Does God hear the prayers of unbelievers?

OneLight · November 29, 2009

We get tied up in knots becuase we are trying to place a specific moment in time on a specific conversion.

The Holy Spirit may be working in an unbeliever for thirty years before he or she fully comes to faith, the prayers may rise and fall over that time and God would hear prayers addressed to God that conform to God.

Also what do we mean by hear? Do we mean aware of but not interested, or do we mean really listen?

God being ominipotent hears the prayers of those who worship this new satanic drug running saint, El Morte, but does He listen when a drug runner prayers for the death of his rival? He hears, but does He listen?

... talk about an oxymoron ...

Yeah NO kidding.

I don't know if you have been following the whole thing or not but it is becoming a real cult in Mexico and in the US. It is called the black saint of death. Of course saint has nothing to do with it as we define saint. It is driving the Catholic Church nuts as they of course want nothing to do with this sort of satan worship, but the thing persists. There are shrines to this "saint" all along the drug running corridors from Mexico into the US. The Mexican government has been tearing them down as fast as they find them, but they keep going back up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte

No, I have not. This is the first time reading about it ... well, we know where that will lead you!

November 30, 2009

Jesus himself said "He who is not with me, is against me..." (Matthew 12:20, Luke 11:23). What more wicked sin can there be than to deny Christ - to not accept His offer of salvation? And for those that do deny Him, how can they not be wicked?

Because that is not how the Bible defines wickedness.

Romans 8:7 says, "The sinful mind is hostile to God." Indeed, the minds of those who reject Christ are full of sin - no matter how many "good deeds" they do. And as they are "hostile" to God, as the Scripture says, they must then be wicked.

Again, that is not the sole criteria that Bible uses to define wickedness.

Jesus said of unbelievers in Him, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires." (John 8:44).

Jesus said that to a specific group of people who were challenging Him. You cannot apply that statement to all people when it was intended for a limited group of individuals.

All unbelievers in Christ belong to Satan. How can you belong to Satan and not be wicked?

Again, the Bible uses the term wicked to describe a particular type behavior.

The Bible says the wicked do not seek God...(Psalm 10:4)

Thus, all unbelievers are wicked in God's eyes...

The wicked do not not seek God. That does not mean that all unbelievers do not seek God.

EricH · November 30, 2009

I've been rather curious about this. Does God hear any prayers from unbelievers, except the prayer of salvation, as scripture seems to indicate?

"We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will" (John 9:31)

Any insight into this?

God is present everywhere, so He hears everything (especially since we are told that we will give an account for every word at the judgement). But God responds differently to folks based on their relationship to Christ.

wyguy · November 30, 2009

Because that is not how the Bible defines wickedness.

It certainly is one of the definitions. If one does not belong to Christ, then their father is the devil. And if their father is the devil, they are indeed wicked.

Again, that is not the sole criteria that Bible uses to define wickedness.

Again, it indeed is one definition.

Jesus said that to a specific group of people who were challenging Him. You cannot apply that statement to all people when it was intended for a limited group of individuals.

I indeed can. If one does not serve Jesus, they are serving the devil by default. You cannot serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24)

Again, the Bible uses the term wicked to describe a particular type behavior.

Either you are wicked, or you are not. You may be wicked by a lesser degree, but you still are wicked.

The wicked do not not seek God. That does not mean that all unbelievers do not seek God.

Yet again, either Christ is your master, or the devil is. There is no middle ground. You belong to one or the other.

December 1, 2009

QUOTE
Because that is not how the Bible defines wickedness.

It certainly is one of the definitions. If one does not belong to Christ, then their father is the devil. And if their father is the devil, they are indeed wicked.

Jesus used the phrase "you are of your father the devil" against his enemies who were the corrupt and genuinely wicked leaders of 1st century Israel. He did not use that phrase to label all sinners and the Bible does not use that phrase as a label upon all sinners. The Bible only reserves that label for the most wicked among sinners.

QUOTE
Again, that is not the sole criteria that Bible uses to define wickedness.

Again, it indeed is one definition.

The point is that simply being a sinner does not automatically make a person wicked. Wickedness pertains to behavior.

QUOTE
Jesus said that to a specific group of people who were challenging Him. You cannot apply that statement to all people when it was intended for a limited group of individuals.

I indeed can. If one does not serve Jesus, they are serving the devil by default. You cannot serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24)

No, you cannot, at least not with any intellectual credibility. Jesus was talking to a specfic group of people. For you to arbitrarily apply His words in a different context is simply poor hermeneutics and sloppy theology. Jesus did not say all men are the children of the devil.

Sinners are under the dominion of the devil by default, but that does not make them His children. They are his prisoners, not his children.

QUOTE
Again, the Bible uses the term wicked to describe a particular type behavior.

Either you are wicked, or you are not. You may be wicked by a lesser degree, but you still are wicked.

No, evidently you have no understanding about how the term wicked is applied in Scripture. There are no levels of wickedness.

Wickedness is impenitent, and completely given over to sin as a manner of life. A wicked person has no remorse, and no shame. They recognize no moral or ethical restrictions on their behavior and are completely consumed in sin. They not only enjoy sin, but actively seek others to join them. They do not care who they hurt or how many lives are ruined by what they do.

Not all sinners fall under that description. Many unbelievers love their families, pay their taxes, are model citizens and many of them believe in God. They are prisoners of the devil and are just as hell bound as the wicked, but are not in and of themselves, "wicked."

"Wicked" is not a biblical, default description of all sinners. It is those who live impentitently in habitual sin that are placed into that category by the Scriptures.