evidence and rational thinking.

To me, this way of thinking is simply being honest with ourselves.

…And this means dragging you through a couple of sobering cases involving children, and then afterwards asking the hard questions. (Don’t worry, the chapter ends on a positive note :-)).

All of this could be construed as an attempt to paint a God in an unflattering light. I assure you it is not. It’s just that we should not ignore reality in our quest to get closer to truth. Whatever light illuminates the whole subject comes from your own flashlight.

Besides, it would be absurd to imagine an omniscient and omnipotent God of the Universe so threatened by any probing questions that ‘He’ would feel compelled to condemn the objects of his creation to an eternity in hell (or any other imagined punitive fate) for having the audacity to question the very reality we live in — the reality ‘He’ created.

Also remember that it is necessary to be fully aware of these ongoing “conundrums” so that my “theory” on prayer makes perfect sense, to say nothing of you being completely honest with yourself.

Onward, if you dare…

A Letter to God

In 1944, eleven-year-old Liliane Gerenstein wrote this heartbreaking letter to God on behalf of her parents, who were taken away by the Nazis. (Her mother had already been murdered, unbeknownst to her.)

She wrote the letter from the orphanage, La Maison d’Izieu, where 43 other orphans like herself were sent, after their parents were also abducted:

“God? How good You are, how kind and if one had to count the number of goodnesses and kindnesses You have done, one would never finish.

God? It is You who command. It is You who are justice, it is You who reward the good and punish the evil.

God? It is thanks to You that I had a beautiful life before, that I was spoiled, that I had lovely things that others do not have.

God? After that, I ask You one thing only: Make my parents come back, my poor parents protect them (even more than You protect me) so that I can see them again as soon as possible.

Make them come back again. Ah! I had such a good mother and such a good father! I have such faith in You and I thank You in advance.”

The letter was found in April 1944, in the abandoned orphanage. Liliane, along with the other forty-three orphans and seven supervisors, had been abducted (in a terrifying incident that is another awful story by itself) and sent to concentration camps, where they were brutally murdered.

Her father, Chapse, miraculously survived the horrors of the Holocaust and emigrated to the United States after the war. He died in 1979, never knowing the fate of his children. – source: The Simon Wiesenthal Center www.wiesenthal.com/ , Musee Memorial des Enfants d’Izieu (Memorial Museum of the Children of Izieu) www.izieu.alma.fr/

The Holocaust was indeed a terrible time in world history, no one denies this. Unfortunately, ‘evil’ things happening to innocent children were not limited to the Holocaust. They happen on a daily basis; always have, apparently always will.

Let’s force ourselves to look at another case:

 

In 1996, eight-year-old Michael Lyons was walking home from school when he was abducted by Robert Rhoades.

 

Rhoades raped and tortured Michael while inflicting 70 non-lethal stab wounds before finally slitting his throat ten hours later, dumping Michael’s body by a bush next to a river.

Now go through the bulleted list of Biblical reasons given for prayers going unanswered for Liliane Gerenstein and Michael Lyons.

…Only the last one, “You didn’t ask; He can’t answer prayers not prayed” could be used for Michael, because we’ll never know if he prayed for help or not. (It’s conceivable Michael was too terrified to pray or he failed to pray for another reason.)

Liliane – we have written proof she prayed for help. (And she was praying selflessly for her parents’ well being, not her own.) Needless to say, she likely prayed passionately to her God…. all through her own violent abduction up to the moment she was killed.

It’s likely both of these poor children experienced extended periods of unspeakable terror and pain while pleading to God for help.

Two popular reasons given for unanswered prayers are shown in the below image:

#2 – “God answers all prayers – but in His own time.” Obviously time is of the essence in emergencies, so this reason for inaction doesn’t make sense.

#3 – “God has something better planned for you than your prayer request.”

…Hmmm…This 3rd reason might make some sense if: 1. There is a “Heaven” and 2. There are various ‘levels’ in Heaven; the better a person was on Earth, the loftier his or her station in Heaven. Perhaps children like Liliane and Michael were compensated appropriately, whatever that means.

If the above paragraph seems contrived, it’s because I just contrived it.

