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Prayer Does Not Help Heart Patients
mu22le writes "A recent study conducted by the Duke University Medical Center on 700 patients, found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery. Researchers emphasized their work does not address whether God exists or answers prayers made on another's behalf.
This result seems to contradict a previous study by the same authors that reported "cardiac patients who received intercessory prayer in addition to coronary stenting appeared to have better clinical outcomes than those treated with standard stenting therapy alone"."
In other news... wishing upon a star will not make dreams come true. Details at 11.
Where's your Messiah now?
Now that they have two conflicting results they'll need a new grant to conduct another study so they can conclude which of their first two studies was correct. Yay! 5 more years of research funding.
You never really know how close to the edge you can go until you fall off.
Cthulhu was displeased with the family's offerings.
Unfortunatley since they awoken the great Ancient one with their pleas for mercy, the heart patients and their family (and next of kin and family pets) will be eaten first and slowly.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
As a skeptic, I might have trouble with your conclusion that the King of the Potato People does not exist. You seem absolutely certain of this, as if we have more than some scattered anecdotal evidence that he does not.
Maybe it would be a good idea to turn down the control knob on your vehemence just a little. I'm far from what you would call some mystical, new age flake. And yet, I'd have a hard time refuting that there is something weird going on in the universe... and it's more than just a new exotic subatomic particle.
If the religious are delusional at all, it's that they somehow think that there is only one god. Why not five, or fifty? One is not a special number (though zero is *slightly* more special). And, if they could easily be so wrong about that one simple fact, then their own holy books end up being bunk. Funny, eh?
Of course the real problem is that God is too busy helping rappers get their bling bling. This is obvious if you've ever watched a music awards show.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
"Prayer comes from the heart, and can't be done in a cold and scientific manner in the name of research." (emphasis mine)
Well, obviously then, the reason the prayer didn't work is that the patients all had defective hearts.
Even as a heartless bastard, though, I can attest that at least some of my prayers to The One Who Lies Dead but Dreaming have been answered. Though not all those prayers involved positive thoughts.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
A friend of ours has the ultimate rejoinder to telephone psychics:
"If they were really psychic, they'd call you!"
Several years back, when I knew this friend was coming over for dinner, I arranged with a female co-worker to call her at our house, and begin with, "Hello (name), I'm a psychic, and you're having a problem with..." (I filled the co-worker in with a not-too-personal problem.) Something came up, and the whole thing fell through. Darn.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Perhaps the real reason is that the people studied were not worthy of divine intervention? Did anyone check their level of evil before praying for them?
...But I digress. TREMBLE PUNY HUMANS!ONE DAY MY SPECIES WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!
Exactly. But I certainly hope you weren't referring to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and His noodly appendage, otherwise I'm going to have to ask you to step outside.
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Simple: God (as commonly understood) is a transcendant being who actively created the universe, and is fully capable of doing anything with it.
.... well, unless you argue that he was Creator (and therefore, by definition, be God), what power would he have to heal?
... yeah I know, just anecdotal ...
The King of the Potato People, if he existed
For the record, I *have* seen a friend rapidly heal from attention deficit disorder not long after prayer and laying on of hands. For what it's worth
> They put the control group inside a Faraday cage.
And the test group in a Prayer-a-day cage?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Now I don't buy into the whole story either, but as devils advocate I feel I must point out not every kind of life was included in the ark. God in his infinite wisdom did not see fit to include fish or other sea life in the ark.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
Oh. You meant "CUE" the religious flamewar. Sorry, my bad.
Oh, I see..The scientist were praying wrong ... Well that explains everything then...
"But this one goes to 11!"
> none of the praying people were vested in the lives of those being prayed for
I am sure they thought they were. Most religous people pray for others they don't know.
>all this study does is confirm that either (1) there is no
>God or (2) God isn't amused by pseudoscientific studies.
Or God prefers to punish those who pray for him. Least thats what I read from the study.
You insensitive clod. The King will be very upset at this.
spud
What about religious choice - was that also cotrolled? Did they have Christians praying for Jews, Buddhists praying for Born agains?
Maybe it was a bandwidth problem - i.e. God only has allocated 50 PPS (prayers per second) for cardiac patients, and God got Slashdotted by the study.
..........FULL STOP.
Obviously the One True God got pissed off that the researchers couldn't even decide which one of them He was, so He sat this one out.
Wow. Just.. wow. I can't believe I just read those words. Can I sig that?
This has to be one of the funnest statements ever made on Slashdot. Your logic is completely impenetrable. Kudos!
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Do not est the Lord your God.... for then ye shall now I'm a sham.
Meh.
Greetings slashdot Christians! I have to say, that I'm not in the least bit surprised that God declined this opportunity to be used as a drug. However, "carefully examining the role of the human spirit in healthcare does not diminish its mystery, but it separates the mystery from the question of utility in healthcare practice," Krucoff said. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16 I would like to remind the world that the reason prayer even works in the first place is because the Almighty God who is listening to the prayer decides to contiually look upon us with His grace and mercy. It works because GOD chooses, not because man chooses. It wrenches my heart to think that God may choose to decline the prayers of so many based on the faults of a few men. Ultimatly though, He is a jealous God, and a force NOT to be reckoned with. I might also add, while His grace reaches to all men, saved and unsaved, His promises to never leave nor forsake, to answer when we call, and to take us home to heaven are made explicitly for those who believe and follow Him.
To believe that all land animals are decended from a few hundred individual animals on a boat is preposterous. On the other hand, to believe that all life everywhere decended from a single cell in a primordial soup is perfectly logical.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
This reminds me of a great bash.org quote that I'd like to share with you all:
Fractured Element
thus the whole "72 virgins" controversy with islamist sects
No it's 72 Virginians waiting to beat the crap out of them. Virgins is just a misinterpretation due to speech barriers.
After getting nailed by a Daisy Cutter, Osama made his way to the pearly gates. There, he is greeted by George Washington. "How dare you attack the nation I helped conceive!" yells Mr. Washington, slapping Osama in the face.
Patrick Henry comes up from behind. "You wanted to end the Americans' liberty, so they gave you death!" Henry punches Osama on the nose.
James Madison comes up next, and says "This is why I allowed the Federal government to provide for the common defense!" He drops a large weight on Osama's knee.
Osama is subject to similar beatings from John Randolph of Roanoke, James Monroe, and 65 other people who have the same love for liberty and America.
As he writhes on the ground, Thomas Jefferson picks him up to hurl him back toward the gate where he is to be judged.
As Osama awaits his journey to his final very hot destination, he screams "This is not what I was promised!"
An angel replies "I told you there would be 72 Virginians waiting for you, idiot. What did you think I said?"
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
leaving humanity a base creature
Made in God's image. Religion is not perfect. God does not devalue humanity. People do.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Silly people -- did they really believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster would allow his plans to be unraveled by such a blatent manipulation? Hasn't he said, "Thou shalt not tempt thy FSM, except it be with grated cheese?" These silly mortals have no idea who they're messing with. Beware the noodly appendage filled with wrath!
s/talented //
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See? God wins!