Philosophical paradoxes of prayer



There are a number of philosophical paradoxes involving prayer to an omnipotent God. I am sure some of these have crossed your mind, even if you dismissed them immediately. I think they are worth a ponder, though, just to get one thinking about why we believe what we believe.



It is interesting to me that all of these questions have been discussed in Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious texts.



“There was much intellectual cross-fertilization between Jews, Christians and Muslims during parts of the middle-ages, and so there is much convergence among some of the rationalist philosophers of that era.” states the Wikipedia text.

    • How is it possible for a sinful person to approach a holy God? What sacrifice is necessary to do so, be it from our effort or another’s (i.e. a personal Savior)?



    • If a person deserves the recipient of the prayer to give him the thing he prays for, why doesn’t he receive it, even without prayer? And if a person is not deserving of it, then even if that person does pray and request it, should it be given just because of his prayer?



    • Is it necessary to pray with speech? Are grunts and emotions enough and is there a way for them to be translated? Doesn’t the recipient know the thoughts of all people?



    • If the recipient is all-knowing, then doesn’t that mean that they would know what we are going to ask for, even before we pray? This paradox is acknowledged in the discourse on ostentation, which forms part of the Sermon on the Mount.



    • Is it possible for a human being to change the mind of the recipient of the prayer? Or is the purpose of prayer more about the prayer process changing the recipient?



    • Do human beings actually have the ability to praise an omniscient and omnipotent entity? Praising is difficult to do without describing, yet how can a finite human being know anything about the entity’s ultimate nature unless this was somehow disclosed by the deity?



    • The prerequisite of asking for a favor is faith in the recipient of the prayer. But asking to change an aspect of creation seems to be expressing a dissatisfaction with the way things are - and hence not trusting the “plan.” Why should human prayers affect the decisions of a deity?


Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer>

Technorati : , , ,
Del.icio.us : , , ,
Ice Rocket : , , ,

Leave a Comment