Study finds proximity could be key to success of healing prayer

Indiana University ^ | Candy Gunther Brown

[Pharmboy]

I thought many Freepers would be interested in this. And, for those who may not know, the Southern Medical Journal is a well-respected medical publication.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Whether or not these prayers are working by the exact method they claim to (and as a Christian, I believe in many instances they can be) there is something about human closeness and touch that is missing in today’s hospital settings, and under Obamacare this depersonalization can only get worse.

What would one do for a control study? Maybe to hold the patient’s hand, massage his head, etc. and read him a batch of secular get well wishes?

[Pharmboy]

Yes...similar thoughts occurred to me...needs a control.

[Pharmboy]

Random ping for possible interest...

[Dem Guard]

The benefits of hearing someone pray for you makes sense to me. And didn’t Jesus usually go to see those he healed?

[janereinheimer]

thanks for posting

[Tax-chick]

And didn’t Jesus usually go to see those he healed?

With some exceptions, such as the slave of the centurion and the son of the man who said, "I believe - help my unbelief!"

[circlecity]

"And didn’t Jesus usually go to see those he healed?"

Not necessarily. There was the centurian's servant and the daughter of another woman. In both these instances, particularly with the centurian's servant, the major point was that Jesus location didn't matter at all with regard to his ability to heal. When the centurian pointed this out, Jesus' praised this gentile for having more faith than any other in Israel

[Dem Guard]

True, it just seemed to me when he could he wanted to go in person.

[Tax-chick]

I believe that in most cases, the sick were brought, or brought themselves, to Jesus. He travelled to raise the dead: Lazarus of Bethany and the synagogue ruler’s daughter.

[Pharmboy]

My pleasure...and as a side note, I am really impressed with some of these Freeper’s Biblical knowledge. And I assume they are lay people...but perhaps I am wrong on that.

[Onelifetogive]

the Southern Medical Journal is a well-respected medical publication.

I think Granny Clampett had a couple of articles published in there.

[Onelifetogive]

The benefits of hearing someone pray for you makes sense to me.

Of course that can also trigger a placebo effect.

[ArrogantBustard]

And didn’t Jesus usually go to see those he healed?

Sometimes. Sometimes they came to Him. And on at least one occasion, He merely declared it done from across town and it was done.

[Right Wing Assault]

Maybe prayer follows an inverse square law.

[Pharmboy]

Nice one...that brings me right back to high school physics and one of the few things I got! And, I even remember a friend of mine who was brilliant in physics back then (and still is--he's been an astrophysicist at Harvard for 35 years) who said at the time that the inverse square law speaks for a designer's presence. He said "Why should it be exact whole numbers?" Why isn't it 1.769274 or somesuch?"

Made me think...

[Dem Guard]

"Of course that can also trigger a placebo effect."

I nearly died and I had "last rites" administered to me. Several weeks later when I woke up and I was told many people I didn't know had prayed for me over time (remotely) and I recovered to the amazement of my doctors. I never heard any of the prayers but I recovered. Prior to this experience I might have considered a placebo effect but not after that.

[Onelifetogive]

Prior to this experience I might have considered a placebo effect but not after that.

The Placebo Effect is obviously and incontrovertibly effective. That does not mean that prayer (up close and personal) is not also effective.

[circlecity]

"He travelled to raise the dead: Lazarus of Bethany and the synagogue ruler’s daughter."

Also, as you recall, Luke tells us during his ministry he came upon a funeral procession and out of compassion for the mother he resurrected her son who was on his way to be buried.

[Tax-chick]

Yes, the only son of the widow of Nain, sort of a drive-by dead-raising, as it were.