My father just spent a week in the hospital battling pneumonia. and no one in my family prayed for his welfare. But guess what? The doctors worked just as well for him as for anyone else, and he went home yesterday.

If you truly have faith that God will help cure any ill, then you should have no need of any hospital or doctor. Either support superstition or science... not both.

Actually, Eric, even atheists should understand that prayer can have a positive effect. If you pray for your own well-being and believe that there is an all-powerful god who will help you out, then that gives you confidence. Confidence gives you a healthy mental attitude, which in turn can help your physical health. Then if you know that others are also praying for you, that just serves to reinforce your confidence, etc.

Praying in such a way is similar to meditation. It's just that rather than finding confidence within yourself, you seek it from another source. Either way, you get it.

I've never read anything about it, but I'm sure there must be plenty of studies by psychologists that affirm this.

Okay, Paul, I admit that there is some positive results to be had from the placebo effect. But its effectiveness is pretty limited when looking at the whole population, so it's not something to depend on.

However, that's not what the letter writer was talking about. I see no practical advantage to supporting magical thinking of that sort.

Isn't it a bit silly to think that prayer would change the will of God?

Asking God to bend his will to that of man by praying for changes and such.

More superstition that cannot be proven to be. Same goes for that Bible thing.

Eric writes: "Either support superstition or science... not both."

Eric, are you telling us what and how to believe?

Eric writes: "My father just spent a week in the hospital battling pneumonia. and no one in my family prayed for his welfare. But guess what? The doctors worked just as well for him as for anyone else, and he went home yesterday."

I'm glad your father has recovered. Of course you have no way of knowing if someone working AT the hospital prayed for your father (prayers by strangers can be just as powerful as those by relatives)... or perhaps a visitor... or perhaps even your own father, do you?

"Eric, are you telling us what and how to believe?"

Sorry, Bunny. I should have said that it's just a suggestion. I don't have the hubris to think that I could force anyone to believe anything they don't want to.

"...or perhaps even your own father, do you?"

Heh. No, Dad hasn't prayed since 1925, last I heard. {;-)

mr.bkharper,
it is the 'silly' things that God chooses to confuse the wise and turn their wisdom to nought.
we pray because when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray...that is exactly what He did and He even gave a model prayer. if prayer has no effect then Jesus apparently wasted a fair amount of His time while here on earth. and to both eric and harper i would ask if it bothers you or would harm come to you if someone prayed for you ?

Hey, buz!

In reference to your question... I understand that there's a fairly big legion of believers who have pledged to pray for me, and have been doing so for years on end. I asked one fellow (a preacher from Texas who was planning to set up a church that accurately emulates the original one from Acts) what exactly he prayed in regards to me. He said he was praying that God would do what it takes to make me a believer again.

I told him that was an odd thing to ask the ruler of the universe for... world peace might have been on his list of requests as well, but there's no telling. But there you go. Prayer isn't built on logic, so there's no gainsaying anyone about their views on the subject.

eric,
you having been a believer once, know full well that answered prayer defies logic. it is logic that would probably hinder more effective prayer. we pray for the impossible believing that it is a small thing for God to answer such prayers....should we believe that all our prayers are going to be answered according to our wishes - absolutely not ! the prayer modeled by Jesus teaches us to ask God for His will to be done ( you know this ). mr. harper apparently does not believe one can negotiate with God, while this is probably the exception, it is not out the the expectation of a believer.
i see you as another sosthenes or crispus, one who is subject to change...as long as you have breath and who knows when you will draw your last one !?