| Quotes: |
| How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. - Oscar Wilde |
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| Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein |
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| Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. - Mark Twain |
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| I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. - Mark Twain |
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| Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. - Albert Einstein |
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| Saturday, April 01, 2006 |
| Prayer might make things worse. |
| The US$2.5m (£1.4m) study was done over a decade at six major US medical centres and involved 1,800 patients who had heart bypass surgery. The patients - 65 per cent of whom said they believed in the power of prayer - were split into three groups. Two were prayed for, the third was not. Of those who were prayed for, one group was told so, and the others were told merely that they may or may not be prayed for. After 30 days, however, the death rates and incidence of major complications was about the same across all three groups, said a report published in the American Heart Journal. "Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on whether complications occurred (and) patients who were certain that intercessors would pray for them had a higher rate of complications than patients who were uncertain but did receive intercessory prayer," it said. The study was not intending to prove/disprove the existence of God, but it has raised intriguing questions about whether people should be told others are praying for them. A slightly higher proportion of whose who knew they were the subject of prayers suffered complications than those who did not. The difference was very small - 59 per cent compared to 51 per cent - but researchers wonder if the problems among those who knew they were being prayed for reflected in part a "performance anxiety," said Charles Bethea, an Oklahoma cardiologist and an author of the study. "It may have made them uncertain, wondering, 'Am I so sick they had to call in a prayer team?'" Ultimately, the study is not terribly scientific. There is no empirical method of determining either the 'quality' or quantity of prayer involved. Perhaps a less than benevolent God has weightings on prayer enabling greater results for the recipients???
More information here.
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posted by Blue @ 10:40 pm  |
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| 4 Comments: |
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I have read about this study before. I found when I asked people to not pray for me to use it for others who believe in it they get upset, so now I have to accept if people pray for me, but I would rather not know. Mainly because it embarrasses me to high heaven.
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Ha, performance anxiety I love it...If I don't recover from this bypass, will you still like me? That's hilarious. The study seems more like a coincidence to me though :)
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my own thots: one day, when my son was 1 and i dropped him off at is babysitter's home before going to work, the sitter, Diana, took quite a while to answer the door (we were a bit early). when she answered,she explained she had been in the middle of her morning prayers. diana said morning prayers asking god to protect and keep safe all the children she had ever cared for. she told me her prayers got longer and longer each year - as she added children to her list. every day for the last twenty years, Diana has said a prayer for my son. i find it comforting to think that someone asks their god to intercede on my son's behalf - to keep him safe and help him be a strong, good person every day.
of course, what i don't care for is people who want to pray for me to change my thinking (i.e., "i will pray that god helps you change your view on abortion," or "I will pray that you will see the light and become a true christian" - that kind of praying i can do without. but praying in which the person simply asks the god they beieve in to protect me, to keep me safe, to help me heal, to feel strong, etc., - i gladly accept. i need all the postive energy i can get and as much help from the universe as possible.
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Bird, I agree - what I found most interesting is the notion that knowing that you are being prayed for can change the complication rate from surgery.
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I have read about this study before. I found when I asked people to not pray for me to use it for others who believe in it they get upset, so now I have to accept if people pray for me, but I would rather not know. Mainly because it embarrasses me to high heaven.