Is Matthew 21:22 blatantly wrong?

[Justin108]

Matthew 21:22 - "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

[polonius]

Matthew 21:22 - "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

RESPONSE:

Obviously not! Try it by praying for a winning lottery ticket.

[psychdave]

Clearly totally untrue. What will be will be, that's reality... If you ask for something and happen to get it, that's just your lucky day, for every person that asks and receives, 99 ask and don't receive... That's just life in general, the fact your pray and receive is just chance. If 100 people ask God/Allah/Buddha etc for some money, probability says that maybe one will receive some kind of money in the next week that's just the laws of probability. Obviously the way religion works is the 99 that receive nothing are "forgotten" about and the one that receives is brought to the front of the church to testify...

[AdHoc]

Matthew 21:22 - "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3 NIV

Also the verse applies the condition "if you believe". Christians believe that faith is required to receive God's miracles.

So no the verse is not "blatantly wrong" in the context of the Christian faith.

[Divine Insight]

Obviously the way religion works is the 99 that receive nothing are "forgotten" about and the one that receives is brought to the front of the church to testify...

Exactly.

Parents lose their children quite often due to disease, accidents, crimes, war, and many other things. For the most part these churches are conducting funeral services and consoling the parents of lost children.

Once in a while some child that came close to losing their life but recovered in some way survives. And those parents then move to the front of the church as a testimonial to the "Glory of God".

This is actually an insult to all the parents who's children had actually died.

[Peds nurse]

Obviously the way religion works is the 99 that receive nothing are "forgotten" about and the one that receives is brought to the front of the church to testify...

Exactly.

Parents lose their children quite often due to disease, accidents, crimes, war, and many other things. For the most part these churches are conducting funeral services and consoling the parents of lost children.

Once in a while some child that came close to losing their life but recovered in some way survives. And those parents then move to the front of the church as a testimonial to the "Glory of God".

This is actually an insult to all the parents who's children had actually died.

Hey Mr. DI!! I hope you are well and enjoying your summer!

The Glory of God can be celebrated in life and death. His Glory isn't just for the here and now.

Getting what we want, and desiring what God wants for us, are two very different things.

[rikuoamero]

Matthew 21:22 - "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3 NIV

Also the verse applies the condition "if you believe". Christians believe that faith is required to receive God's miracles.

So no the verse is not "blatantly wrong" in the context of the Christian faith.

False in my case. Back when I was a Christian, I asked for things that were not selfish in the slightest. I never asked for money or anything like that. Note, this was back when I was a Christian, so I obviously believed.
So what do you have to say to that? My younger self fulfilled your two conditions (belief + unselfish request) and yet prayers went unanswered/unfulfilled.

[marco]

So no the verse is not "blatantly wrong" in the context of the Christian faith.

It is astonishing how far we go to avoid saying Scripture is wrong. Obviously if it is God's word, it isn't wrong. But we are certainly confronted with situations that seriously challenge the truth of the statement.

One that strikes me as sad is that of a little Ukrainian girl whose parents were murdered in their farmhouse. She ran upstairs and knelt down to pray for help. The murderer said he heard her praying but smashed her skull anyway. Some say that she "prayed the wrong prayer."

What father, asked for bread, gives his son a stone? Sometimes the obvious is the right answer.

[Realworldjack]

Matthew 21:22 - "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

It is amazing how there are those who will extract a sentence out of the Bible, and claim it proves the Bible to be false.

This sentence you have extracted, actually comes right after Jesus had cursed a fig tree, which was said to have "withered immediately." It then goes on to say, "And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree wither away so soon?

At this point it says, "So Jesus answered and said to them." Now, who is "them"? It would be the disciples who are asking the question. Jesus goes on to say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you." Now who is the "you?" Again the "you" would be the disciples. What does He tell the disciples? " if you have faith and do not doubt." Who is the you? Again the disciples.

you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

So as we look at the whole passage we see the "you" refers to the disciples, and is not a promise to us.

[rikuoamero]

[Replying to post 9 by Realworldjack]

So as we look at the whole passage we see the "you" refers to the disciples, and is not a promise to us.

Not the first time I've come across this. This means that since anything Jesus ever said or claimed was only ever directed at who he was speaking to, and NOT at future readers of the Bible, then...nothing Jesus says applies to you or me. There's no point to reading Jesus's sayings (or what are attributed to him).
Jesus saying love thy neighbour, turn the other cheek? Directed at, and only meant for, whomever he was speaking directly to, not meant for subsequent generations.

Want to revise your position?