It was suggested in another thread by one of our Aussie members that Americans use prayer like a magic wand to cure ills, and suggested that prayer doesn't work that way.
What is the purpose of prayer for you? I understand that many use it as a means of worship and reverence, but does prayer work to intervene in matter such as illness, finance, etc? Does a petition to God actually make Him reconsider the path He has laid out for an individual? Or does it work as more of a placebo affect for the person one is praying for?
What are your thoughts on the purpose of prayer?
The purpose of intercessory prayer is for the benefit of the person giving the prayer; this making the deliverer of intercessory prayer feel better about himself/herself for being thoughtful and concerned about whom he/she is praying. A scientific study has shown there is no placebo effect for the receiver of intercessory prayer.
My friend larry has butt cancer.Please pray for him.
"... Intercessory prayer is ineffective; this according to a scientific study where researchers monitored 1,802 patients at 6 hospitals who received coronary bypass surgery, in which doctors rerouted circulation around a clogged artery or vein.
The patients in this study were placed into 3 study control groups; 2 of these groups were prayed for; the third was not. The first of the 2 groups, who were receiving intercessory prayer, were patients told they were receiving prayers; the 2nd of the 2 groups, receiving intercessory prayers, were told they might or might not receive prayers.
The patients received intercessory prayers from members of 3 congregations — Silent Unity, a prayer ministry near Kansas City, Mo, St. Paul’s Monastery in St. Paul, and the Community of Teresian Carmelites in Worcester, Mass.; those delivering the prayers used the patients' first names and the first initials of their last names.
The congregations were allowed to pray in their own ways, but only if their prayers included the phrase, "for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications."
Analyzing complications in the 30 days after the operations, the researchers concluded there were no statistically significant differences in the medical recovery outcomes between those who received intercessory prayer and those who didn't."
Reference:
Am Heart J. 2006 Apr;151(4):934-42.
American Heart Journal 151, no. 4 (2006): 934-42. 2)
Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certainty of receiving intercessory prayer.
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Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) in cardiac bypass patients: a
multicenter randomized trial of uncertainty and certai... - PubMed - NCBI