Bounds, Edward M. “Prayer and Faith.” In The Necessity of Prayer.
The presuppositions in Bounds’s work are numerous. This post will address two significant presuppositions. First, Bounds provides a presupposition that faith is a prerequisite to prayer. Second, the author also advances arguments based on the presupposition that trust is all feeling. Finally, Bounds’s work contains a number of additional potential presuppositions that are considered. This discussion post will show that many potential presuppositions exist within Bounds’s work.
The Joyful Christian: 127 Readings
FAITH PRECEDES PRAYER PRESUPPOSITION
First, Bounds explains that faith in some way is a pre-requisite to prayer. In other words, faith is a “first place” or “starting point” necessary for prayer. [1] Is it true that one has to have faith in order to pray or is it a presupposition? To support the argument that faith must precede prayer, Bounds uses the evidence of Mark 11:24 to suggest that an appropriate amount of belief causes answers to prayers. Granted, there is a certain connection between belief and prayer, however, Mark 11:24 does not specifically say that faith must precede prayer; instead, it encourages the person who is praying to believe. In fact, in what could only be interpreted as a prayer, Mark 9:24 records a father crying out to Jesus saying, “help my unbelief,” which is a perfect example of a prayer that admittedly did not have belief as a starting point, but instead, began with unbelief. Furthermore, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10 gives clear evidence that answers to prayer are contingent upon an alignment with God’s will as evidenced by the famous phrase: “Thy will be done.” Accordingly, it does not seem logical to suggest that complete faith is necessary as a pre-requisite to prayer when there is a simultaneous possibility that the prayer may not align with God’s will.[2] In other words, unless a believer omnipotently knows the will of God, it is not possible to have complete faith in an affirmative answer. Of course, one could argue that prayer goes unanswered because the believer has not perfected his faith or perfected his faith enough. Fortunately, Jesus’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14 undermines this logic when he prayed, “Remove this cup from me.” Obviously, Jesus’s faith was not lacking, but God flatly denied the request. Although it seems possible that faith can precede prayer, it does not appear that the Bible requires it; in fact, the Bible appears to encourage some form of doubt within every human request in light of the important principle that accompanied Jesus’s prayer – “not what I will, but what you will.” So why is the assertion that faith must precede prayer such a problem? One reason is that it can impede believers from praying because they may think they do not have enough faith to pray. Second, it could cause a firestorm of guilt within a believer when a prayer remains unanswered, especially if it is determined that the sole reason for the denial is a lack of faith.
TRUST IS ALL FEELING PRESUPPOSITION
Second, Bounds explains that “trust is faith become absolute…a conscious act” and according to Scripture it is the “feeling of the soul,” and then the author adds emphasis by stating that “trust like life, is feeling…all feeling.”[3] Is it true that trust is faith become absolute, a conscious act, and all feeling? Obviously, the suggestion that trust is an act and simultaneously “all feeling” seems logically contradictory. However, what is more concerning is that Bounds’s passion attempts to lure the reader into believing that Scripture actually supports his contentions when no Scriptural support exists. The only evidence that exists regarding these specific assertions appears to be enthusiasm. In fact, the first Scripture utilized in Bounds’s chapter on Prayer and Trust is Mark 11:23, but it does not include the word trust and quickly leads to another topic altogether. The word trust is actually only used five times in the New American Standard version. However, the Greek word for trust is peitho. The New Testament utilizes the word peitho 52 times and it is translated into words such as trust, convince, confidence, persuade, and obey. Notably, when the New Testament translates the word peitho into “trust” it connotes an act that specifically means “to convince,” or “to persuade,” which certainly pertains to cognitive faculties. [4] Although trust may spill over into our feelings, suggesting that trust is “all feeling” goes far beyond the actual Greek meaning. What is the implication of an errant view asserting that trust is “all feeling?” Unfortunately, the impact can be potentially significant and even damaging. If trust means “all feeling” then when a believer is not feeling convinced, then by definition, logic would suggest that trust must vanish. For example, a believer may not feel loved by God today, thus, if trust is “all feeling” then one would have to conclude that God cannot be trusted – the logical flaw is obvious. Alternatively, if trust is being “convinced” or “persuaded” that God is love, then cognitively a believer can trust that God loves them even if they do not feel it on a given day.
