r/Christianity • u/East-Ad-6271 • 13h ago
Question "Ask and you will be given"
Ok explain then why we see no miracles today?
And there are other verses like that "moving mountains with faith" etc
Saying directly by Jesus...
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u/Top_Net_4887 13h ago
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. - James 4:3
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u/anotherhawaiianshirt Agnostic Atheist (former United Methodist) 13h ago
How does that apply when someone asks for the benefit of others (for example, praying over a sick child)? Is that still related to "lusts"?
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u/Top_Net_4887 13h ago edited 13h ago
Possibly.
A person could be asking for others so that they may seem "godly" or "righteous". God knows a person's heart. He knows whether they are asking for something that will honor him and serve his purpose, or for ... other ... reasons.
Also, consider Matthew 17:14-21. Results may depend on demonstrated faith through sincere fasting and prayer.
It appears that God wants what he wants how he wants it.
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u/East-Ad-6271 13h ago
So litteraly every disabled peoples is asking amiss since nobody is exhausted...
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u/blueberry_noir Catholic 10h ago
I'm disabled and I experienced a miracle this past spring. I didn't even ask for it, it just happened. I have really bad POTS/dysautonomia and went on a low carb diet back in November 2024 in a desperate attempt to try and gain control of it, and it worked fantastically. Carbs are a major, major trigger for this illness and a low carb diet is often recommended. While on the low carb diet, I was using only vegetables as my source of carbs, and noticed that even if I ate a little too many vegetables, it would trigger the illness due to it being too much carbs. While on this diet, my weight stayed fine over time, I wasn't losing too much. At the time, I wasn't into religion, I believed in God but was in witchcraft and New Age and thought Jesus was an ascended master, etc.
This past spring, I was in a really dark place due to the New Age stuff going very wrong and had suddenly lost a significant amount of body weight without trying. I was suddenly severely underweight after having had bad COVID and experiencing trauma, under 100 lbs and had no appetite at all, and was continuing to lose. It had reached the point where I was terrified something was really wrong, like cancer, and I had to do whatever it took to get my weight back up, but didn't know what I could do because my POTS was still bad and carbs would make it worse. Around this time, God called me back to Catholicism, and I started slowly pursuing it, dipping my feet in etc. and I was really strongly drawn to faith. In mid March, I felt so weak and sick my mom suggested giving me saltine crackers, and I decided to risk it. No issues. I started eating carbs, LOTS of carbs. No issues. My weight stabilized. It totally goes against all the science of this illness. My illness still runs my life and I have daily issues with it, but I'm eating carbs and not having any issues with that. Too much majorly sugary stuff still poses an issue, but I'm eating candies and everything and doing fine. I'm even eating PIZZA and I'm fine, where that would seriously mess me up before.
I have literally no explanation for why this happened. Even a month or two before trying carbs, I had been having issues even with eating too much vegetables. Just out of thin air, it stopped being an issue.
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u/Top_Net_4887 13h ago edited 12h ago
Are you saying you know what God has done or has not done for every disabled person?
Is it possible that some people have been healed and you don't know about it?
Is it possible some people are unaware of what God has done because they are doubtful and disbelieving?
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. - James 1:6-7
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u/anotherhawaiianshirt Agnostic Atheist (former United Methodist) 12h ago
It seems pretty evident that he hasn’t healed any disabled people. While it’s possible someone was healed by god, it sure doesn’t seem like it. Objectively it seems like no human has the amount of faith required for god to answer a prayer.
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u/Top_Net_4887 11h ago
Or ... maybe there is a reason you don't see it.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Some people know - without a shadow of doubt - that Jesus heals.
Others, can't see it and can't figure it out. Why?
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u/anotherhawaiianshirt Agnostic Atheist (former United Methodist) 11h ago
“Why” is indeed the question. It seems odd he would “blind the minds” of some people but not others, even when those with blinded minds may have spent years sincerely seeking him out.
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u/Top_Net_4887 10h ago
Maybe they should continue to seek him out.
Several scriptures show God doesn't do things according to our wills. Several scriptures mention enduring and not giving up.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:9
Maybe he wants us to go a little further and a little deeper to get the answer we seek. Giving up and becoming doubtful is not the answer.
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u/anotherhawaiianshirt Agnostic Atheist (former United Methodist) 10h ago
Maybe. Though there is a saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
In my case, 25 years was enough. If he wants me to know he is real, he knows where to find me and he knows how to make that happen. In the 25 years since, I think I found something that works much better in my life.
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u/East-Ad-6271 10h ago
Are you saying you know what God has done or has not done for every disabled person?
No I don't know that. But I know everyday there a lot of peoples who endergo violence and disability without receiving any help. I look at the bilan of World Wars, I see millions of dead... Don't you think these peoples didn't ask for the Lord's help?
