Most Christians will talk about “Gods Plan”. Which makes sense to me, the Christian God is omniscient and omnipresent so he could have a super well laid out plan for every micro second of human history.
But like, doesn’t this kind of defeat the purpose of prayer? Like if a family member gets sick, what’s the point to praying to God about it. Whatever happens is part of his “plan”, so there really isn’t any chance you’re going to change his mind on whether Grannie is going to pass.
Same with things “going against Gods Plan”. Gods plan should have every contingency accounted for, so it really shouldn’t matter what anyone does. Is there a chance that if too many people are gay that will derail Gods plan and everything will be fucked? Or did Gods Plan account for me being a big gay commie? Is the idea that you can’t fuck up Gods master plan, but if you do a bunch of weird crap God doesn’t like it will throw things off slightly and God will have to compensate which he finds really annoying?
Prayer can actually work, as long as the person is aware of it. Community support delivered in a way that is spiritually resonant with the patient can be a powerful tool for recovery from injury and illness. It doesn’t resonate with me and I think it’s weird, but I kind of get it.
I was raised Lutheran, so I lean more toward free will in theology. In practice, whenever I heard something like “god’s plan”, it took it to mean a plan that would necessarily have to be carried out by people, not by magic. That requires rejecting individual desires in the name of spiritual discipline and the larger plan, in a way that kind of mirrors the discipline of a communist party.
The anti gay stuff is clearly just cultural baggage, in the same way that it was for pretty much everyone in Western society up until the last few generations, including our hero Fidel. There’s hardly any biblical justification for it. People who insist on clinging to it now are some combination of asshole or ignorant.
I don’t know if you’re referring to something specific, but it can actually make outcomes worse. this article talks about a couple of studies where knowing they were being prayed for made things worse.
I don’t think the situation described in the study counts. It’s not really community support when it’s coming from strangers. I’d assume the ideal would be friends, family, and members of your church praying for you.
Some randos I don’t know saying they’ll pray for me might just make me worry. What if they pray to the wrong god and just make it worst?