sorry for starting the nth thread on free will lately but i think this idea is separate enough it deserves it's own thread.
despite many differences between christians, one thing that seems to unify them is prayer. i remember one of the christian posters here in RGT saying that he is a christian because of his experiences with prayer.
there are different opinions on the efficacy of prayer, but all seem to agree that at least god is listening, so asking for help is basically a freeroll.
but, if god answers prayers, does not this erode the concept of free will?
a friend of mine recently posted something similar to this on facebook:
Quote:
finally got a job!!! thank you jesus! #prayerworks
let's assume she is correct and she was given this job by the creator of the universe.
at a minimum, this obliterates the free will of the hiring manager who phoned her to offer her the job.
if that hiring manager takes advice from anyone, a spouse, friend, co-worker, their free will is also highly compromised.
most of us have heard of the butterfly effect. one small and mundane event can have a very complex chain reaction. most of us have subtle interactions with hundreds of people every day, and any one of those people could end up seriously affecting the course of your day (someone bumping into you and spilling your coffee, someone cutting you off in traffic, someone kindly holding a door open for you).
i think that one could successfully argue that the free will of hundreds or thousands of people had to be suspended so that god could award that job to my friend.
seems to me that if god answers prayers, we are nothing more than pawns in a grand chess game that god is playing against himself.