Rethinking (Transactional) Prayer

Right from time immemorial, believers of all ages have benefitted immensely from the ministry of prayer. In fact, prayer has become synonymous with Christianity. It is even said that “a prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.” Believers have received tremendous help in the place of prayer. Burdens have been lifted in the place of prayer. Yokes have been destroyed. Enemies have been defeated. Many lives have been changed. People have received encouragement.

In countless scriptures, spanning from Old to the New Testament, the Bible encourages the believer to pray. We are even told to pray without ceasing. Men that walk with God like Abraham prayed. So was the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, no one prayed like Jesus. Yet if there was one that should not prayed, He qualified for that honour. But He still prayed. He spent more time in prayer that in any other task. He spent His free time praying. He spent all night praying. He woke up early to pray.

But the question to consider is this: what kind of prayer did these men of old pray? And that is the subject matter of this write up. Yes, the Bible encourages us to pray, but what kind of prayer is the Bible talking about.

Believing Africans in the south of the Sahara number millions. Our churches are countless. Most Friday nights are fully engaged in many churches for prayer. Prayer conferences, prayer seminar, prayer retreat and prayer meetings are regular occurrences in our churches. As far as prayer is concerned, we do so much with so little to show for it. Yes, there are testimonies here and there. But how few compared to how much we put in!

If Jesus prayed that much, we need to examine what kind of prayer he made before God. Could He be asking for bread and butter like we do today? Could Jesus be asking for the heads of his enemies? Could He be asking for God’s protection against the arrows of the wicked?

The sad thing to note is that most of our prayers are transactional. By transaction-al, I mean business like, deal, profiteering. And most transactional activities are motivated by fear, selfishness, and greed. Yet, Jesus said:

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. Matt 6:31-32, NIV

If Jesus said we should not worry about things like food and drink which are the most basic of human needs, He also meant to say that we should not worry about all the other things. If God could meet the most basic of our needs, we should trust him to meet the more advanced ones. If He is willing to do the ones that will cost Him daily interventions in our lives, certainly He can take care of the bigger ones that only happen once in a while.

We have come to believe that until we ask God for big things, He may not do them for us. And we have scriptures to support that. “You have not because you ask not.” (James 4:2). But what kind of prayers do the unbelievers around us pray to get to where they are today? What kind of prayers do they pray to have what they have? What amount of prayers did they make to become what they are today?

How come that with all our prayers we are yet to match the intellectual capability of the ungodly? How come that with all our prayers, it was the pagan Steve Jobs that invented the iPhone and the iPads? How come that with all our prayers the richest man in Nigeria is Aliko Dangote, a muslim? How come that with all the Christian influence and number in the United States, the president is not a believing and practicing Christian? What kind of prayer did Obama pray that made him the President of USA today?

Who sold us the lie that until we cry our hearts out in the place of prayer God will not do for us anything good? Many of us come back from prayer meetings voiceless. The preachers (myself inclusive) have made us to believe that until we outcry our neighbours God will not hear us. It’s as if God is hard of hearing or maybe His hearing aids need adjustment.

What is Prayer?

I believe in prayer. Prayer is of God, and prayer is communication with God. But communication, not commercialization. We have learnt to trade in the place of prayers. Yet, Jesus whipped people out of the temple for the same reason—transactional.

Prayer is devotional. Prayer is worship. Prayer is the true and real temple (Psalm 27:4). It is a place where your heart reaches out to its maker. It is a place of communion; heart to heart. It is a place where you bring your sacrifice, your life, as a sweet smelling savour on the altar (Romans 12:1).

Prayer is refreshing. It is reviving. It is a place of restoration (Isaiah 40:28-31). It is a place of waiting, when you are finished and famished. It is a place of rest. It is a place where you drink from the water of His presence; where you swim in the ocean of His love; where you refresh yourself in the fountain of His lovingness.

Prayer is contemplation. It is a place where the light shines into the darkness of our heart and soul. It is a place of enlightenment; where everything comes to the open. It is the place where the secrets of men’s heart are exposed. (Mark 11:25).

Prayer is also receiving—receiving fresh touch from His presence. It is a place of reconnection; where you’re reconnected back to your root (Genesis 2:7; Job 32:8). It is a place where you receive a fresh breath. It is a place of impartation. It is a place where you come under His influence again.

But, …

What about my needs?

Well, He promised to meet them. (Psalm 34:10; Matthew 6:31-33; Philippians 4:19).

