Prayer.
A couple of years ago, an atheist claimed, “If God has given me free will to not believe in him, when you pray for me to get saved, wouldn’t it void my free will if God saved me?” The Christian apologist with the channel “Red Pen Logic” replied with three points:
- It’s a straw-man argument to say that we’ve been created exactly as we should be. Adam was created perfect, but after the fall, mankind is born in sin, yet we are born with creation and the conscience to make us aware of our need for God. Atheism is on man, not on God, and He does not want us to stay in our sin.
- Praying for believers does not violate their free will, but Christians pray that God will act in a way that will make a difference. For example, when a man is attracted to a woman, he woos her to be attracted in return. This does not violate her free will, and when we pray, we are asking God to do something similar.
- The atheist said it was arrogant for Christians to claim to know that it’s God’s will to save people when He could have just created them otherwise, but we know from God’s Word that it IS His will for us to pray for unbelievers to be saved (e.g. Rom 10:1).
Prayer moves the hand of God. When we pray tonight in the name of Jesus Christ, we are calling on God’s power to act in a way that will make a difference. He tells us to pray. I’m glad we can do so together tonight. —Pastor Ryan