Someone asked me this question this week and I thought it was such a good question, I should blog about it :).
Here are the two truths we are confronted with when we talk about praying to change God's mind:
1) God is a good God
This means that God’s intents and thoughts for us are always good. He seeks always to accomplish what is good for us, though it may not necessarily seem good to us. So then, why do we need to change his mind? Unless we think that our good God has devised something evil to destroy us and plummet us to the pit of hell. Perhaps, then our god is not the God of the Bible at all, but maybe he is some sort of idol or even the devil.
2) God knows everything
This is what theologians call divine foreknowledge or omniscience. If you believe in the God of the Bible, then you must accept this essential truth about an all-powerful, all knowing God, who knows past, present and future by virtue of his eternality. This seems to beg the question, “If god knows everything, from what we do—with all possible outcomes of those actions—and what He does (or can do) in order to work good in our lives, then how at all is it possible or necessary for finite creatures, such as we, to change His infinite mind?” It seems to be an ambitiously frivolous and ultimately needless cause.
So then, why pray at all?
To answer this question, we must look at the motive of the man praying, rather than the mutability of the God being prayed to. If your desire is to change God, whether it’s his mind or character or whatever else, you are out of luck. The God of the Bible is unchanging. But if your desire is for him to change you, then welcome to the proper posture of prayer. Prayer is where the Christian finds hope, faith and satisfaction. You may pray for better circumstances, better perspectives, or even a better you, but why pray for a better God, when you have the best?
March 18, 2010 at 1:48 PM
I think, It is possible to change God's mind.
lets talk about what happened to people of Ninveh. FIrst God said he is going to destroy, but the people and king wore sack clothes and prayed.
So God sent Jonah back to Ninveh and told them they are going to be fine.
I am not pastor or I dont have a degree in theology, so if I am wrong, please correct me.
March 18, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Joshua, thanks for the response. I really think you have a valid point, so I'll answer that in next week's blog.
BTW, You don't have to be a pastor or theologian to think about stuff like this. I think its awesome when we as regular, everyday believers try to discover something about God. That's what this blog is all about. :)
March 20, 2010 at 11:34 AM
side note...where you go i go, is my favorite song!!!
March 21, 2010 at 4:58 PM
hahaha, I'm glad you did this, so I got a chance at ICPF to talk to Zack Cherian and a guy named Sujith, and they really helped out alot, I totally agree, with your blog, we don't pray because God needs our advice in a situation, we pray because We need it, we pray so that we can be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so that we become aligned with the perfect Will of God. In response to the post by Joshua, I believe that it was God's will for Nineveh to repent and therefore, when the people decided to follow God's Will, they were spared. They did not change God's mind, they simply conformed their minds to His will through their actions, think of it this way, if God is such a good and perfect God who has our best interests at heart, why would we want to even attempt to change God's mind?
March 22, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Great comment Nathan....I think the next blog post will help further the thought