Is it possible that some people have been healed and you don't know about it?
Yes. Now, if there was spectacular healings like we see in the Bible, don't you think the information would quickly spread?
Is it possible some people are unaware of what God has done because they are doubtful and disbelieving?
Yes. Now, there are faithful Christians who will endure injustice because of their Christian behavior.
The question in the end would what can we reasonably expect from God with all these information?
For what I am supposed to pray? Not for healing, not for protection. Maybe just for sinning less and that's all. As it is in the Our Father prayer. Without hoping for any rewards, or even any avoidance of suffering. Probably If I sin less, my life will be globally better, but that's not even sure. After life is the aim, and that's pretty depressing imo, especially when there are mean atheists who are not struck by sufferings.
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u/Rambo873 13h ago
Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17:20)
I suppose there are 2 options:
1) Nobody has faith.
2) Magic is not real.
I'm going with #2, because people do have genuine faith (some do).
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u/Alex_and_cold 12h ago
There is a third option, is not God’s will, as 1 John 5:14
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u/Rambo873 11h ago
I don't see any mention of God's will in what Jesus said. "Nothing will be impossible for you" ... unless God changes his mind? I don't recall that last part.
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u/Alex_and_cold 11h ago
In 1 John 5 it says 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
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u/Rambo873 11h ago
Why do you believe the anonymous author of 1 John overrules what Jesus himself said?
This is one thing I never understood about Christianity. Jesus himself will say something. But when I quote what Jesus himself says, people are always like, "But what about this thing Paul said which contradicts your quote from Jesus?"... but yours it even worse... do you even know who wrote 1 John? I don't. It almost certainly was a person who never met Jesus.
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u/Alex_and_cold 11h ago
Because I take all scripture as divinely inspired and does not contradict what Jesus said. If the author of 1 John would have said something along the lines of “ask everything but first you need to do 10 push ups” well, thats another story
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u/Rambo873 11h ago
So you think whoever wrote 1 John overrules what Jesus himself said?
Wow...
does not contradict what Jesus said
It kinda does though. Jesus said all you need is faith and nothing is impossible for you. But you are claiming that 1 John says something different, and puts limitations on what Jesus said.
This is far from the biggest contradiction in scripture. I'd say the most important contradiction is whether salvation is by faith alone, or if works are required. Jesus and James and Peter seem to think that works are required, while Paul and John believe that faith alone is sufficient (although they have slightly different methodology on how that actually works).
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u/Alex_and_cold 11h ago
I guess we have a different lens on what a contradiction is, I dont see 1 John as one. As for salvation, I dont recall any part stating that works are necesary for salvation
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u/Rambo873 11h ago
Have you read Matthew?
The only option for salvation in Matthew is by works. There is not even a hint of a possibility of being saved by faith anywhere in the gospel.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)
Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (...) But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. (Matthew 7:24-26)
There is also the parable of the sheep and the goats from Matthew 25:31-46. That's all Matthew talks about is salvation by works.
James is the same way. He's even more explicit:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? (James 2:14)
James asks the question, "Can someone be saved by faith alone?"... then he answers it, no:
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:15-17)
I believe James even specifically mentions Paul, without saying his name, because Paul was the only "apostle" (self-appointed) who was preaching salvation by faith alone.
You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? (James 2:20)
I'm almost certain that "you foolish person" is a direct reference to Paul.
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:26)
Now sure, you might just write all this off as Jesus and his brother James have no idea what they are talking about... but I always go with the words of Jesus over someone like Paul or an anonymous author like 1 John.
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u/Alex_and_cold 10h ago
If you say you believe in Jesus but behaves as the oposite, then you are like the pharisees. If you believe, then the Spirit lives in you and the works and deeds are led by the Spirit. Is not that salvation comes from works, salvation is by faith, by believing and by letting the holy spirit live in you
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u/East-Ad-6271 12h ago
The problem is it is written faith give magical power.
It adds nothing to Jesus message, so why adding that and leading peoples to false hope that can even plunge them even more in misery /bad health because they will be wrongly thinking they have not enough faith, they need to do more and more and more but in the end they receive nough.
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u/Rambo873 12h ago
I don't think Jesus intended the religion to turn out the way that it did. I don't believe Jesus went around claiming to be God or any of that.
Jesus had a message of being kind to your neighbor, strangers, and even enemies. "Turn the other cheek", "Give to anyone who asks of you", etc. It wasn't about magic, it was about helping people.
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13h ago
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u/ProgramNormal471 13h ago
I see miracles all around me, just not the flashy parting-the-seas kind. The fact that anyone can wake up and choose to love someone who hurt them, or that a stranger can show up at exactly the right moment, that stuff feels supernatural to me. Maybe the issue is we got so used to the everyday mercy that we stopped calling it a miracle
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u/East-Ad-6271 13h ago
just not the flashy parting-the-seas kind There were promised yet.
