Prayer and Plot Twists [View all]

The Latin phrase "deus ex machina," "god from the machine" derives from an ancient Greek dramatic device used in plays. To resolve a difficult dilemma in a plot line, Greek Gods would suddenly appear on stage, either lowered from a crane or rising up from below the stage. Being gods, they could use their divine powers to alter the course of events and resolve the issue.

We're still using that device in some plays and films. Sometimes its "bats from space" or an actual representation of God who appears to fix the problem.

For most modern playwrights, that device is considered to be cheating, and is a sign of a poorly conceived plot. Modern audiences don't particularly like the deus ex machina method.

When religious people use prayer as a way of requesting help from God, they are calling on the same principle as the deus ex machina. "Please, dear Lord, don't let my Charlie die from his terminal cancer." When Charlie dies, it's because it was "God's will," though. We humans can't solve some problems, so we ask our deities to come down on a rope or ride the elevator up through the floor and change things. Almost always, that doesn't happen, but we excuse the diety by saying "God's ways are not our ways" or "Nobody knows God's plans for us." Both of those expressions are just ways of attributing what happens to a deus ex machina.

We're disappointed when a filmmaker brings in an illogical or magical force to resolve a poorly plotted story. It's a "cheap trick." We don't like it one bit, and expect the scriptwriter to do a better job, somehow. But, in our real lives, many people call on their own personal deus ex machina and expect something miraculous to somehow happen.

"Thank God my house was not destroyed in that tornado, but it was God's will that yours was." Deus ex machina at work. It's just a plot trick, though. One house was in the path of the tornado and the other wasn't. God had nothing to do with it. It was natural forces that caused destruction or spared your house.

Unlike in the Greek plays, nobody sees God, but they still pray for help from that imaginary entity. To what end, I wonder?