Comments on: News Flash: Distant Strangers Talking to Themselves Fail to Save Lives http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/ Helping Mankind Overcome Religion Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:57:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: That’s odd – prayer doesn’t work?? « YASHWATA http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-19820 That’s odd – prayer doesn’t work?? « YASHWATA Sun, 11 Feb 2007 01:03:43 +0000 http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-19820 [...] That’s odd – prayer doesn’t work?? 22 July 2005 Filed under: theism — Super Admin @ 3:00 pm From the Evangelical Atheist: News Flash: Distant Strangers Talking to Themselves Fail to Save Lives. [...]

[…] That’s odd – prayer doesn’t work?? 22 July 2005 Filed under: theism — Super Admin @ 3:00 pm From the Evangelical Atheist: News Flash: Distant Strangers Talking to Themselves Fail to Save Lives. […]

]]> By: Jim rrr http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-655 Jim rrr Wed, 20 Jul 2005 15:33:35 +0000 http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-655 Skeptico. Thanks. I remembered this from the Skeptical briefs Vol.13 no.3 Sept. 2003. I've just reread it, amazing. She contracted the same form of brain cancer she was trying to heal. Dead at 40. What amazes me even more is how the believers continue to believe in spite of the truth of such results. Imagine what would happen if these people would in fact take a real science class and work toward real effects.

Skeptico. Thanks. I remembered this from the Skeptical briefs Vol.13 no.3 Sept. 2003. I’ve just reread it, amazing. She contracted the same form of brain cancer she was trying to heal. Dead at 40. What amazes me even more is how the believers continue to believe in spite of the truth of such results. Imagine what would happen if these people would in fact take a real science class and work toward real effects.

]]> By: Skeptico http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-652 Skeptico Wed, 20 Jul 2005 14:37:43 +0000 http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-652 Jim: It was Elizabeth Targ: http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/07/prayer_still_us.html ...it's at the end.

Jim:

It was Elizabeth Targ:

http://skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/07/prayer_still_us.html

…it’s at the end.

]]> By: Jim rrr http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-648 Jim rrr Wed, 20 Jul 2005 01:25:30 +0000 http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-648 I read that. Incredible. You can't test god? Excuse me but why is that? I must be missing something. Also there was a prayer study a few years back ( I'll Find it for you ) the woman in charge of the study at the time contracted some form of cancer and died. No joke. You'd think their god would throw em a bone from time to time. I used to believe, ahh well kinda, but now I'm free. remember Armageddon has been cancelled pass the word. JIM

I read that. Incredible. You can’t test god? Excuse me but why is that? I must be missing something. Also there was a prayer study a few years back ( I’ll Find it for you ) the woman in charge of the study at the time contracted some form of cancer and died. No joke. You’d think their god would throw em a bone from time to time. I used to believe, ahh well kinda, but now I’m free. remember Armageddon has been cancelled pass the word. JIM

]]> By: Bruce http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-647 Bruce Tue, 19 Jul 2005 22:08:42 +0000 http://evangelicalatheist.com/2005/07/18/newsflash-distant-strangers-talking-to-themselves-fail-to-save-lives/#comment-647 Hey Delta, I have an idea based on your post. We could do some sort of denial-of-service attack on prayer. We could run a nation-wide study on the effects of prayer for the next 50 years. The study would cover every hospital in the US. God will be powerless to help people for the next 50 years because he won't want to give himself away :-) <i>“Prayer can be and is helpful,” Lawrence said. “But to think that you can research it is inconceivable to me. Prayer is presumably a way of addressing God, and there’s no way to scientifically test God. God is not subject to scientific research.”</i> Umm, I don't follow the logic here. If prayer works, then you should be able to measure the positive effects. Maybe it is possible for God to make it look like prayer didn't work (in order to screw up the study's results) but yet really answer the prayer? But I don't get how God could do this. For example, if your mother was dieing from breast cancer and you prayed to God every day that she would get better, but she died anyway. How could God make it look like she died but yet she doesn't really die?

Hey Delta, I have an idea based on your post. We could do some sort of denial-of-service attack on prayer. We could run a nation-wide study on the effects of prayer for the next 50 years. The study would cover every hospital in the US. God will be powerless to help people for the next 50 years because he won’t want to give himself away :-)

“Prayer can be and is helpful,” Lawrence said. “But to think that you can research it is inconceivable to me. Prayer is presumably a way of addressing God, and there’s no way to scientifically test God. God is not subject to scientific research.”

Umm, I don’t follow the logic here. If prayer works, then you should be able to measure the positive effects. Maybe it is possible for God to make it look like prayer didn’t work (in order to screw up the study’s results) but yet really answer the prayer? But I don’t get how God could do this. For example, if your mother was dieing from breast cancer and you prayed to God every day that she would get better, but she died anyway. How could God make it look like she died but yet she doesn’t really die?

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