OTHER PRESUPPOSITIONS
There is an overwhelming sense that an analysis of Bounds’s presuppositions could possibly match the length of Bounds’s book. Accordingly, a number of potential presuppositions deserve further analysis. First, in chapter two Bounds suggests that definite and specific requests are necessary. However, is it possible that an appropriate prayer request could be vague, such as the previously mentioned ambiguous phrase requesting, “Thy will be done.” In chapter four Bounds says, “Desire is an absolute essential of prayer.”[5] However, as Dr. Wetmore explained in his response to Edwards, desire in the New Testament normally contains negative connotations. Is it possible that desire, which Bounds defines as an “an inward longing for something of which we are not possessed,” could actually hinder prayer at times?[6] Additionally, in chapter five Bounds suggests that prayer must be “red hot” and full of fervor in order to “carry us through…long periods of pleading prayer.”[7] Is it true that prayer must entail intense feelings or is it possible for prayer to be peacefully contemplative? Furthermore, since Deffinbaugh taught in his article, “The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus,” that John 17 was Jesus’s longest recorded prayer, is it even necessary or beneficial to pray for long periods? Bounds also says in chapter five that “fervency has its seat in the heart, not the brain, nor in the intellectual faculties of the mind.”[8] However, Bounds does not define the word “heart” or prove the location of fervency. Ironically, in chapter six, Bounds admits there is a “wrestling quality” to prayer, but how does the necessity for “wrestling” logically reconcile with the requirement in chapter two that prayer be completely free from doubt.[9] In chapter eight Bounds states, “prayer governs conduct.”[10] Is it true that prayer controls conduct? If orthodoxy suggests that the Holy Spirit empowers sanctification, which is the process of becoming holy, then is prayer really the engine that powers obedience? Furthermore, on the one hand Bounds states that “conduct makes character” and then in the next paragraph states that “the more we pray (conduct), the purer and better our lives (character).”[11] It is apparent that a logical inconsistency may exist. In chapter nine Bounds explains that the reason God answers prayer is because a believer is obedient and then concludes that believers “can keep God’s commandments.”[12] The implication is that if a believer can keep all of God’s commandments, then answers to prayers are imminent. Is it possible that a believer can live without sin? This appears to be inconsistent with Romans 7, but further investigation is required. Finally, in chapter 14 Bounds states “prayer converts even the bricks, and mortar, and lumber, into a sanctuary” where God dwells.[13] Does prayer really convert buildings into a church, and further, is church actually a building made of brick and mortar? These presuppositions and many more provide fertile ground for further analysis.
CONCLUSION
Bounds’s work is chock-full of presuppositions. Specifically, this paper has proven that two of Bounds’s presuppositions are faith is a pre-requisite to prayer and trust is all feeling. Finally, further investigation appears necessary in order to assess a number of additional potential presuppositions. Accordingly, this post has shown that many potential presuppositions exist within Bounds’s work.
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[1] Edward M. Bounds, “Prayer and Faith,” in The Necessity of Prayer (Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d.), 3, http://sites.google.com/site/wetmorelibertypapers/boundsnecessitywithref (accessed January 28, 2012).
[2] C. S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian (New York: Touchstone, 1977), 95-96. Lewis provides similar logic in a discussion regarding answered prayers.
[3] Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer, 14.
[4] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. G Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, and G. Friedrich, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1964), 6:1-4.
[5] Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer, 20.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid., 26.
[8] Ibid., 27.
[9] Ibid., 30.
[10] Ibid., 38.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid., 46.
[13] Ibid., 66.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bounds, Edward M. “Prayer and Faith.” In The Necessity of Prayer. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d. http://sites.google.com/site/wetmorelibertypapers/ boundsnecessitywithref (accessed January 28, 2012).
- Lewis, C. S. The Joyful Christian. New York: Touchstone, 1977.
- Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by G Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, and G. Friedrich. Electronic ed. Vol. 6. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1964.
