In Reply to: Re: bruce almighty.. posted by porceleindoll on August 19, 2004 at 20:27:15:
good question. i think that the difference between the way the fam (and many 2 dimensional religious groups) reduce scripture to isolated "promises" and inviolable formulas that do not line up w/ reality is a problem of approach and interpretation, not god lying to us , or some mentally imbalanced oddballs who got fried out in the desert cooking it all up.
personally, stepping back a bit, trying to get a clearer sense of the overall meaning and intent of revelation, and realizing the cultural environment of the human authors and recipients, and dumping the book of magic sayings approach to scripture, is vital if one is to maintain, or establish a personal connection to god, incarnated and present in the historical and risen jesus.
geez, did we get it scrambled!
to your question, god really did not promise to do anything that we ask. the overall story, and cultural and language differences must be factored in.
but, sometimes, when we do line up w/ all the variables, known and unknown, prayer does seem to play a role in some amazing things.