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Sunday, March 24, 2019

Why do people choose to not call upon the Lord their God? Mosiah 26:4

Why do people choose to not call upon the Lord their God? Mosiah 26:4

Some of the rising generation chooses not to believe, even though their parents who lived in the time of King Benjamin were believers.

Answer:
Pffffft. Why is the sky blue?

Why does the sun shine?

Why does the rain fall?

Why are we human at all?

Here is a short list of 10 things I can imagine being said by people who choose not to pray:

  1. "Why should I?"
  2. "I'm not going to get an answer."
  3. "I'm too busy."
  4. "It's conceited and arrogant to believe in prayer. God wouldn't care about my dumb problems."
  5. "It's misguided and stupid to try something like that."
  6. "There is no God, so it would be pointless."
  7. "I don't want to."
  8. "I don't know how."
  9. "I am afraid that if I get an answer, I'll have to change."
  10. "What if I pray and I don't get an answer? Or what if I don't understand the answer?"
Here's my response to these excuses:
  1. Why not?
  2. You don't know that unless you try.
  3. a. Prayer doesn't have to take that much time. b. You have time to mindlessly scroll through facebook or your google (or whatever) newsfeed, pick your nose, and play candy crush - you have time to pray.
  4. He's our father, so he does. Anyway, it's hypocritical to think belief in prayer is arrogant. Either that or almost unfathomably ignorant.
  5. Sometimes stupid things work and we don't know why. As an unrelated example, placebo effect.
  6. If there is no God, there's nothing to lose by trying it except a tiny bit of time and a bit of pride. Who doesn't want to lose that?
  7. I don't know how to respond to this one if it's a friend (or niece or nephew). But if one of our children says this, it's the guaranteed ticket that they will be the person saying the prayer. This is not an allowable excuse in our family culture.
  8. Oh! Let me show you!
  9. That is true. And it would be hard. But it would be worth it, too.
  10. You will. That is the promise.
I know that if you pray, you will receive an answer. It might not be the answer you want, and the timing might not be when you want it. But God will answer you in a way that you will understand. He loves us. He knows us. We should trust him. 

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