Now, assuming that the powerful and benevolent God of the Bible exists, the fact that these two children’s prayers went unanswered can mean only one of three things. (And remember, these two cases are merely two examples of countless others):

1. God did not see what was happening (regardless of prayers or the letter).
2. God did see what was happening but could not intervene.
3. God did see what was happening but chose not to intervene.

…There could be no other option. What’s the correct one? If a God is indeed omniscient and omnipotent, then only the third option could be true.

Perhaps there’s such thing as “Satan” and that God has limited or no power over Satan; if true, God could not intervene – #2 above.

…So perhaps Robert Rhoades is completely innocent, the victim of a hostile takeover by Satan.

But I think any culpability for such a heinous crime lies with Rhoades himself. If you want to dig deeper into his past to find some root cause to blame (besides satan), you’ll likely find an absentee and/or abusive father, among other things. All of which, no doubt, contributed to the young, innocent Robert eventually becoming the despicable adult monster he turned out to be.

“The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” – Joseph Conrad

Of course, none of this means a God doesn’t exist. It also doesn’t mean God never answers prayers. But it obviously does mean a God does not (for whatever reason(s) respond to all the desperate cries of help from children whose only chance for deliverance from evil doers is God Himself.

This reality is troubling, to say the least. In defense of a God’s apparent inactions in such cases (countless like them worldwide), there is no shortage of good and faithful folks who will offer heartfelt explanations and/or excuses for God’s actions or inactions.

Perhaps one unspoken matter that is troubling in the back of everyone’s minds, however, is that it would be a lot more impressive if God would speak for Himself without the aid of the faithfuls’ mouths…

Because it’s painfully obvious the explanations and excuses offered by these good folks are coming from them – not a God; if their reasons made perfect sense, we’d faithfully conclude that a God was simply using them to communicate His will.

…But the reasons these well-meaning (and perhaps similarly-befuddled in private) folks give are little more than variations of the lame, responsibility-shirking phrase, “The Lord works in mysterious ways.” (The actual Biblical phrase is “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; and lean not to thy own understanding.’” – Proverbs 3:5)

So the message is that a God does have a reason, but we just aren’t privy to it. I see a couple of glaring problems with this answer:

First off, it’s not an answer – it merely defers indefinitely the question of why a God chose not to intervene – while presupposing a reasonable explanation exists, despite all evidence to the contrary.

And secondly, it’s like being told, “I know this whole thing may seem terrible, but just accept that your child was raped and murdered for a good reason, and when you get to heaven you’ll understand!”

…I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine any scenario in which this could ever make any sense. But don’t let this depress you: There is a sensible explanation forthcoming that I’m preparing you for, so hang in there.

Heinous crimes against children aren’t the only bad things happening to kids, despite prayers for help.

The following bullets were copied from the WHO (World Health Organization) website:

• 5.9 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015.
• More than half of these early child deaths are due to conditions that could be prevented or treated with access to simple, affordable interventions.
• Leading causes of death in under-5 children are preterm birth complications, pneumonia, birth asphyxia, diarrhoea and malaria.
• About 45% of all child deaths are linked to malnutrition.
• Children in sub-Saharan Africa are more than 14 times more likely to die before the age of 5 than children in developed regions.

Here’s Some Good News!

There’s documented improvement in these (otherwise depressing) stats:

“Overall, substantial progress has been made towards achieving Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4:

Since 1990 the global under-5 mortality rate has dropped from 91 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 43 in 2015. But the rate of this reduction in under-5 mortality was insufficient to reach the MDG target of a two-thirds reduction of 1990 mortality levels by the year 2015.” – WHO

Clearly, it was more effective application of medical science that resulted in the improved mortality rates for under 5 aged children worldwide. Prayer may have helped, but if you could select only one, it looks like medical science would be the smart choice.

Does Prayer Really Work?

Prayer does work every time – similar to the way that worship works – as a meditative connection with God. After all, prayer can be an intimate form of worship. And it appears that people who pray regularly are generally happier and healthier than their non-praying counterparts. (I’m making this claim based on general anecdotal evidence and a few news ‘blurbs’ – available online.)

