Jeff Milner dot Com: The Power of Prayer

Thursday, July 14, 2005

The Power of Prayer

Or lack thereof. The BBC reports that a recent study shows patients undergoing heart operations were no more likely to survive if they were prayed for than if they weren't.

"[The] study found those who were prayed for were as likely to have a setback in hospital, be re-admitted, or die within six months as those not prayed for.

I can already hear the apologist viewpoint that of course the study isn't going to prove the power of prayer - God wouldn't allow THAT to happen because it would throw faith right out the window. To which I might reply, "that God person sure is tricky."

Of course previous smaller studies have had different conclusions which evidentally God wasn't worried about allowing our faith to be tampered with. (unrelated note: I find it interesting that the BBC uses the same stock photo for both articles).

posted by Jeff Milner at 7/14/2005 10:29:00 PM

Comments: 4
(Permalink)

Comments:

I find it interesting as well. Such a photo suggests only Christians pray.

Comment posted by Kim Siever at 7/15/2005 8:08 AM (Permalink)

I find it interesting that the candle isn't lighting the cross on fire

Comment posted by gary at 7/15/2005 10:44 AM (Permalink)

A simpler way of finding out if prayer works is to ask everyone you know if they have ever prayed about winning the lottery and then compare the winnings of those who did, with those who didn't. Heck, do your own research, buy your own darn lottery tickets. You could find out about the validity of prayer with as few as two lottery tickets. The big question is: If you happened to win with the ticket that you prayed about, knowing that the odds of winning are only about two hundred and fifty million to one, would you be tempted to double check your results by running another experiment.

Comment posted by Bob Milner at 7/19/2005 10:10 AM (Permalink)

Oh...and if you won with the ticket that wasn't prayed over, would you be equally as apt to repeat the experiment?