The curse of prayer
I don't know you people, but I'd still like to ask you a favor: If you hear somehow that I'm sick, in the hospital or recovering from some tricky surgical procedure, please, for the love of God, whatever you do, don't pray for me, OK? Really, I'll handle it from my end. You've got enough to worry about. Besides which, as it turns out, your well-meaning supplications are likely to make things worse.
I refer here to an article set to appear next week in the American Heart Journal. The article refers to a study in which those heart patients who knew they were being prayed for by strangers actually had more complications than those who weren't prayed for.
The skeptics among us might assume this study proves that what theologians call "intercessory prayer'' is less than useless. But nobody is questioning whether the devout in the study just did a lousy job. On the other hand, if God answers that sort of proof, surely he doesn't take off points for presentation.
The question of answered prayer always raises the specter of reducing God to what some have called "a cosmic bellboy.'' We don't want to do that. God remains ineffable and we're stuck with that.
Two points:
1. There's a line in the movie "Shadowlands'' about C.S. Lewis and the death of his wife. A chaplain comes to him and says, "I'm sorry God didn't answer your prayers,'' and Lewis responds, "I don't pray to change God; I pray to change me.''
2. Theologian and novelist Frederick Buechner has written that every prayer, at its heart , is the same prayer, "God, please be with me.'' Or him. Or her. Or them. Or us.
There are some things science cannot measure and that faith cannot do without.
I refer here to an article set to appear next week in the American Heart Journal. The article refers to a study in which those heart patients who knew they were being prayed for by strangers actually had more complications than those who weren't prayed for.
The skeptics among us might assume this study proves that what theologians call "intercessory prayer'' is less than useless. But nobody is questioning whether the devout in the study just did a lousy job. On the other hand, if God answers that sort of proof, surely he doesn't take off points for presentation.
The question of answered prayer always raises the specter of reducing God to what some have called "a cosmic bellboy.'' We don't want to do that. God remains ineffable and we're stuck with that.
Two points:
1. There's a line in the movie "Shadowlands'' about C.S. Lewis and the death of his wife. A chaplain comes to him and says, "I'm sorry God didn't answer your prayers,'' and Lewis responds, "I don't pray to change God; I pray to change me.''
2. Theologian and novelist Frederick Buechner has written that every prayer, at its heart , is the same prayer, "God, please be with me.'' Or him. Or her. Or them. Or us.
There are some things science cannot measure and that faith cannot do without.
posted by Michael Riley at 1:20 PM
1 Comments:
Best I can determine, people pray for three reasons: supplication, worship, thanks. Prayer as supplication is silly for, as you say, God cannot be reduced to a cosmic bellboy. Therefore, even asking him to "please be with us" or "please make me a better person" is akin to delivering a reminder (as if he could forget something) or subtly nudging him (as if he can be swayed.) Being God, he already knows whether we need him to do this or that -- and he already knows whether he intends to do it. As for prayer as worship, is God so insecure that he needs us to constantly express our admiration? If a human had that trait, we'd call him a sick SOB. Praying to offer thanks to God implies that good things are caused by God. If that's the case, then bad things must also be caused by God. Logically, therefore, if we're going to thank him when things go right, shouldn't we curse him when things go wrong?
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