Destiny Phillips Coats

“Out of the pen of Feuerbach, the truth flows.”  This is a false statement.  Throughout the entirety (that we have read) of The Essence of Christianity, Ludwig Feuerbach has made many false statements.  The multitude that has pained me the most are in chapter 12, “The Omnipotence of Feeling, or the Mystery of Prayer.”  As Christians, we believe the complete truth is presented to us in God’s Word.  Anything we hear outside of God’s Word should be judged accordingly with the Word to see if it holds true.  Nine times out of ten, Feuerbach’s “truth” does not.

Feuerbach thinks he has an understanding of Christianity.  A non-believer reading this book would probably be fooled by his big words and long points that fly over the head of the average person.  We (believers) must guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23) from false truths presented to us.  Not only should we divert from them, but also we must understand how to disprove them with truth: Scripture.

Throughout chapter 12, Feuerbach gives many absolute statements for what prayer is; each time however, he is wrong.  “Prayer is the unconditional confidence of human feeling in the absolute identity of the subjective and objective, the certainty that the power of the heart is greater than the power of Nature, that the heart’s need is absolute necessity, the fate of the world” (123).  This is his first “definition” of prayer.  What does God say prayer is?  Psalm 145:18, “The LORD is near to all them that call on him, to all that call on him in truth.”  Prayer is seeking after God’s heart.  It is revealing to God our heart so He might hear us and commune with us.  In simpler terms, it’s how we communicate with God.  Feuerbach’s idea of prayer is a selfish outpouring of one’s heart to combat the laws of nature; the power of the heart is strong enough to give it all its desires.  God’s Word tells us He will give us the desires of our heart.

Feuerbach says “the power of the heart is greater than the power of Nature … heart’s need is absolute necessity.”  At first glance these could appear to mean the same thing, but just a few words change the meanings of each.  God says He will give us the desires of our heart. He did not say our hearts are strong enough to overcome nature.  That is the root of this first falsehood by Feuerbach.  He did not come to the knowledge God is the creator and He alone has power to give us the desires of our heart.  He instead decided because there is no God, the only explanation for prayer is a selfish outpouring of one’s heart and strong belief the human heart separate from God can make our desires happen.

“Prayer alters the course of Nature; it determines God to bring forth an effect in contradiction with the laws of Nature” (123).  Feuerbach was actually pretty close with this one, but yet so far.  Psalm 107:28-30 says, “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.  He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.  Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.”  Prayer does change the circumstances around us — nature.  Feuerbach went wrong when he said prayer “determines God to bring … contradiction with the laws of Nature.”  God created the world; therefore, He wrote the laws of nature.  He can choose whether He wants to operate within them or not.  Because He is God, we cannot put earthly limitations on a spiritual being.  He does not have to operate within the limits nature has put upon us.

“Prayer is the self-division of man into two beings, a dialogue of man with himself, with his heart” (123).  Feuerbach got this all wrong.  Prayer is a conversation between believers and the great intercessor, Jesus, who then communicates our desires to God the Father.  Because of sin, mankind has separated himself from God.  God is perfect and cannot commune with imperfect beings.  This is why God sent His son Jesus to redeem us.  God desires relationship with us.  Relationships are built around communication.  Jesus is the redeemer who washed away our sin, so we might be made perfect in Him to once again communicate with God.  This goes to show without a true knowledge of Christianity as a relationship between God and man, head knowledge will cause a person to interpret the things of God (spiritual) with his own (earthly) knowledge.

“It is an extremely superficial view of prayer to regard it as an expression of the sense of dependence.  It certainly expresses such a sense, but the dependence is that of man on his own heart, on his own feeling” (124).  This is the complete opposite of what Christians believe. Christianity in its core is coming to the knowledge and understanding on one’s own, one is nothing.  One must turn from his old ways and become completely dependent on God to fill the void in his heart and to supply all his needs.  We are not co-dependent in our relationship with Christ.  God does not need us.  He wants us.  There’s a difference.  She wants the cookie.  She needs the water or she will die.  God does not need us.  We need God.  Without God, humanity would not exist.  Without a relationship with God and coming to the knowledge of Jesus as our Savior, man is damned for eternity in Hell.  This is an example of how Feuerbach has wrongfully accused Christians of thinking highly of themselves to believe their own hearts can supply their needs.  Even without knowing it, non-believers are solely dependent upon God the Father.  They just choose not to believe it.

“The omnipotence to which man turns in prayer is nothing but the Omnipotence of Goodness, which, for the sake of the salvation of man, makes the impossible possible; is, in truth, nothing else than the omnipotence of the heart, of feeling, which breaks through all the limits of the understanding, which soars above all the boundaries of Nature, which wills that there be nothing else than feeling, nothing that contradicts the heart” (125).  Feuerbach is saying the heart is so powerful it can cause Christians to see/believe the reality they picture within their hearts.  This in a way is true, but not true regarding prayer.  The mind is strong enough to cause people to stumble upon a false reality.  The mind is not powerful enough to make that reality true outside the mind, nor is your heart.  God is the only power that can overcome the constraints of our natural realm.  Only through God can believers have a glimpse of God’s reality.  Hearts alone cannot bring things into fruition, only God can.

Feuerbach’s final false statement in this chapter alone is, “in prayer man turns to the Omnipotence of Goodness; which simply means, that in prayer man adores his own heart, regards his own feelings as absolute” (125).  This can be disproved with intercession.  If prayer was just this shallow definition implying a huge amount of selfishness, why would we believe that by praying for others unselfishly, Christians can bring about change in the lives of others?  It cannot!  Prayer can be used selfishly, but prayer in and of itself is not a selfish thing.

Ludwig Feuerbach constantly makes absolute statements about Christianity when he does not really understand it.  If he did understand it, he probably would have been a believer.  With arguments like these against Christianity, he as a believer could have done exploits for Christ’s kingdom.  Feuerbach is a prime example of wrong interpretation of the Word of God.  It can bring people to the wrong conclusions about the truth.  The only way we can rightly interpret Scripture is with the Holy Spirit.  We must ask for salvation to come to the correct knowledge of who God is.