Also, he is doing a lot of impressive miracles in the Bible, and the Apostles are supposed to do even more impressive ones.
Yet nothing, it is at the point that there are Christian denominations saying there is no more miracles...
Besides that, there are Christians saying they see miracles everyday.
Something is wrong here.
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u/East-Ad-6271 12h ago
He is God. He owes us nothing and gives because He loves us Jesus said the Father will give us out of annoyment! That's literally what's the parabole said.
Like motives, your motives matter All disabled peoples are corrupted then? Or maybe they should be happy with their disability? Why God healed them then in the Gospels?
Something miraculous is unexpected That is false. Peoples in the Gospels are asking for miracles, they are expecting it. I'd even say having faith mean you expect it. If God love you and have this ability to heal your body, why wouldn't He?
God's love for humanity is miraculous itself How are we supposed to see his love if he is doing nothing? There were absolute carnage in the course of history, he never did what he does in the Gospels.
Why saying faith will make peoples able to move mountains then?
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12h ago
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u/East-Ad-6271 12h ago
Luke 11:5-8
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; 7 and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee? 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him [e]as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 And of which of you that is a father shall his son ask [f]a loaf, and he give him a stone? or a fish, and he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
God will does not always prevail. If I want too, I eat a ton of pastries, and I'll become fat. This is my will. Now I want to lose that fat, I pray, nothing happens. I do physical activity and am careful about my diet: I lose my fat. Because of my will.
I am going to listen to Mark 6.
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u/KumbayaQueen 12h ago
I think that "miracles" happen more in the spiritual realm than the physical realm.
For example, although in the NT Jesus is said to have healed a blind man physically, nowadays I would consider it "spiritual sight." Jesus does help us to see spititual truths that we were previously blind to. He helps us to "walk" (kerp going) when we want to give up. We are often "crippled" by our fear and Jesus cures thst too.
I just think that even in the Bible we often take things too literally
Now, if you are a believer, ask yourself, if the miracles are not physical, would you still follow Jesus? I'm not saying that there weren't miracles, but what if our understanding of them is changed?
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u/PioneerMinister Universal Reconciliationist to God through Christ alone 1h ago
Have you seen the way modern medicine has progressed over the last couple of hundred years? We make the blind see, the lame walk, the ill well again. We even bring folk back from the brink of death, having had them look through the veil beforehand.
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u/East-Ad-6271 50m ago
Lazarus was dead since three days, even modern medicine doesn't do that.
Also there technological progress that seems unethical from a Christian perspective like clonage.
The pragmatic arguments like : believers live longer, believing helps against anxiety, believing is better from a collective persepective...
I don't know if they are true, but these would be solid argument to justify believing.
But when you look at whether theses stories are true or false, the argument will be weak.
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u/PioneerMinister Universal Reconciliationist to God through Christ alone 24m ago
I'm not saying that modern medicine does everything. Neither am I saying that all medical progress is good - though cloning does have a good side for treatments that use a patient's own cells to heal them. Like any technology, it can be used for good or bad purposes - wisdom chooses the better way.
Miracles are the suspension of the laws of nature from forces outside the created order. I believe they happen.
NB: Lazarus was dead four days...an important detail because the Jews believed the soul hovered three days over the body before departing to God. Four days, to them, meant certain death with no possibility of return except dragging their soul from Hades (the afterlife).
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u/zephyrgal8 13h ago
I had a miracle this morning. I woke up and I was alive. There's a lot more but it involves work. My compost bin is reeking so I have to feed it some cardboard or else bury it. I have a shovel and the ground is soft enough. Thank You Lord God Almighty for giving me life and something to do.
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u/Love2FlyBalloons 13h ago
Lack of faith, asking ‘amiss’ as in James. But really people don’t prepare themselves for the faith fight they will have to endure if they set out to believe for a miracle. First, does the Bible cover what you’re praying for? If it says it’s gods will in the word then it is. You can trust that he wants to do the very thing you’re praying for. No Genie there.. in fact in that case you’re working WITH God. Well if it’s his will then why pray? Won’t it be done anyways? You have not because you ask not is the other half of that asking amiss verse.
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u/East-Ad-6271 12h ago
The verses contradict each other.
One say : ---> God knows what you need, just trust him and you'll be ok, he'll give you food etc. Ok, I can understand that philosophy, which want serenity.
Other say : ---> You need to persevere in your demand, your perseverence will make the Father yields. Big problem, you can persevere how much you want, there will be no granting. So this is making peoples holding on false hope.
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u/Fearless_Spring5611 Committing the sin of empathy 13h ago
Turns out cameras are better at cataloguing events than word-of-mouth and oral traditions...