Interestingly, it seems that all forms of deep meditation – whether done for connection to a God or not – carry much of the same benefits. (Although there is some disagreement on this.) In any case, certain forms of deep meditation are sometimes described as “being one with the Universe” – which could also be described as “one with God.”

“Research on the processes and effects of meditation is a growing sub-field of neurological research. Activation of the parasympathetic nervous system and stress relief are thought to play a role in meditation’s positive effects on chronic health conditions. Modern scientific techniques and instruments, such as fMRI and EEG, have been used to see what happens in the body of people when they meditate, and how their bodies and brain change after meditating regularly.” – this page on Wikipedia

Whether specific external-to-the-brain actions occur as the result of prayer (such as getting a promotion, finding lost keys, surviving a surgery, etc.) has always been debatable. This is because there will always be the question of whether the desired answer to such a prayer would have happened anyway – without praying for it.

One thing’s for sure – depending on prayer instead of science is not a good idea; perhaps it’s better to do both:

• If you have a serious infection, you can pray and/or take antibiotics.
• If you want to know what the weather will be like next week, you can pray for answers, and/or check the forecast.
• If you’re pregnant and want to know the gender of your unborn child, you can pray for an answer or get a sonogram.
• If you want protection from polio or the measles or any number of other viruses, you can pray and/or get vaccinated.
• If you want your teeth to last your whole life, you can pray for better teeth or use science’s latest oral hygiene methods and go to the dentist.
• If you want to know when the next solar eclipse or meteor shower is going to be, you can pray for an answer or check astronomy predictions (which have proven accurate to within the minute — many years in advance).
• If you want to know who murdered a loved one, you can pray that the perpetrator gets caught (to spare another family the same trauma) and/or have detectives use forensic medicine (such as DNA evidence) investigate.

This list barely scratches the surface of what we’ve come to trust and take for granted in science.

Medical science has increased life expectancy from an average of 30 years in pre-modern times to 77 (globally) today. Infant mortality has decreased dramatically over the last couple centuries, treatments for heart disease and cancer are steadily improving the length and quality of life for millions. – source: www.nber.org

Science is helping people get smarter – including the development of computers, global communication, travel, and today’s ‘instant information’ of the internet. The result is our world is becoming an increasingly safer place to live – despite the never-ending stream of disturbing news from all over.

This is not to say that science should replace prayer. As Cardinal Caesar Baronius once said, “The Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.” Besides, people have probably been praying since we’ve been able to think about our own existence.

…But is it possible to scientifically test the efficacy (or lack thereof) of prayer?

The ‘Famous’ STEP (Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer)

There is evidence that one notion related to prayer is true: “It’s better to give than to receive”:

Praying for someone (intercessory prayer) appears to offer far more benefits to the person praying than the person(s) being prayed for. The minor exception to this is when a person knows that someone is praying for them. In this case, the person being prayed for often feels better knowing that someone cares enough for them to pray on their behalf.

A Harvard study called the “Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer” (STEP), done in 2006, found that people who were unaware of being prayed for (even though others were praying for them), fared no better than if no prayers were offered.

Most of the $2.4 million for the study’s funding came from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports research into spirituality. As expected, many religious folks were disappointed with the study’s findings. It was generally thought that the findings were the result of God’s unwillingness to be “put to the test.” (More on this in a bit.)

Mayo Clinic Study on Intercessory Prayer

“A 2001 double-blind study at the Mayo Clinic randomized 799 discharged coronary surgery patients into a control group and an intercessory prayer group, which received prayers at least once a week from 5 intercessors per patient. Analyzing “primary end points” (death, cardiac arrest, re-hospitalization, etc.) after 26 weeks, the researchers concluded “intercessory prayer had no significant effect on medical outcomes after hospitalization in a coronary care unit.” – Mayo Clinic, from Wikipedia

Biblical Disclaimers for the Failed Double-Blind Prayer Studies

Just as the Bible gives ample reasons for justifying unanswered prayers, it likewise has several verses that explain the dismal results of the above tests on the efficacy on prayer:

Luke 4:12
“But Jesus declared, “It also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Deuteronomy 6:16
“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.
Matthew 4:7
Jesus replied, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

As with the Biblical disclaimers for unanswered prayer, your first reaction to reading these verses might be, “Well that makes sense because (in this case) everyone should know better than to try to test God. After all, ‘He’ is, well, God.”

