Conversations with an Atheist

Recently I was engaged in an online conversation with an Atheist who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that prayers don't work. His reasoning: there is no God so there's no way prayer can work. Lets call him Cooter Bucks. The poor souls story goes like this:

He was a born again Christian in a small church when a young girl in the congregation got bone cancer. The congregation prayed for her recovery but she didn't recover, so Cooter prayed for a quick death for the girl, but she lingered on.  Since God didn't answer Cooter's demands then it's plainly obvious that God doesn't exist, prayer is a sham, and Christians are stupid ignorant hillbillies like on Duck Dynasty. Personally I'd love to be a stupid ignorant hillbilly like on Duck Dynasty, they're all college graduates, all millionaires, and all love God, Jesus, and each other with a pure love that's a joy to behold. The diametric opposite of these ignorant hillbillies is, of course, the God denying atheist, and for these people I have pity. 

Poor Cooter Bucks, he doesn't even realize it but chances were real good that he was never born again. My guess was that he got caught up in an emotionally charged service and went down front and prayed the sinners prayer and !POOF! he's now a born again Christian. This of course is one of the most pervasive heresies of the modern church. A full 80% to 90% fall away from the faith because of poor evangelism, so the chances are good that Cooter never was told to open his bible and read it, he never was told that Christianity is NOT a bed of roses but quite often is a painful yet fulfilling experience, and it's a guaranteed fact that he was never told how to pray.

You can use all the flowery church language you want but if you pray for the wrong thing God is under no compulsion to listen. Cooter is highly upset that he was taught that 'all prayers are answered' and when his prayers were not answered it's obvious to him that God does not exist. It's kind of like turning the key in a brand new car and when it doesn't start you stomp off in a huff claiming that the US Interstate thruway system doesn't exist. It looks like Cooter's happy clappy slappy church didn't bother to teach him this:

¹⁴ This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. (1 John 5:14-15)

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

It appears that Cooter didn't realize it's not about what he wants, but it's all about what He wants. Cooter didn't realize it but instead of praying to God, he was in reality praying to Santa Claus and when Santa didn't bring him the pony he demanded, ol' Cooter got mad and took his toys and left. He is now spending his time trolling the internet offering to prove to Christians that prayer doesn't work. He claims that he'll make a video recording of you praying over a sick child to prove that it didn't work. I actually took him up on his offer, but he never responded to it.

Personally I can prove that prayer works. If I pray for a pet purple dragon I can say with 100% certainty that I will never get one, because a pet purple dragon is not in God's will. However with all the pain going on in my life recently I've been praying for calm and strength and God has been granting that (here's a church word I really hate) ABUNDANTLY, because this is actually within God's will. Cooter wants to see a purple dragon with collar, water dish, and dragon bed appear with a cartoonesque poof! in a cloud of smoke and confetti, he does not want to see someone gaining strength and an inner peace that all the $950 an hour psychiatrists in the world would give their eye teeth to simulate.

Unfortunately for Cooter, he can't know that he's out in the cold, trapped by sin and without a hope that he would ever find the peace and joy in Christ, my adoptive brother,  that Cooter claims doesn't exist. Jesus Christ explains why:

He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God. (John 8:47)

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Am I angry with Cooter? No, I love him, but with that sad love one holds for a puppy that slips off the leash, you don't want it to run away but you know there's an unkind car tire in that dog's future. However I know Cooter is mad at me, like I said I accepted his offer to let him video tape our prayers, and he failed to respond. I reminded Cooter that by his own logic, he does not exist.