Praying for people who are facing heart surgery does not raise their chances of a cure or of avoiding death, according to an unusual study published in the British medical weekly The Lancet. (See rest of article from the SMH here)Sadly, this proves nothing about prayer and its relation to sick people.
If the test was to succeed then the participants probably needed to undergo a double-blind trial in order to reduce any form of subjective bias. The heart patients, for instance, would have to be unaware that they are being prayed for, and the pray-ers cannot know or contact the patients in any way.
There is, however, one element missing from the study - the power and knowledge of God. Prayer itself is nothing more than communication with God. Prayer is no more able to save someone's life than the telephone is able to save someone's life when you dial 000 or 911 or 999 or 112 for an ambulance. It is not prayer that changes things, it is God who changes things.
So in order for the test to work properly, God would have had to be unaware that a statistical analysis was taking place. Because of God's omniscience and omnipresence, such a notion is ridiculous. Moreover, God does not "perform" like a magician, and He takes a very dim view of people "testing" him. So when the researchers did their analysis, God was obviously not going to play ball. The statistical analysis is, therefore, flawed in its methodology.
From the Theosalient Department
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