…But when (if) your senses return, you might see it this way:

It’s nonsensical to conceive of an omnipotent and omniscient Creator of the Universe having an ego that ‘He’ values more than the well-being of hundreds or thousands of innocent patients who are (unknowingly) part of prayer tests.

Despite the Sobering Scientific Evidence, There Are Nevertheless Many Benefits of Prayer

Critics of religion usually focus on what they consider to be the irrationality of religious belief. What they don’t acknowledge, however, is that there are measurable benefits to prayer, if not to religious belief in general – scientific or not.

If going to church and praying has the benefits listed below, the existence or not of an intervening God behind it all is almost a moot point. (Sourced from multiple sites from the Google query, “benefits of prayer.”)

• Increases trust
  Praying with a close friend increases feelings of unity and trust; social prayer may therefore help build close relationships.
• Reduces stress
  People who pray for others are less vulnerable to the negative physical health effects from life stresses.
• Makes you a nicer person
  People who pray for those in need had reduced anger following experiences that would typically make them angry.
• Improves self-control
  When you’re tired or mentally stressed, you are more likely to over-eat, drink, or lose your cool. Research shows that praying has an energizing effect or at least a soothing effect, thus making it easier to have self-control over drinking, over-eating, or losing your cool.
• Makes you more confident
  As a self-affirming exercise by repeating positive, lifting, and thankful phrases. Letting go of emotional baggage and looking to the future rather than the past.
• Helps you think clearer, focus, and concentrate ‘without trying’
  Letting go of stressful thoughts (that were clouding your mind) allows new and creative solutions to problems to arise.
• Helps you forgive
  Forgiving someone for hurting you (whether the hurt was intentional or not) has long been known to relieve you of a huge burden. After all, holding a grudge is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.
• Helps remove guilt and remorse
  Guilt is usually excess baggage that doesn’t help you in any way. Praying helps rid yourself of guilt and remorse, setting you free.
• Helps you get close to God
  I think that it’s taken for granted that if you achieve the things in this list, you will be closer to God, or whatever your definition of that is.

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Can Prayer Help Avoid Medical Tragedies or Natural Disasters?

Fred Walker was one of my closest childhood friends. His Dad was taken by a heart attack when we were in the fourth grade. I couldn’t imagine such a calamity befalling my own family. But it was my newfound knowledge of medical science that provided a straightforward answer to these sorts of tragedies:

There was a life-size plastic skeleton of a male human in our classroom, hanging over in the corner. It was scary looking, its hollow eye sockets seemed to be looking right at me. But at least it made me pay attention during our human biology classes. I tried to imagine the corresponding bones in my own body.

We also learned about the heart and circulatory system, and some of the things that could go wrong. So the mystery of how a heart could stop beating was solved. Now I knew how Fred Walker lost his Dad so early in both their lives.

But what about earthquakes, fires, floods, landslides, hurricanes, and such? Are these things called natural disasters because they are truly natural, or is God causing these things because He’s angry?

As a youngster, it was clear to me that the phrase, “natural disaster” was a spot-on description of these things. Even a rudimentary knowledge of weather and geology showed how living on our Earth – ‘governed’ by the laws of physics – makes us vulnerable to such natural planetary processes.

…This realization would be key to my adult theory on prayer. In the interim, two things were clear:

Separate soul or not, our bodies are biological, living organisms — vulnerable to life-giving and life-ending processes and everything in between — such as pain, disease, aging, and of course, pleasure.

The Earth is a planet, and like other planets it is vulnerable to weather and geological processes – some of them extreme for us small humans.*

*Our Sun giveth, and our Sun taketh away: Without our host star to provide warmth, of course, we would not be here. But all weather is caused by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by our host star. Some of this weather is extreme for us small humans (hurricanes, storms, etc.). And high-speed subatomic particles from the Sun plow through us 24/7, eventually wreaking havoc over a lifetime (cancer and other diseases).

The fact that our Earth is still geologically active (volcanos, plate tectonics, and so on) means it’s still young enough for us to occupy it. (Think of Mars, with its dead volcanos and miniscule atmosphere – no magnetosphere.) But some of Earth’s geological activity is extreme for us small humans (earthquakes).

