[Ohioan from Florida]

From the article:

And when Bob is asked why God didn’t answer their prayers, Bob sighs and said He did.

“Without God, we would not have made it,” Bob said. “Maybe the prayers weren’t meant to save Terri, but to help us get through this.”

I am a little surprised to see the wording by the Florida Baptist Witness in regard to prayers to God, but am extremely glad that Mr. Schindler answered the way he did. I have always been taught that God does answer all our prayers, but sometimes He say "no" or "not right now" or "yes, but not how you are hoping it will be accomplished". Whenever we feel that God has closed a door, we must always ALWAYS look for the window He has left open for us! He is the Master, and we are His servants, not the other way around.

[BykrBayb]

It was a Southern Baptist preacher who once told me, "God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is 'No'." He went on to tell me that sometimes we don't even get an explanation, but we must continue to have faith. God knows what He's doing, even if we don't.

[Wampus SC]

I grew up Southern Baptist, and I'm also surprised the Baptist Witness worded it that way. When I learned about how God answers prayers, I was taught exactly what you said.

The board of the Southern Baptist Convention has made many doctrinal changes in the past few years, so who knows? It's not the church I grew up in. I'm going to leave it at that, and not discuss doctrine further.