What about my enemies? He promised to take care of them. (Isaiah 49:25-26; 54:17)

What about my future? He said He’s working it out. (Jeremiah 29:11; Hebrews 13:4)

How about my fears? He said you should hand them over to Him. (Isaiah 41:10; 1 Peter 5:7)

God has no Limit but (Transactional) Prayer does

Prayer will not meet your greed (Luke 12:13-15). God will not kill your enemies because you pray. Times have changed. These may be the days of Elijah, but we now serve the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them (Luke 9:56, KJV). God will not satisfy your lust because you pray. God is love, and love gives but lust always wants to take.

Many have lost the faith as a result of disappointment in prayer. What is meant to be a blessing has become a stumbling block. It is high time we rethink prayer so that we can get the tremendous blessings in it. As long as our prayers are transactional, we will always meet with disappointment. We are asking God to do what He never promised to do. 

Why we kept it “Secret?” Responding to Bart Ehrman’s Jesus, Interrupted

I’ve just completed reading Bart Ehrman’s Jesus, Interrupted. It’s a good read from someone from the other side of the divide. At least it gives one an idea of the thinking on that side. This is not my first contact with Ehrman’s books. I had a brief contact with his book on suffering when I was writing a paper on that subject in my Master’s programme but this is his first book I would complete reading.

But there is nothing new in what Ehrman wrote. Like he himself said severally, these are issues in the public domain, and anyone who has passed through a seminary must have heard some forms of it, maybe he was only a little more detailed.

But then, why don’t we talk about it on the pulpit? Very simple: they are inconsequential.

Ehrman has the knowledge. I may not be able to match his intellectual capacity. I’m not as widely read as he. I’m only a pastor while he is a professor, with only God knows how many doctorates, not to talk of his years of research. He has the information. But information alone is not enough. One needs to move on to understanding, and then wisdom.

Knowledge is information; mere accumulation of information. But unprocessed information is dangerous. There is a second level to move to—comprehension. That is what understanding is, and then application. What do you do with the wealth of information at your disposal after years of study and research? This is where many scholars stumble.

Many scholars know about God but they don’t really know God. There is a difference between the two. The world of research could be so demanding that you forget everything of importance to you. I had a similar experience while I was in the Seminary. In an attempt to finish assignment and be up to date, you have to scrape time from everything that matters to you. Your relationship with God, your family and friends suffers. That is the danger of scholarship. Pastors also fall into the same temptation.

Man’s Responsibility

While there may not be any original copy of any of the book of the New Testament, the so called autographs, that does not rule out their existence at one point in time. We don’t have the stone plate on which God wrote the Ten Commandments but that does not rule out the fact that God gave us the Ten Commandments.

What God provides, man must take possession. Man must take the responsibility. If, according to Ehrman’s thinking, the books are truly inspired by God, He should have taken responsibility for his preservation. You may give your children everything they need to make it in life; the best care, the best education, the best home, the best security, but what they become in life is still their responsibility. You can take the horse to the river but what he does there is his own responsibility.

I read a scripture this morning in Joshus 21:43: “So the Lord  gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there.”

God gave them the land, and they took possession of it. If God provides and man does not take his own responsibility, God should not be blamed for not keeping his word.

God created the Garden of Eden and put Adam and his wife there. I’m sure there were no furniture in the Garden but there were trees (that is if Ehrman believes in the creation story in the Bible). So until Adam is able to figure out how to convert a tree to furniture, He will continue to sleep on the ground. God provides, man must take responsibility.

God’s Superintendent

One of God’s attributes is His sovereignty. He can use anyone, under any circumstance, to accomplish his will. If He called Nebuchadnezzar, an ungodly leader for that matter, His servant, He can use anyone to do whatever He wants done.

Nobody claims that the Bible drops from heaven like the Muslims believe about the Quran. God used people to do the writing. But what we are saying is that God’s hand was on them. Of course they didn’t know they were writing the Scriptures. For had they known, they could have doctored the materials in several ways. If they knew they were writing what would be read thousands of miles from where they were writing, and something to be regarded as sacred through many generations, I tell you, they could have put a little of themselves in it, knowing what man is. They could have embellished it in some ways to soothe their own ego, or to demonstrate their spiritual or intellectual prowess.

But God was using them unbeknown to them. And yet the messages of the whole Bible rhyme. What a wonder!

Could that explain why there were no names in the autographs? So God Himself deliberately hid the identity of the original authors for His own purpose, that is if the names attached to the book were not the rightful authors.

Of course there are scribal errors, scribal additions or whatever, but these are not sufficient to discountenance the entire Book as flawed and of no value. We are the ones to take responsibility for that. God in His superintendent has kept the basic tenets of the books.

