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A stock objection to Calvinism is that it renders petitionary prayer pointless.
对加尔文主义的一个常见反对意见是它使祈求性祷告变得毫无意义。
My stock response is that in Calvinism, prayer and answered prayer are means by which the future is realized.
我的常见回应是在加尔文主义中，祷告和蒙应允的祷告是实现未来的方式。
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To put it counterfactually, some events will happen in answer to prayer that wouldn’t happen absent prayer.
从反事实的角度来说，一些事件会因祷告的回应而发生，如果没有祷告这些事件就不会发生。
That’s entirely consistent with predestination.
这与预定论是完全一致的。
However, I’d like to go beyond that to address the objection from a different angle.
然而，我想超越这一点，从不同角度来处理这个反对意见。
i) The Bible contains a number of blanket prayer promises.
i) 圣经包含许多全面的祷告应许。
There is, however, a class of unanswerable prayers, and that’s contradictory prayers.
然而，有一类无法回应的祷告，那就是矛盾的祷告。
That’s true for Calvinism and freewill theism alike.
这对加尔文主义和自由意志有神论都是如此。
So there’s an implicit exception to the prayer promises in reference to contradictory prayers.
因此，在涉及矛盾祷告时，祷告应许有一个隐含的例外。
That doesn’t call into question God’s sincerity since God can’t perform contradictions, so it should be understood that contradictory prayers aren’t included in the promises.
这并不质疑神的真诚，因为神不能执行矛盾的事，所以应该理解矛盾的祷告不包括在应许中。
ii) Mind you, the Calvinist God might prearrange history to reduce the number of contradictory prayer promises.
ii) 请注意，加尔文主义的神可能预先安排历史来减少矛盾祷告应许的数量。
However, that has to be counterbalanced by other considerations.
然而，这必须与其他考虑因素相平衡。
A world history with more unanswerable prayers might be better overall than a world history with fewer unanswerable prayers.
有更多无法回应祷告的世界历史可能总体上比有较少无法回应祷告的世界历史更好。
Prioritizing circumstances to minimize contradictory prayers would marginalize other goods.
优先考虑环境以最小化矛盾祷告会边缘化其他益处。
iii) That said, freewill theism adds another class of unanswerable prayers.
iii) 话虽如此，自由意志有神论增加了另一类无法回应的祷告。
According to freewill theism, God has made prayer promises that he cannot keep because God’s ability to make good on his prayer promises is often conditional on the independent cooperation of human agents.
根据自由意志有神论，神已经做了祂无法遵守的祷告应许，因为神实现祂祷告应许的能力常常取决于人类行动者的独立合作。
This means that in many cases, God can’t grant your petition even if it’s a perfectly legitimate request.
这意味着在许多情况下，神不能批准你的请求，即使它是完全合理的请求。
In Calvinism, God is able but unwilling to answer some prayers while in freewill theism, God is willing but unable to answer some prayers.
在加尔文主义中，神能够但不愿意回应一些祷告，而在自由意志有神论中，神愿意但无法回应一些祷告。
Contents
目录
Predestination and prayer ……………………………… 5
预定论与祷告 ……………………………… 5
Predestination and prayer ……………………………… 7
预定论与祷告 ……………………………… 7
How often can God answer prayer? ………………… 8
神多频繁地回应祷告？ ………………… 8
Election and prayer ……………………………………… 10
拣选与祷告 ……………………………………… 10
Prayerless Arminians ……………………………………. 12
不祷告的阿民念主义者 ……………………………………. 12
Hoping for the lost ………………………………………. 15
为失丧者盼望 ………………………………………. 15
Why pray? ………………………………………………….. 18
为什么祷告？ ………………………………………………….. 18
Arminian conundra ……………………………………… 19
阿民念主义困境 ……………………………………… 19
On a wing and a prayer ………………………………… 21
侥幸和祷告 ………………………………… 21
Prayer and psychic suggestion ………………………. 28
祷告与心理暗示 ………………………. 28
Prayer is not about numbers ………………………… 31
祷告不是关于数量 ………………………… 31
In the nick of time ……………………………………….. 34
在紧要关头 ……………………………………….. 34
“Psychic prayer” ………………………………………….. 36
“心理祷告” ………………………………………….. 36
Is prayer redundant? ……………………………………. 44
祷告是多余的吗？ ……………………………………. 44
The problems of unanswered prayer……………… 46
未蒙应允祷告的问题……………… 46
Prayer in the multiverse ……………………………….. 48
多重宇宙中的祷告 ……………………………….. 48
Gridlock ……………………………………………………… 50
僵局 ……………………………………………………… 50
Prayer promises ………………………………………….. 51
祷告应许 ………………………………………….. 51
What’s the problem of unanswered prayer? …… 53
未蒙应允祷告的问题是什么？ …… 53
When tomorrow never comes ………………………. 55
当明天永不到来 ………………………. 55
Does prayer stop bullets? …………………………….. 57
祷告能阻挡子弹吗？ …………………………….. 57
Let me introduce you to my invisible friend ……. 59
让我向你介绍我看不见的朋友 ……. 59
God’s sleeper cells……………………………………….. 60
神的潜伏细胞……………………………………….. 60
Is prayer pointless? ……………………………………… 62
祷告毫无意义吗？ ……………………………………… 62
Michael Brown on healing ……………………………. 65
迈克尔·布朗论医治 ……………………………. 65
Horse-racing ……………………………………………….. 67
赛马 ……………………………………………….. 67
Surely God is good to Israel ………………………….. 68
神确实善待以色列 ………………………….. 68
Why doesn’t God do more? ………………………….. 71
为什么神不做更多？ ………………………….. 71
Pointless Prayer ………………………………………….. 72a
毫无意义的祷告 ………………………………………….. 72a
How often does God intervene? ……………………. 74
神多频繁地干预？ ……………………. 74
When the cat’s away, the mice will play …………. 76
山中无老虎，猴子称大王 …………. 76
Where is God? …………………………………………….. 79
神在哪里？ …………………………………………….. 79
How problematic is the problem of unanswered prayer? ………… 80
未蒙应允祷告的问题有多严重？ ………… 80
Godless prayer ……………………………………………. 81
无神的祷告 ……………………………………………. 81
Prayer and prevention …………………………………. 83
祷告与预防 …………………………………. 83
Prayer, prophecy, and time travel …………………. 84
祷告、预言与时间旅行 …………………. 84
Pray at your own risk …………………………………… 87
祷告风险自负 …………………………………… 87
The problem of answered prayer ………………….. 89
蒙应允祷告的问题 ………………….. 89
Hyperbole and prayer ………………………………….. 91
夸张法与祷告 ………………………………….. 91
They that wait upon the Lord ……………………….. 93
那些等候耶和华的人 ……………………….. 93