When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit.
From the Morning Scripture Readings
Posted in Theology, Theology: Scripture
The trouble is, Kendall, that the above isn’t sufficiently or generally true. The evidence is perfectly clear, that the Lord commonly does not deliver the righteous when they cry for help. At least, not often enough for the prayer to stand as an acceptable general proposition. And if He saves the crushed in spirit, there are many, so crushed, who don’t feel saved at all. Think how many people, surely some of them righteous or crushed in spirit, cried out for help after Katrina or ion the present oil spill, and what did they get?
I understand how strong the wish fulfillment is that underlies the above, and yet it does Christianity no favors, and some real harm, when beneficial acts are ascribed to God when there is precious little evidence that such have actually occurred. Christianity needs to tell demonstrable truths, not merely advance hopeful propositions whose falsity is patent. Larry