Now according to the March journal research, they claimed that prayer do work in term of the divine intervention with victims or sick patients of a situation.Hodge did 17 studies on this matter and have seen positive effects. However ,as thorough as this research was, it wasnt considered worthy to go through the APA's 12th division for deeper assessment.
I do agree that prayer is not and shouldnt be considered as the only solution to a medical and/or pyschological situation. However, prayer shouldnt be so dismissed by this. There is other proof of how the spiritual realm effects the human beings in terms of being in a religion or even in exercise when we become one with nature.
In closing, this controversal matter does have truth by studies and should be considered like any other case.
3 comments:
I strongly agree with this article since I am a Christian. Moreover, it is because I also have experienced the work of praying many times as being a Christian myself.
Having research more about God's answering the prayer, I found one article which was issued in March, 2007. In this article, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who was suffered from Parkinson's disease, convince "the work of God through the intercession of Pope John Paul II.”
Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was suffered from Parkinson’s disease since 2001. According to her story, due to her disease, in 2005, she was almost unable to freely move her body. Therefore, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre began to offer a prayer to Pope John Paul II. Then, she could have been "cured her of Parkinson’s disease after two months."
In addition, recently another study shows that "Prayer increases Forgiveness." This study found that offering a prayer helps "diminishing of the initial negative feelings, vengeful thoughts and emotions."
An article on Marie Simon-Pierre:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/31/world/europe/31france.html?scp=3&sq=marie%20simon%20pierre&st=cse
An article on study of "Prayer Increases Forgiveness" :
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134607.htm
I think the author of the main article "Does God Answer Prayer? Researcher Says 'Yes'" does a good job in informing the reader in a sense that he lays out a list of researches done on the effect of intercessory prayer, prayer offered for the benefit of others. The article concludes with the fact that the result of the latest study of intercessory prayer, which is the most reliable data we have so far, claims prayers to have a positive effects on the patients.
All of that is good, and I believe the study results to be true, but I think the title of the article and the first line which starts out with..."Does God or some other type of transcendent entity answer prayer?" is a bit misleading. From what I understand, the studies mentioned in the article indicate that offering prayer helps a person's mental wellbeing. It doesn't mean that praying FOR a sick person will make him/her better. Hence, the studies do not show the validity of an omnipotent power that can answer to our demands, but rather the psychological benefits of the act of praying.
I am not affiliated to any religion myself, but I have found, through my experience of attending a Christian high school, that people who have faith and pray regularly, do seem to be more relaxed and mild mannered. In my opinion, having faith in ANYTHING makes an individual's mind more at ease, because there are less questions about the world. Knowing who, how and why the world was created and the rules you need to abide by, is a lot easier on the mind than always wondering why you are put in this world, how far the universe extends to, and so on. In addition, the act of praying has a very meditative qualities to it. You stand/sit still, gather your hands and talk about things that concern you. I don't know whether God exists or not, but I do know that letting out your frustrations in words do help make you feel better.
These are extremely broad and complex questions to be derived from this single article, so I think our response to the article should be solely based on the idea that the act of praying has the potential to calm and benefit one's mind, rather than discussing whether or not someone is actually listening to those prayers.
-Yeji Lee-
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