Do You Like To Pray? Then Read This…
This may be on bordering blasphemy, but nonetheless a fact worth exploring.
If you’re having medical problems and someone tells you they’ll pray for your quick recovery, you better think twice…
A recent study shows that praying over a patient dosen’t really help, but rather adds complications to their recovery.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. In fact, patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications.
The study involved 1800 heart patients who underwent surgery. Researchers were quick to add that their work does not address the issue of whether God exists or not. They also have no explanation on why patients being prayed over have higher complications that those who only have a slight idea that someone maybe praying for their health.
Naturally, religious folks were quick to retaliate against this findings. As Habakkuk’s Watchpost insists:
"This totally means that God doesn’t exist, doesn’t it! At the very least, there goes a big chunk of the prayers of the people. The studies show that God doesn’t take our prayers for health very seriously."
The way I see, this could really hurt the evangelical business. Imagine those TV pastors asking everyone to raise their hands and pray for so and so, to lift up their souls to god…tearfully asking heaven to heal his brothers and sisters.
Damn, now their saying it’ll only make things worse! Oh yeah? well about those testifying they were healed?
I don’t know the answers to that. Personally I don’t like being prayed over. Freaks me out. God knows that. I can see him chuckling when someone puts his hand over my head and recites a litany. I literally feel like Satan being told to "leave this body!"
We’ve only touched the tip of this great debate. But science don’t lie either. And it’s not exactly the evil of our times.
So if you want to pray for a loved one when he’s undergoing the knife, it’s probably best not to tell him about it. Better be on the safe side.
NBA Guide
NFL Guide
NCAA Football
2008 WSOP
April 5th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
The way I see, this could really hurt the evangelical business.
Don’t go thinking that I wouldn’t consider this a good thing, even if I did quote Martin Luther in my “retaliation” against the findings of the prayer study.
But science don’t lie either.
With certain reservations, I’d agree with this. Science has made some pretty dumb mistakes, too. The turn of the century social darwinists thought they were following Darwin’s revolutionary theory (with which I, as a religious person, have no beef) to its logical conclusion and messed up stuff happened.
So if you want to pray for a loved one when he’s undergoing the knife, it’s probably best not to tell him about it. Better be on the safe side.
I don’t believe in the power of intercessory prayer, (neither did Martin Luther, for that matter) but praying for a loved one was, from what I know, specifically not tested. I preached a sermon where I explained that praying for the sick helps the person praying, not the actual sickee, and a few people confronted me with that argument, which remains an open question, I think.
Thanks for the link!