The study of religion among primal peoples shows that many believed in
"magic," defined as the belief that supernatural forces can be controlled,
influenced and manipulated by executing a ritualistic formula, either
physical or verbal. We still, today, in a more fashionable way, utilize
superstition, prayer wheels, magic, sacrifices and elaborate doxologies to
induce God to favor our requests, grant our wishes and perform miracles upon
demand.
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I am asking -- Can something called "God's Will" really be changed by
requests from the earth? And if so, what kind of a capricious, chaotic
universe would this be? What kind of chaos would it be if the eternal will
of an eternal God with an eternal design could be changed as this design was
subjected to a barrage of requests to make things different?
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Just read the headlines of the tabloids in the grocery store check out line:
PRAYER CURED MY CANCER, or turn on the television channels and watch the
ultimate con men with their "healing" stage shows.
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Finally, to their everlasting credit, the prestigious Mayo Clinic has thrown
the weight of their name and reputation behind the task of educating the
public by exposing the phony claims as to the relationship between religion
and health, claims that are in well read national magazines as well as
tabloid journalism.
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A study at the Mayo Clinic, conducted between July 1997 and October 1999, and
published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, said that: "researches found that
intercessory prayer had no significant effect on a patient's medical outcome
after hospitalization. We found that prayer had no effect on rates of death,
heart attacks, strokes and hospitalizations."
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The research was described as a "single-center, double-blind, controlled
trial. Researchers could find no scientifically significant differences
between those who prayed and received prayer and those who did not."
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Those of you in my age group will remember Eddie Rickenbacker, a big name in
military aviation. He and his crew crashed in the South Pacific. After
finally being rescued, he said that day after day they all uttered desperate
prayers for rescue. A ship finally did appear and rescued them. They gave
all the credit to prayers and to God who heard their prayers.
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Do you know what bothered me terribly when I read their statements? I
thought, with aching heart, of all of the thousands of good men who
desperately croaked out words of urgent appeal to God through parched and
anguished throats and whose answer was to be devoured by shark and barracuda,
or to die from starvation or drowning.
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Were they less good, less virtuous, less sincere than Rickenbacker? There
is always a massive clergy cop-out when asked these questions. The usual
pathetic answer is this: "Well...God heard their prayers and his answer was
no...it will be a learning lesson for someone."
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Or, if you really believe that God heals those at so called "sacred shrines"
such as the waters of Lourdes, then what about those who do not have the
money to make such an expensive trip to these places?
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Would a God of love and mercy be so capricious? Who could believe such
nonsense?
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"If God is God......he is not good......If God is good......he is not
God......Take the Even......take the Odd......(From the Pulitzer Prize play
"J.B." by Archibald MacLeish.)
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