Page 9 - MidWeek Kauai - March 8, 2023

MARCH 8, 2023
KAUA‘I MIDWEEK 9
OTE
KIUC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ELECTION
LOOK FOR YOUR ELECTION PACKETS IN THE MAIL!
Deadline to Vote for your Board of Directors is Saturday, March 18, 2023 at noon.
Please call 877.324.7655 with any questions concerning the marking of your ballot.
KIUC is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
I haven’t had a prayer an- swered in years. I think God has put me on prayer
Are You There, God?
If the gods exist, there must be a good reason why they don’t answer prayers. Perhaps we are only allotted a limited number of answered prayers and I have reached my lifetime quota. I’ve also considered the possibilities followers from different religions have sug- gested.
1. The larger picture. “How do you know the baby that passed away wouldn’t have grown up to be a mass mur- derer or serial rapist?” I don’t. But why did God allow baby Hitler and little Ted Bundy to grow up, then?
call block. It’s probably my fault, though. I’ ve pestered God over the years with un- reasonable requests: protect children from harm, establish peace on Earth, stop natural disasters, get rid of illegal fireworks ... Maybe I should ask God for more manage- able things instead: decorate celebrities with awards, help athletes win championships, bless meals ... God must find my constant stream of incom- ing prayers annoying. Perhaps they all get tossed into the prayer junk bin.
Here are three:
hijacked the planes on 9-11 shouted prayers to God before committing their murderous deed, while innocent passen- gers also prayed to the same God during their last moments. Maybe someone else was beg- ging God to help save a loved one from a terminal illness at the same time I was pleading with God to help mine. I hope God helped the other person.
I understand. I get irritated with junk mail and robocalls, too.
2. The ways of God are un- fathomable. “We will under- stand at a later time why things happened the way they did.” What’s the point of praying now, then?
I engaged in my share of self-blame, too. My prayers weren’t earnest enough. I wasn’t faithful enough. I am undeserving. I’m the problem, it’s me. This desperate and de- pressing way of coping under- scores a certain belief among the faithful. For some of us, it is better to believe in a God that doesn’t care to answer our prayers than to consider the possibility that there’s no God to respond to them in the first place.
Still, it pains me to think that God does not want to take my calls. To protect myself from feelings of rejection, I invent reasons why God ignores my prayers. I assure myself that God still cares about me, just in a way different than I thought God would. I tell myself that the reason God doesn’t answer my prayers is because God knows what I pray for isn’t important or necessary or good for me. Yes, God wants to protect me from myself. I convince myself that things actually turn out for the better when my prayers aren’t answered. God has other plans for me. But I can’t suppress a nagging question every time this happens: If God already knows what’s best for me, why even pray, then?
I’ve tried the other gods too, but the response rate to my prayers has been the same. There seems to be a collusion among the gods. I think I’m on the prayer blacklist.
3. God is not subject to hu- man standards. “God cannot be judged by human reasoning or by our own codes of con- duct.” But human standards of morality are precisely what we use to proclaim God’s good- ness in the first place. Perhaps God is not good, then.
So, I’ll keep sending God my prayer requests in hopes of a response, though perhaps now I’ll try doing so with a different caller ID.
Jay Sakashita teaches reli- gion courses at Leeward Com- munity College and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Reach him at misfitspirit808@gmail. com.
www.gardenpondskauai.com
In Kilauea, next to Mini Golf • Open Wed-Sun • 12 to 5 pm
Maybe there are prayer bat- tles going on — with people on opposite sides of an issue beseeching the same god for different outcomes. Those who
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