Even when he asked himself what book he would have loved to be included in the Canon which were left out, Ehrman couldn’t come up with any. That is God’s providence. So we have a complete book. It might appear as if it was Athanasius that single handedly came up with the list of which books to include or exclude, but God’s hand was on him. God uses people, as far as the work on this earth is concerned. When He made man, He handed over the rulership and control to man. And if He wants anything done, He has to go through man. And He can always do that, especially when His counsel is about to be jeopardized (Prov. 19:21).

Knowledge unguarded is dangerous. Unknown to Ehrman, all the accumulated but misplaced knowledge had created a crack in his faith. So when confronted with the issue of suffering, even though he could better handle this, the entire foundation of his faith gave way under the little weight. In his own words, “There is so much senseless pain and misery in the world that I came to find it impossible to believe that there is a good and loving God who is in control, despite my knowing all the standard rejoinders that people give.”

Revelation is Gradual

What we should have celebrated as a victory or achievement in the fourth gospel by its high Christological view, Ehrman discountenanced as a forgery. God uses man to their level of understanding. He used Matthew (or whosoever the author) to the extent of his understanding. God uses men and women as they are, notwithstanding their shortcomings, their level of understanding and their weaknesses. Moses was not perfect when God started with him, and he was not at the end. Yet, God still used him to the level of his ability and availability.

The early church fathers and the apostolic fathers saw all the so called “discrepancies” and yet they left the books untouched. They could have doctored some of the books to make them say the same thing but they left them as they were. Even Luke stated out rightly from the onset of his first book how he arrived at his conclusion.

There is one area I agree with Ehrman, saying: “… all the books of the Bible, are distinct and should not be read as if they are all saying the same thing.”

Each author has his own theological agenda. Each author was writing to a particular group. So if they appear not to be repeating themselves, should we have any problem with that? Rather, we should celebrate that. What if the book of Matthew is the only gospel we have on the life of Jesus (as against the four), would that have affected the faith of Ehrman differently as it is today?

To regard as a myth something you could not prove historically is too narrow a thinking. If you want to accept only what you could prove then you would have to create your own world to live in.

No Egyptian record has anything to say about the presence of the Israelites in their land or the exodus story. Yet, does that prove that the Israelites were never in Egypt? Individuals, organizations and civilization write history in a way to promote their own agenda. So if no Greek or Roman author of the time has nothing to say about the historical Jesus, that doesn’t mean Jesus was an insignificant Jew of the first century. A figure that gave the religious leaders of his day many sleepless nights could not be said to be insignificant. So if they or others don’t have anything to say about him, they are just trying to suppress the facts. It is a case of deliberate neglect.

God has always treasured his word. That was why several times in the Old Testament God’s instruction to Moses and his successors is to write it down and pay attention to it. Be diligent with it. Mediate on it. So when Ehrman says that the issue of faith has always been to worship God and nothing to do with the word, that is quite misleading from a scholar of his caliber.

What helps us to worship God? It is His word. What gives us understanding on how to worship God? It is His word. Instead of us to celebrate the men that laboured in giving us the Word, Ehrman wants us to castigate them.

My Advice to Prospective Seminarians

Seminary should not be your first point of call after giving your life to Christ. There are professors and scholars there that can crack your faith and wreck it if care is not taken. There are scholars like Ehrman who don’t know what to do with the wealth of information in their hands other than to mislead people to become doubters and agnostics like them.

You need to ground your faith before going to the Seminary. You need to strengthen your  relationship with God before entering the world of knowledge. This is what will sustain you in your crisis of faith which everyone in the Seminary faces at one point or another.

Also, be careful in your choice of seminary or graduate school.

There are liberal schools like Princeton where the faith of Ehrman was shattered. Do a careful research before settling on any school.

There are many scholars who don’t know what they believe again. The only thing still keeping them in the school is their food. That is why they still need to confess to faith even though it’s only one very weak strand that is left.

Seminaries also need to appraise the faith of their faculty from time to time. People don’t remain constant. Things happen along the way. Someone that is correct today may have cracked by next year if care is not taken. So each seminary needs to nurture the faith of their people. There should also be rooms for discussion and interaction where concerns are voiced and responses received.

Crisis of faith is real in the seminary, and we need to take conscious effort to address it from time to time. 

During my time at East Asia School of Theology, EAST, we were having a theological discussion every Friday afternoon which was quite helpful. We are able to share and rub minds together. As a result, budding doubts are quickly dispelled. The unfortunate thing is that not many people turned up for the meeting.

Final Word for Ehrman

There still hope for Bart Ehrman. God does not want the death of a sinner but that they repent. If you call on Him, He’s ready to forgive you notwithstanding the damage you have done to His cause.