Peter Kreeft on God and Prayer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've been reading Peter Kreeft's fine book about God (The God Who Loves You). One of the more interesting chps of the book deals with how the love of God\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/09\/19\/peter-kreeft-on-god-and-prayer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peter Kreeft on God and Prayer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I've been reading Peter Kreeft's fine book about God (The God Who Loves You). 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{"id":4734,"date":"2008-09-19T00:30:54","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T05:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2008\/09\/19\/peter-kreeft-on-god-and-prayer\/"},"modified":"2008-09-19T00:30:54","modified_gmt":"2008-09-19T05:30:54","slug":"peter-kreeft-on-god-and-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2008\/09\/19\/peter-kreeft-on-god-and-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter Kreeft on God and Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019ve been reading Peter Kreeft\u2019s fine book about God (The God Who Loves You<\/a> $\"\"$ <\/em>). One of the more interesting chps of the book deals with how the love of God and loving God resolves some theological issues. One of them: Why pray if we cannot change God?
\nI never approach anyone\u2019s discussion of an issue like this with the kind of intense hope that I approach a Cubs game. Why? Because, unlike the Cubs, there\u2019s not a chance that anyone can finally \u201cwin\u201d on this kind of issue. Instead, and again unlike watching the Cubs, I look for wisdom.
\nHere\u2019s Kreeft\u2019s probing.
\nGod knows as present what to us is still off in the future. That means God knows the answer to our prayer request before we ask. \u201cI cannot,\u201d Kreeft states, \u201cchange God\u2019s mind.\u201d So then, why pray?
\nHe goes to Pascal\u2019s famous comment: \u201cGod instituted prayer to communicate to his creatures the dignity of causality.\u201d And then he says this: \u201cGod lets us really cause events and really make a difference\u201d (147). If we should not pray because God knows what will happen before we pray, then \u2014 Kreeft argues \u2014 we should not farm or eat or read for the same reason. (I\u2019m not sure how those fit with prayer, but still \u2026 there\u2019s something to his point. Passivity is not our response to believing God\u2019s got it all figured out.)
\n\u201cGod does not need our prayers or our works, but we need both.\u201d \u201cBut we cannot change God, can we? No, we cannot. But is that why we pray? To change omniscient Love?\u201d And here he attends to a very common response to this issue:
\n\u201cIsn\u2019t it [our reason for praying] rather to learn what it [God\u2019s love] is and to fulfill it? Not to change it by our acts, but to change our acts by it.\u201d
\nThen he shows that prayer is participation in the Trinity\u2019s love \u2014 it is entering into the perichoresis or the indwelling, delightful interpenetration and union of Father, Son and Spirit.
\nWell, yes, this is a wise old answer. But is it enough? Doesn\u2019t the Bible have enough contingency in how God sets up this world that prayer is presented at times as prompting God\u2019s action?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"