Mystery about prayer partly solved…

Biological tragedies and Earthly disasters are simply realities of being here; we occupy physical bodies on a physical planet and, therefore, affected – for better and worse – by the laws of physics.

…Praying for deliverance from a heart attack or earthquake is tantamount to praying for deliverance from sunburn or rain; we can’t stop the sun from shining or control the weather. Not to replace prayer, but – using the first example – it might be better to use medical science’s latest lifestyle recommendations to avoid a heart attack in the first place.

The remaining question to be answered about prayer is far more controversial – the “free will argument.” Nevertheless, it is part of a complete theory that makes sense in a world where church and school shootings do not make sense.*

*At least, do not make sense if there is indeed a God watching but not intervening on behalf of the innocent shooting victims. After all, what good would omniscience and omnipotence be if God did not put them to good use? Perhaps prayer works differently than many people hoped…

The “Adult Theory” On Prayer

We know that God does not answer all prayers. But why does ‘He’ also allow horrific events like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting (20 children and 6 staff massacred), the VA Tech massacre (32 college ‘kids’), and even massacres inside churches?!*

*When I first became aware of random murders inside of churches during worship services — often killing the pastor along with some attendees — I was shocked that God would allow such terrible behavior and the resulting loss of innocent life in His Own House. But then I thought about the massacres inside of elementary schools — such as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings — and realized it wouldn’t make sense for Him to intervene in churches and ignore young children at school. Evidently, stopping both is not an option.

What about awful birth deformities and severe mental retardation? What about child slavery, torture, hunger, disease, starvation worldwide?

…Why doesn’t God intervene?*

*I find it amusing when people pray for trivial things like lost keys or other domestic day-to-day things — then give thanks to God if their prayers are ‘answered.’ But I can’t imagine a God intervening in such cases while ignoring thousands of starving children.

…For example, prayer in professional sports:

When I was competing in formation skydiving full time, one of my teammates would occasionally pray for our victory. Sometimes we would win, but how did the prayer affect the outcome? I couldn’t imagine a God intervening on behalf of any such trivial request.

Recently there was a football player — a wide receiver — who dropped a pass in the end zone, losing the game for his team. Shortly after the game he tweeted (paraphrased), “I pray to You 24/7 and this is how you do me?? I will never forget this, never!!”

…His arrogant, demanding attitude notwithstanding, his tweet is a telling narrative on the habit of otherwise intelligent folks praying for help finding lost keys, safe arrival at a destination, for a promotion, ad infinitum.

If there is a God who intervenes in response to such requests — such as slightly nudging car keys or a wallet so as to be ‘findable,’ or helping someone get a promotion, nudging a football while in flight, or any number of other trivial interventions — why couldn’t ‘He’ intervene to simply nudge, just a bit, a bullet from its trajectory to a child’s body, nudge a few air molecules early in the formation of a hurricane (to miss a coastal area, for example), or any number of other ‘minor’ interventions (minor for a God) that would cancel untold tragedies?

Why could He not tweak deadly viruses a bit so as to render them harmless? After all, He could do these things without anyone ever knowing, thus successfully maintaining His enigmatic anonymity (which, evidently, is very important to all Gods).

Back to awful birth deformities, severe mental retardation, child slavery, torture, hunger, disease, starvation worldwide:

My theory of why a God would allow these things explains it all. It’s the same reason earthquakes, fires, floods, and other natural disasters are allowed:

Because ALL of these things appear natural. “But wait,” you say, “evil actions like murder are not natural.”

The Devil Made Me Do It!

Flip Wilson was a 70’s comic who was known for skits in which his character would famously say, “The devil made me do it!” To me that statement was a funny narrative on the absurd religious practice of conveniently blaming a “devil” or satan for causing humans to do wrong.

