Bible contradiction? Do Christians know how to pray?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Do Christians know how to pray?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

Yes, Jesus taught them how to pray.

““Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

No, they don’t know how to pray.

“Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;” (Romans 8:26)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit Matthew 6:9-13 as affirming the claim “Christians know how to pray” against Romans 8:26 as affirming “Christians do not know how to pray.”
4. Romans 8:26 does mention about instances when believers might not know how to pray.  Specifically these are during times of “our weakness” and times when “we do not know what to pray for as we should.”  Romans 8:26 does not rule out categorically Christians do not know how to pray at all; rather there are instances Christians do not know how to pray and the Spirit of God helps believers in such instances.
5. Given point four, that Romans 8:26 is teaching there are instances where Christians do not know how to pray, in order for there to be a Bible contradiction there has to be a Bible verse that teaches “Christians always know how to pray” or “Christians are never ignorant of how to pray.”
6. Matthew 6:9-13 does not contradict Romans 8:26 even by the skeptics own stated sentences since Matthew 6:9-13 was not cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible as claiming “Christians always know how to pray” or “Christians are never ignorant of how to pray.” (The skeptic said this passage shows Jesus taught His followers how to pray, a different kind of claim than the two propositions necessarily for their to logically be a Bible contradiction with Romans 8:26).
7. Looking at Matthew 6:9-13 itself we don’t see it establish anything close to the propositions “Christians always know how to pray” or “Christians are never ignorant of how to pray.”
   1. Matthew 6:9-13 in context is Jesus teaching on prayer.  With Jesus’ teaching on prayer that does not mean being a Christian necessarily entail every Christian knows how to pray.
   2. Christians SHOULD know how to pray from what God’s Word teaches including Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.  But because of Christians struggle with sin and the fact that we are finite one can struggle to know how to pray.
   3. Also there’s a degree of how much one read and study the Scripture and how much one applies God’s Word that are factors with Christians knowledge of how to pray, as well as putting it into practice with prayer.
   4. In fact Jesus act of teaching on prayer indicate it is possible to be ignorant of how to pray and hence Jesus had to teach on prayer. (Theologically one can be a saved believer before reading Matthew 6:9-13).  So there can be times when Christians are ignorant of how to pray.
   5. In summary just because it is taught does not mean every Christian caught on how to pray.
8. Furthermore since knowledge of how to pray is in some sense a spiritual skill, just like with any spiritual disciplines of grace and also skills (natural and spiritual) there’s degrees and spectrums of knowledge of how to do something among various Christians dependent on age, when one got saved, sanctification, years living out the Christian faith, being in a sound Bible church that teach on prayer, etc.  Furthermore even mature Christians can go through trials where they don’t know how to pray and what to pray for, other than for God’s will to be done.  So we shouldn’t be surprise that the Bible at times teaching assume Christians does and does not know how to pray in various instances.  Rather than being a contradiction it shows the Bible’s richness of understanding the Christian journey through life.
9. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
10. This discussion might raises issue about God’s will and the existence of evil.  Check out our Chuck Norris Apologetics with the Problem of Evil
11. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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