Is lack of specificity in prophecy a cause for concern?

[_guy sajer]

Hell, I am a better prophet that SWK. Don't believe me?

Here's a prophecy. Check back in a year to see if it came true.

During 2007, Gordon Hinkley will not prophesize anything.

If there ever were a misnomer, calling Mormon leaders "Prohets" is one of the biggies.

[_harmony]

How many times does it say in the scriptures "ask" ? Or "knock"?

Hes begging us to ask him questions, so that he can answer us. What parent doesent answer their child? I repeat, It is our birthright to recieve revelation. God wants us to ask.

There were times when the heavens were sealed to Joseph, mainly becasue he wanted Joseph to repent, or pass through some trial as a test of faith. In those times it got down to wearying the Lord with prayers, until he did answer again.

Ask, yes. Tell, no. Wearying the Lord? You act like Joseph was the only one praying at the time. Why would the Lord ever be weary?

[_Gazelam]

Wearying the Lord is simply a phrase. It just means to show real intent and desire.

[_Trinity]

How many times does it say in the scriptures "ask" ? Or "knock"?

Hes begging us to ask him questions, so that he can answer us. What parent doesent answer their child? I repeat, It is our birthright to recieve revelation. God wants us to ask.

There were times when the heavens were sealed to Joseph, mainly becasue he wanted Joseph to repent, or pass through some trial as a test of faith. In those times it got down to wearying the Lord with prayers, until he did answer again.

God, as defined by biblical christianity, does not answer his children. Or at the very best he is subjective and arbitrary in his answers to his children. You step in the muck in order to further this idea because there is virtually no proof of God's stamp on anything. It is, in my mind, better to have a deistic God who creates and then removes himself from interaction than to have a God who creates and then picks and chooses or ignores the vast majority of humanity.

[_guy sajer]

How many times does it say in the scriptures "ask" ? Or "knock"?

Hes begging us to ask him questions, so that he can answer us. What parent doesent answer their child? I repeat, It is our birthright to recieve revelation. God wants us to ask.

There were times when the heavens were sealed to Joseph, mainly becasue he wanted Joseph to repent, or pass through some trial as a test of faith. In those times it got down to wearying the Lord with prayers, until he did answer again.

God, as defined by biblical christianity, does not answer his children. Or at the very best he is subjective and arbitrary in his answers to his children. You step in the muck in order to further this idea because there is virtually no proof of God's stamp on anything. It is, in my mind, better to have a deistic God who creates and then removes himself from interaction than to have a God who creates and then picks and chooses or ignores the vast majority of humanity.

I would ask Gazelam or any other believer to describe for me the principles God uses in answering those who do knock. I ask only becasue it seems to me that there are plenty of people out there knocking, but God appears very arbitrary about when he decides to open the door.

Another question I'd pose to believers, is what failure rate of prayer would be required to cause you to doubt prayer's general validity?

A this point believers usually cop out by changing the purpose of prayer (it's not to seek divine intervention but to align our desires with God's; we merely ask that God's will be done; God's answer can be "no"--cold comfort to the lady praying to God to save her dying child, etc.) despite clear scriptural promise that God hears and will answers prayers.

Believers tend not to establish only tentative principles before the fact but then wait until the results are in to articulate actual principles so as to help them explain the results contradicting their tentative principles.