God did not answer my prayer
This is a online conversation I had with a former christain who turned away from Christ.
Ben
Years ago I prayed to God and Jesus to help cure a loved on with cancer. Neither answered. I asked God and Jesus to help a neighbor who was down on his luck and facing foreclosure. Neither answered. The neighbor died of a stress-related stroke. I asked God and Jesus many times to show me a sign that they are there for me or for those I have prayed for. They never answered. Yet I am told I didn't pray hard enough or I didn't believe enough or that I didn't throw enough money in the offering plate to be heard. Not true. I did all the things the faithful tell you to do. Then one day, I stopped praying to these ghosts. I started believing more in myself and stopped using God and Jesus as a crutch or an excuse. And guess what, my life got much better. I started accepting things like cancer and strokes as facts of life, not predetermined, not a result of someone's shortcomings or lack of belief. Just life. Nature. The way it is. Stop wasting your time praying to ghosts that never answer. Believe in yourself and just live your life to the fullest.
My answer- now this is me speaking directly to him.
For one thing Some times God says no to us. He said no to Christ's prayer. For another thing God never promised us help from our troubles. HE promises help from temptation. He promises to put a way out of sinning (temptation) when we are tempted.
Matthew 26 Jesus Prays at Gethsemane 38Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?…
Christ told us time and time again In this world we will have problems. John 16:33 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” What God did promise is help through the problems not from them. You mentioned asking God for a sign. Christ has this to say about those who ask for proof: Matthew 12 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth
To me it sounds like you got caught up in the modern day God will answer your prayers and make you rich and healthy if you believe hard enough nonsense many so called evangelist preachers spout nowadays.
To the rest of you reading this. God sometimes says no. He knows what it best for everyone. He also knows that we need yes we need problems to grow. Without problems you can not mature and learn.
Hebrews 12
God Disciplines His Sons …10For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.11All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. 12Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,
