Matthew chapter 7 says “For everyone who asks, receives.” — But not always for parents with a sick child! Sorry. :-(

[Multicolored Lemur]

Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 7 - New Living Translation

Do Not Judge Others - “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think...

www.biblegateway.com

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

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But this sometimes is just not the case with parents who have a child with leukemia. And then, the parents blame themselves. I mean, how could they not?

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Miracles from Heaven - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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This Christian movie from the Spring of 2016 showed some of this.

After church one Sunday, several of the other mothers “gently and lovingly” confronted this mother, and encouraged her to look to see if there was sin inside her own family. And maybe that’s why her daughter wasn’t getting better.


PS one of the 3 daughters had a rare disease I’d never heard of

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

What I thought about the movie as a good-hearted agnostic —

(1) it’s pretty good, it definitely had its scenes, and

(2) the theme is human beings making an extra effort to help, when they don’t really have to.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

This is what this verse says.

Please notice, this is a healthy vending machine. The parents are not praying for riches. They are praying that their child gets healed.

And God can’t answer this prayer. Or won’t.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

I think some more mature Christians view God as more akin to an economic multiplier. You have to do your part. And then God will do his, or her, part, too.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

But this sometimes is just not the case with parents who have a child with leukemia. And then, the parents blame themselves. I mean, how could they not?

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Checked my go-to site for this passage - https://www.gotquestions.org/ask-and-you-shall-receive.html:

Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” in John 16:24. Similar statements are found in Matthew 7:7; 21:22; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:9; and John 15:7. Is this a blanket promise with no conditions? If we ask for three hundred pounds of chocolate delivered to our door, is God obligated to give it to us?

If we assume that “ask and you will receive” means “ask for anything you want and I’ll give it to you,” then we have turned the Lord into a cosmic genie who serves our every whim.

But with this and all other verses we must examine the context. Jesus goes on to say that God will not fail to give His children good things (verse 11). So, this is one condition to the promise of “ask and receive”: what we ask for must be good in God’s estimation.

Then this jumps to a totally different area of the NT to provide more context - i.e. that God answers prayer based on His will...

We have another condition to the promise of “ask and receive” in John 14:14, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Here, Jesus does not promise His disciples anything and everything they want; rather, He instructs them to ask “in my name.” To pray in Jesus’ name is to pray on the basis of Jesus’ authority, but it also involves praying according to the will of God, for the will of God is what Jesus always did (John 6:38). This truth is stated explicitly in 1 John 5:14, “If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Our requests must be congruent with the will of God.

1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

For the most part, I think that's a convincing explanation. Takeway is context and don't always look at passages like Matthew 7:7-8 in isolation.

 

[Scooter]

^^^^ this above is the key^^^^

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

i.e. that God answers prayer based on His will..

That’s fine if someone is praying for success in a music career. But praying for a child who is facing a life-threatening challenge ? ??

 

[AgnosticBoy]

That’s fine if someone is praying for success in a music career. But praying for a child who is facing a life-threatening challenge ? ??

I get the distinction of course, and I have no answers for it from a logical or moral standpoint. With me, it would depend on why God doesn't grant the prayer. From a theological standpoint, I don't think God not granting the latter (healing the child) goes against your Matthew 7:7-8 passages because of the explanation in post #6.

The one lingering thought that keeps me from saying God is not doing good by not healing a child is the thought that there's some greater good involved. Perhaps people wouldn't be as caring or seek God as much if there were no sick people to care for. Now if God caused the illness on an innocent child, then I think that would raise some big moral issues.

 

[Scooter]

That’s fine if someone is praying for success in a music career. But praying for a child who is facing a life-threatening challenge ? ??

God's plan does not always align with our plans. It is simply not God's will for every child to reach adulthood. It's not God's will for every young adult to reach old age. But it is God's will for everyone to be saved so they can live the perfect life when this earthly journey is over.