Having previously discredited various assertions made by evilbible.com; I will now consider their page entitled, “Jesus Lied.”
The evilbible.com page revolves around the charge that “Jesus Lied About Prayer” and consists of commentary, quotations and commentary.
Evilbible.com’s author begins this page by make some very obnoxious remarks that are not worth quoting and yet which serve to denote the perfect balance between their level of maturity and their level of scholarship-both of which have been weighed and found wanting.
Considering that the page is premised upon condemning Jesus for lying one paramount ingredient is missing: evilbible.com’s author does not provide an atheist premised upon which to base condemnation of lying. Neither did they provide atheist premised upon which to base condemnation of rape or human sacrifice. In fact, the entire website is one huge argument from impotent outrage.
The primary assertion is,
Jesus is quoted many times in the Bible saying that a believer can ask for anything through prayer and receive it. He even goes so far as to say that mountains and trees can be thrown into the sea simply by praying for it. This is clearly a lie, and can be proven to be a lie by any believer. Simply pray for me to be converted to Christianity right away. Or better yet ask God to move the mountains behind my house… [obnoxious portions follow]
Jesus is quoted and His words supposedly “proves that he lied.” You will note that evilbible.com’s author employs the store clerk tactic by quoting Jesus from different gospels saying the same things. The store clerk bulk up her merchandize-you may think that the big barrel really is full of beans but they are only two inches deep-likewise evilbible.com’s author appears to want to bulk up the proofs by repeating them in quoting parallel versions.
Let us consider the quotes:
1) And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” (Matthew 21:21-22 NAS)
2) Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8 NAB)
3) Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (Matthew 18:19-20 NAS)
4) Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him. Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. (Mark 11:24-25 NAB)
5) And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-13 NAB)
6) And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14 NAB)
7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. (John 15:7 NAB)
8) It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. (John 15:16 NAB)
9) On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. (John 16:23-24 NAB)
As for the mountain moving aspect of the statements I must admit that I am simply flummoxed. Considering that every language that there has ever been allows for hyperbole, metaphor, parable, proverb, allegory, symbolism, analogy, etc. it is astonishing that anyone would fail to note the parabolic statement, the literary devise. This is about taking the Bible literally whereby we keep in mind that to take something literally means to take it as it is intended.
However, even if we grant evilbible.com’s author premise the argument still fails. Why? Because of the qualifiers in the statements. Did you catch them? Here they are:
if you have faith and do not doubt…ask in prayer, believing…and does not doubt…but believes…If you remain in me and my words remain in you
Therefore, if a Christian cannot move a mountain by merely praying for it to be moved, by telling it to move, it is because they do not have faith, they doubt, they do not really believe, they are not remaining in Jesus and His words are not remaining in them.
This is the conclusion of a valid syllogism: 1) Jesus said that if you have faith and do not doubt you will be able to say to a mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea” and it will happen. 2) Christians have (I guess) told mountains to be cast into the sea and they did not move one inch. 3) Therefore, those Christians did not have faith and doubted.
However, if evilbible.com’s author wants to play the fallacious literalist it is still a mistaken notion since the author states that Jesus “goes so far as to say that mountains and trees can be thrown into the sea…ask God to move the mountains behind my house” yet, Jesus specifically referred to “this mountain. Not trees and not mountains (plural) but the one particular mountain.
Fine, but the other non-mountainous texts are very straight forward, “whatever you ask in my name, I will do,” etc.
Please note that there is a qualifier in those instances as well which is, “in My name…in my name…in my name…in my name…in my name…in my name…in my name” respectively.
Unfortunately, some think that “in my name” means saying whatever you want and attaching “In the name of Jesus” at the end of it (or “In the name of Jeeeeeessssssuuuuuussssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”). This is unfortunate because it is not taking the text literally. Taking it literally, as it is intended, we would not remove it from its historical / cultural context and would not contemporizing the meaning of, the concept of, “name.”
To the majority of people living in first world Western countries a name is a word that identifies an individual, it is a mere label. However, in alternate geographies and chronologies a name meant quite a bit more: names denoted a person’s characteristics, names changed as characteristic changed-for example, Abram to Abraham, Naomi to Mara, Jacob to Israel, Saul to Paul-names denoted lineage (as our last names do) and most importantly in this contexts; names carried authority: in the name of the King, in the name of the High Priest, in the name of Jesus. This means actions commensurate with the person’s authority and characteristics.
If you were an observant Jew some three millennia ago and someone came to tell you, “In the name of the High Priest-eat bacon!” You would have said, “That’s not kosher! There is no way that the High Priest has so commanded me.” Likewise, when we go to God the Father in prayer we must pray prayers commensurate with Jesus’ name, His persona, His status, His authority and His character. Just because we pray for something does not mean that we are now sovereign and God our servant. And that is the point; God does, in fact, answer every single prayer but we must remember that God is still God and He may answer by saying “Yes” or “No” (or “wait”).
We know that Jesus did not mean that we would get whatever we want because this would make us God’s God, this would make God not only our servant but would cause intolerable chaos: how many people would pray to be the ruler of the Earth, or the king of the universe, or to be God? In other words the prayers must be in accordance to God’s purpose and will because God is sovereign.
In keeping with this concept note that the first quote from evilbible.com was Matthew 21:21-22 and what do vss. 23-24 state?
And when He had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him as He was teaching, and said, By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority? And Jesus answered and said to them, I will also ask you one thing; which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things…
And that is the point: Jesus’, God’s authority.
Moreover, James has something to say on this subject,
you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures…Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:2-3, 6).
James also makes the point about God’s authority over our prayers all the clearer by writing,
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15).
At Jesus’ birth that His name had a particular meaning was stated thusly,
…you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
Evilbible.com’s author ends by stating:
A lot of Christians ignore what Jesus actually says in the Bible. They also tend to add things to the actual words to make them say something else. If you honestly and truthfully read these quotes, without adding to them, it is very easy to see that Jesus is not saying that God will think about your prayers. He says God will grant all your prayers. Clearly, God doesn’t grant all prayers and this proves that Jesus was a habitual liar.
I do not know what “a lot of Christians” do but as per the above elucidation that I have provided of this issue: there is no need to add things to the actual words but to merely consider the historical / cultural context, consider the nature of language, to apply reason and logic and consider the context and relevant texts.