Did Jesus Promise to Meet Our Every Desire?

I was recently directed to an interesting website called "Why Won't God Heal Amputees?" The site and the book by the same name were written by Marshall Brain, of "How Stuff Works" fame. The purpose of this project, however, is to demonstrate that "the Bible is nonsense." I was asked to read the first chapter of Brain's book and provide a Christian response.

Brain claims that the death of Neva Rogers, a teacher who was murdered by a student in the classroom, shows that a few statements made by Jesus in the Gospels about prayer are wrong. The statements in question are:

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24 (ESV)

and

"If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." John 14:14 (ESV)

Does Brain succeed in proving the nonsensical nature of the Bible? I do not think so. I think the problem Brain presents really rises from our desire to force modern standards for communication on an ancient document. Jesus wasn't an idiot. Being a 1st Century Jew he would be quite aware that the Old Testament has many examples of faithful men and women praying and receiving a 'no' from God. Jesus was using a common means of communicating a point: hyperbole. Jesus' statement about casting down the mountain is meant to demonstrate that.

We must view Jesus words with the words of James 4:3 in mind:

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." (ESV)

If we make requests selfishly then we are not asking in faith. Then, hyperbole or not, it is meaningless to invoke Jesus' statments in Mark 11:24 and John 14:14. There is more to asking something in Jesus' name that just saying, "...I ask this in Jesus' name."

Someone will probably say, "Do you mean to tell me that someone praying for their own lives to be saved can be praying selfishly?!?!?"

Yes I do. And that is where many people will throw up their hands and call me crazy or foolish (if they haven't already). I think that is a result of the deeply different perspectives we hold. It's a tension that we must live with, I think. So my answer is probably not satisfying on an emotional level for many people, but I honestly didn't intend for it to be.

God bless.