Belief in Free Will Renders Prayer Irrelevant. ETV

Belief in Free Will Renders Prayer Irrelevant. ETV

1. Why do religious believers pray?- are these prayers compatible with a belief in free will?

   • To better know the will of God
     • Free will does not mean that we do not need help in life! Theologians like Pelagius and Arminius argue that we need a relationship with God to know his will for us – prayer develops this relationship.
     • To choose to align ourselves with God frees us from being enslaved to our baser urges and desires. Prayer is a mark of freedom
       • Romans 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
   • To be given strength to follow God's will
     • Sin is still a powerful reality even though we have free will. Pelagius says that we need everything in our arsenal to overcome it – including asking God for help through prayer.
       • During these hours each day pray- Pelagius Letter to Demetria
     • Free will means that we can choose to sin (as well as to do good). If we indulge sin we will find it impossible to correct our habits so to maintain our free will we must enlist God's help through prayer.
       • Habit is what nourishes both vices and virtues, Pelagius
   • To ask for forgiveness for transgressions
     • This forgiveness can only be effective if free will is true- can't help the reprobates in Calvin's theology!
       • All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; Calvin
     • So if God automatically forgives us does this mean that our sins are wiped away. Doesn't this mean we can't really sin? Surely for us to be free we have to be required to live with good and bad actions.
       • However when we are forgiven the consequences of our sin are not wiped away, and our gratitude for forgiveness changes our behaviour in future.
   • petitionary prayer
     • If God changed the world in accordance with our requests then we would not be able to have free will! The world follows natural laws etc so that we can have an environment where free will is possible.
       • So this type of prayer is really about us being changed to better accept the world as it is- according to God's will.
   • To ask God to make us into virtuous robots who never sin?
     • Do Christians want God to override their free choices
       • No - they want God's help in choosing the difficult path!

2. It is only belief in Free Will which renders prayer fully effective.