Why does God not answer 100% of prayers?

Ruxton Towers XC wrote:

TAMUhobbyjogger wrote:

Also, Zachariah, I appreciate the genuine question and honest curiosity/uncertainty. It's a hard/tricky topic to navigate, even for Christians! There are some things that just don't make sense and life is hard. Christians are told that life on Earth will be difficult for us, even though we are the ones that are also promised hope and joy in Christ! Personally, I can say that Christ has definitely brought hope, joy, peace, and so much more in the highs and lows of life. I'm still young (24 y/o) and have much more life and hardship to live, Lord willing, but looking back, I can be see that He has continued to lift me up... and that provides so much confidence as I continue living through uncertainty that life brings.

Zachariah and everyone else that is wrestling with the idea of God being a loving God, I want you to hear (or in this case, read) that He loves you so much. ... Adam and Eve went against God's word and brought sin/imperfection into the world. Being fully perfect, God literally couldn't be in the presence of such imperfect beings. This created a gap between us and God that, again, could only be bridged by the perfect sacrifice. God came down to Earth as Jesus, fully God and fully human, to live and die for us, then conquered death. So, to answer, we brought it upon ourselves with our sinful nature and God-revolting desires/actions.

The problem is that whatever Adam and Eve did shouldn't determine whether a child in a Romanian orphanage gets a brain tumor. Nor should that child's well-being be tied to whether someone in that orphanage is saying enough prayers (or any).

God should understand that that 6 month old child is not responsible for Adam and Eve and that 6 month olds can't pray. As such, giving her a brain tumor does nothing to help her build a relationship with God because she will die before anyone can talk to her about God or how to correctly worship God.

There is a reason philosophers and brilliant minds can't reconcile "God" with reality...

Mikeh33 wrote:

Ruxton Towers XC wrote:

The problem is that whatever Adam and Eve did shouldn't determine whether a child in a Romanian orphanage gets a brain tumor. Nor should that child's well-being be tied to whether someone in that orphanage is saying enough prayers (or any).

God should understand that that 6 month old child is not responsible for Adam and Eve and that 6 month olds can't pray. As such, giving her a brain tumor does nothing to help her build a relationship with God because she will die before anyone can talk to her about God or how to correctly worship God.

There is a reason philosophers and brilliant minds can't reconcile "God" with reality...

God isn’t striking a six month old with a brain tumor because He wants to pay the baby back for Adam and Eve’s sin. People grow old, get sick, and die, because creation itself was fractured when the pinnacle of that creation rebelled against the Creator.

Here is one of the more interesting, and perhaps puzzling, verses in the New Testament.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jeff Wigand wrote:

Mikeh33 wrote:

God isn’t striking a six month old with a brain tumor because He wants to pay the baby back for Adam and Eve’s sin. People grow old, get sick, and die, because creation itself was fractured when the pinnacle of that creation rebelled against the Creator.

Here is one of the more interesting, and perhaps puzzling, verses in the New Testament.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Does that really make sense? Or is it more likely that this was one culture’s way of explaining their world in the absence of a more detailed understanding?

55 YO wrote:

Zachariah wrote:

I am genuinely curious about this, please don't use this to mock religion. If you give all glory to God for all the great things in your life, that is fine by me. But what about when things aren't going right, why does the goal post move to 'God is testing me, making me stronger'? Like why can't God be wrong sometimes and called out for it? I just saw a friend on Facebook had the winning bid on a house and they thanked God for answering their prayers. What about all the people who didn't get the house and they might've prayed too? I just don't understand why God works for some but not others. And then if the house goes into foreclosure he is nowhere to be found.

The answer to this will only make sense to those who have the eternal in mind, while most people who consider this question only think of the physical aspect of it.

That said, God is most concerned about the spiritual health of a person, so there are times when we ask for the things that we think are best, while God knows what is actually the best for each individual.

So, for your example, losing a house to foreclosure might be to lessen our dependence on material possessions and place it on God. It could also be for a different reason that I do not comprehend. What I do know is that I rarely see what God is doing in the present, but when I look back, it is much clearer for me.