I have always struggled to understand what prayers God answers and which ones he avoids.
Most religions teach that God answers prayers, so people must feel that their prayers are being answered, yet the type of prayers seem to be very selective.
If God answered broad based prayers, then children in third world countries would not be starving, so he does not seem to interfere in global issues.
If he answered personal prayers, then people would be healed of sicknesses, such as cancer. Since in the case of cancer, some people are healed, a person could be inclined to think that God healed them because of prayer. (Those that do not fare so well do not live to tell their tales.) However, when a person is diagnosed with cancer, the doctor does not change the person’s chance of survival based on whether they are an atheist or Christian. A person with stage 4 cancer that has spread to the liver has about 10% chance of surviving 2 years regardless of their rate of prayer.
As a percentage of people can be cured of most illnesses, a better test of God’s involvement with illness is amputees. No amputee has successfully prayed for the restoration of their limb.
God doesn’t answer selfish prayers, such as winning the lotto.
He does not answer prayers to find the perfect partner – as attested to by the high rate of divorce and number of lonely spinsters.
He doesn’t seem to answer requests for serenity – look at the number of religious people on prescription depression medicines.
The Watchtower and religions in general indicate that if a person prays to find God and truth he directs them to their religion. But since every religion holds up cases of their faithful being found after a genuine prayer and search for God, it appears a random selection more than any specific guidance.
So what does God choose to answer?