MSNBC reports Christian Prayer not Effective
A quasi scientific study sponsored by the theologically inept John Templeton Foundation allegedly found that those who were prayed for actually had more complications from heart surgery than those who were not. Are we to assume that God either ignores/hates Christians or there is no God?
Maybe it’s just the devil in the details.
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It is a poor study because there is no control group.
Do they really think that no one in the family/friends/neighbor/acquaintances didn’t pray for anyone in the control group?
Comment by Boinkie — March 30, 2007 @ 6:24 pm
Any competent physician would reply to this study and the legions of others similar to it, that those who spend time believing this sort of amateur nonsense are probably prone to become cardiac patients soon themselves.
Comment by John Hetman — March 31, 2007 @ 2:38 pm
I think the term ‘true, true, unrelated’ would come into effect here. So would the idea of blinding the patients to which group they belong,so that they do not alter any of their behavior.
More important, God is not some laboratory animal to be prodded into giving a standardized response. Imagine God in a Skinner box: turn to the left, we give you a treat, turn to the right and we electrocute You. No thanks.
I was reminded of a book I recently read ‘Her Name Means Rose,’ about Rhoda Wise, a stigmatist who lived in Ohio(that’s bad enough) and who was asked by Our Lord to be a suffering soul in reparation for other’s sins. She had a lot of people praying for her, but her life seemed to be one disaster after another. It reminds me that we don’t know the Will of God enough.
Comment by dadwithnoisykids — April 3, 2007 @ 6:36 pm