On Monday, a blogger for our Palo Alto Patch , suggesting studies confirm a very strong link.
Eric Nelson reflected on several anecdotal stories in the blog:
- Gloria Giffords, the mom of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, said she remembered a verse from Psalms when she learned of the assassination attempt on her daughter in Arizona. “Be still, and know that I am God.” "This thing came over me, like a wash of warmth, like a blanket, and I wasn't afraid,” said Gloria Giffords in an interview with the Arizona Star “I thought, wherever she is, she's intact, she's perfect, she's whole, and whether on this plane of reality or somewhere else, she's God's perfect child."
- A chaplain suggested Andy and Donna Copeland pray for the recovery of their daughter following an injury she received in a zip-lining accident. Bacteria had entered the girl's bloodstream, and she was on the edge of death. Our blogger suggests that this prayer – and many subsequent prayers – give the Copeland’s a great deal of comfort, and is credited for a turnaround in the girl's condition. Though she’s still in intensive care, her prognosis is good.
Writes Nelson: "According to Dr. Harold Koening, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health, of the more than 2000 studies conducted over the last 10 years in this area, the clear majority point to a positive relationship between the spiritually uplifted mind and body. Although the research is relatively new, the link between prayer and health can be traced all the way back to the Bible."
What do you think? Is there a tangible, or intangible connection between healing and prayer? Have you ever experienced an occasion where prayer was ultimately the best antidote for a cure? Or is healing best left to medical professionals, whether Western or Eastern in their philosophy?
Let us know in your comments. Then vote in the poll below.
Re first-last: Matthew 20:16, Mark 10:31 and Luke 13:30 for starters.
I understand and sympathize with the reasons somebody might find religion very frustrating, but atheists aren't helping their cause when they express that frustration in way that lacks compassion.
It is not up to the non-believer to prove your hypothesis. You put forth the extraordinary claim that a being created and maintains the universe. It is up to you to put up the evidence for this claim. Just like if I claimed it was all fairies, I would have to come up with repeatable, verifiable and cross-feild evidence to support this claim (By cross-field, I mean that is uses more than one field of science, such as optics and physics and biology...). The burden of proof lays at the feet of the claimant. Imagine if I said gremlins are making your car not start. We should exorcise your car instead of replacing the alternator. Would you say, "Hmmm... I suppose you don't have to prove your claims, I will go through and check out the electrical system in the car to disprove it." Or would ask for evidence that there are indeed gremlins? Or perhaps you would take the a-gremilist approach and scoff at the very idea and take your car to real mechanic.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16569567
To Quasi Interested and Bren your analysis and comments don't seem to account for free will, St. Augustine's contribution to the dilemma. I am reminded of a documentary on suicide and the fact that almost every survivor to jump off the Golden Gate bridge all shared the same thought right after leaping... 'wish I didn't just do that'. How is God suppose to protect you from harming yourself when it's your choice? Evil? Nature is not evil, evil is what people do to other people. People make choices, sometimes hurtful choices. If you make it out of some dire situation, like a home invasion or a mugging then count yourself lucky. It happens, some people win the lottery and some people are pushed in front of subways. This will never change. This isn't God's will. I'll venture that God willed this isolated world into existence for us to be born, live our lives and die our deaths in. If God exists, and I do believe this, he provided us with the ability to know right from wrong and the freedom to choose and a conscience to reflect on our choices. What more do we need? We are all in this together I just wish we would act like it more often.