Obviously I’m neither a Biblical Literalist nor a Christian Fundamentalist. To me, the Bible was not meant to be taken literally. I’ve always advocated the ‘Big Picture’ view of the Bible as the only way to absorb its otherwise great teachings. That’s my opinion and I realize not everyone agrees. But that’s the great thing about beliefs and opinions: While we are not entitled to our own facts, we are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions! 🙂

…What a perfect scapegoat, the devil! Because not only does it shift the blame for our poor choices, but it also has the advantage of ZERO chance for repercussions; the “devil” cannot respond by suing for slander, because it´s very likely he doesn’t exist.

It’s what does exist that matters: The accepted convention of blaming the ‘devil!’

It seems unlikely a demon forces or influences people to do bad things; we all know people who are perfectly capable of being evil all on their own. The reasons people do bad things varies, of course. Some people were brought up in severely compromised situations – with absentee or abusive parents. Some were the unlucky recipients of a poor gene pool.

…But probably the vast majority simply make poor choices like we all do – no matter what the underlying cause(s). It’s here (“the devil made me do it”) where some religious folks might point to ‘the devil’ as the influencing agent in people’s decisions. For example, given two choices — one bad one good — and nudging them, perhaps imperceptibly, over to the ‘evil’ choice.

Free Will (as it relates to some religious beliefs)

It appears we are able to make evil choices all on our own — no devil necessary — due to our free will.

One popular spin on “free will” (as it relates to some religious beliefs) goes something like this:

We must be allowed to experience the consequences of our poor decisions. God’s answering every prayer (any prayer?) would create irresponsibility on a global scale, engendering a world of robots who are incapable of knowing right from wrong. We couldn’t get ‘credit’ for choosing God in such a world.*

*This seems (IMO) to be an explanation contrived in a desperate and futile attempt to reconcile prayer with reality. (The specific fallacious argument technique is known as “Special Pleading” — from Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit.)

Regardless, the next paragraph appears to match our experiential reality:

If all you had to do was pray for (and receive) help whenever you wanted, this would not be our world where the laws of physics rule our existence — as they currently do.

…And put this way, it actually makes sense because:

All events in our (human) world and on our planet unfold — ‘good’ or ‘bad’ — whether we want them to unfold in the way they do or not; events unfold in our world precisely in line with the immutable, unalterable laws of nature.

But if you are fortunate enough*, you have the opportunity to experience the incredible wonders that come with being alive — to include music and art, family and love — to name just a few.

*Born with a brain and body that’s not too compromised into a situation that’s not too compromised for you to ‘blossom.’

Don’t Blame God, Give God Credit

To experience all the joys and pleasures of biological life means also having to experience all other forces, actions, and eventualities that are the reality of being alive in a Universe ‘governed’ by laws of physics. In short, you must be willing to take the bad with the good!*

*This reality has always been troubling to us humans who are accustomed to having much control over our environment. (We have considerable control over our food, shelter, safety, medicine, etc.) It’s troubling because, evidently, we refuse to accept that some of the most terrifying realities of being alive are not controllable, and so we pray… 

It seems we’ve fooled ourselves into believing we can circumvent the otherwise immutable laws of physics by appealing to supernatural ‘forces’ for timely intervention on our behalf.

Giving our God a personality creates a doorway for control over otherwise unchangeable laws of physics; it’s far easier to appeal to a personality for help instead of unyielding natural forces. For example, deadly hurricanes — like all weather — are caused by the uneven heating of the Earth by our host star, the Sun. But appealing to a personality to modify a hurricane is easier than appealing to a giant ball of glowing nuclear fusion. 

When our appeals to our God (prayers) appear to come true, perhaps we faithfully but erroneously assume a cause and effect. (Confirmation bias; observational selection or “counting the hits and ignoring the misses.”)

…This solves the unacceptable reality that we have no control over death, earthquakes, disease, hurricanes, lost keys, etc. All of these things now become controllable, if only subtly, in our minds.

Of paramount importance for our ability to maintain this self-deception, is being able to account for ‘unanswered prayers’: 

Every conceivable reason for prayers “going unanswered” must be contrived in order to reconcile the whole concept of prayer-response with reality (here’s twenty).

…All of which allows us a feeling of security that we do have some control over an otherwise uncontrollable, terrifying physical world. 

So it’s useless and misdirected to blame God(s) for bad things in the world. But if you believe in Intelligent Design, then you have God to thank for everything good and enjoyable in this world!