One reason it's hard to believe in prayer...

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24 Feb 2011, 1:16 am

Among many, actually, but to me this one of the doozies.

This guy suffers this head injury, and ended up listed as in a coma for 23 years. He lay there on the bed, in the hospital, and time passed.

Guess what? He was actually awake. The entire time, as the years crawled by, he was awake. They somehow found out and he now communicates with one of his hands.

I'd rather be drowned. I'd rather be torn to pieces by african predators. I'd rather be burned alive. Anything than the hell that guy endured. I'm sure the entire time he was crying out to god to either help make himself aware or to take his life. Apparently god's answer was no. If god didn't answer that poor soul, what chance does anybody else have? This and many other tales of horror undermine my faith in prayer.

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24 Feb 2011, 1:18 am

What has he said about those years?

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24 Feb 2011, 1:24 am

Locked-In Syndrome must be one of the most terrifying and helpless situations one could ever suffer. 23 years...

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simon_says
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24 Feb 2011, 1:24 am

Prayer might have a better record if it could heal visible injuries. Replace a leg or hand, that sort of thing. For some reason it doesnt work on missing body parts.

aghogday
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24 Feb 2011, 1:35 am

CaptainTrips222 wrote:

He didn't have an opportunity to die; he was held prisoner by the hospital. Often God (the natural order of things) is kinder than man. No one would put their cat or dog through that. I can't imagine a more horrible lasting result of existence than that; I don't think it would be possible without technology.

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24 Feb 2011, 1:43 am

simon_says wrote:

Prayer might have a better record if it could heal visible injuries. Replace a leg or hand, that sort of thing. For some reason it doesnt work on missing body parts.

How about cancer mysteriously going into remission?

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24 Feb 2011, 1:47 am

A guy is sick so his friends pray for him.

If he gets better then they say "God has answered our prayers"

If he dies then they say "That was God's will"

Well if God is going to do "his will" no matter what you ask then why bother asking in the first place?

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24 Feb 2011, 1:49 am

Quote:

He didn't have an opportunity to die; he was held prisoner by the hospital.
No one would put their cat or dog through that

His mind is still alive. This reinforces my conviction that more stringent observation of comatose people to ensure they aren't 'locked in' is necessary. There are now methods that are being developed that can allow these Locked-In people to communicate via brain to computer interface. There is hope that someday Locked-In Syndrome can be corrected, or at least their quality of life could be brought up to a sufferer of Lou Gehrig's disease such as Stephen Hawking. If he were in a coma and had no mind anymore, I would be more inclined to agree.

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How about cancer mysteriously going into remission?

Sometimes the universe throws you a sucker punch, sometimes you get lucky and your immune system recognizes the malignancy

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24 Feb 2011, 1:50 am

Inuyasha wrote:

simon_says wrote:

Prayer might have a better record if it could heal visible injuries. Replace a leg or hand, that sort of thing. For some reason it doesnt work on missing body parts.

How about cancer mysteriously going into remission?

Cancer sometimes does that for everyone, all over the world. My point is that it's always subtle things that people claim, never obviously magical things like restoring a limb.

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24 Feb 2011, 3:22 am

Inuyasha wrote:

simon_says wrote:

Prayer might have a better record if it could heal visible injuries. Replace a leg or hand, that sort of thing. For some reason it doesnt work on missing body parts.

How about cancer mysteriously going into remission?

Clearly it's the result of divine intervention by the judeo-christian god right?

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24 Feb 2011, 4:31 am

CaptainTrips222 wrote:

... I'm sure the entire time he was crying out to god to either help make himself aware or to take his life. Apparently god's answer was no. If god didn't answer that poor soul, what chance does anybody else have? This and many other tales of horror undermine my faith in prayer.

Job (jobe) was once a man who suffered horribly at no fault of his own, and in the end he was greatly rewarded for keeping his faith anyway. Some things just do not make sense, and even my own life makes no sense to me ... yet I pray ... and even though I may never get to see my latest grandson born just yesterday ...

... I yet listen.

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24 Feb 2011, 6:48 am

CaptainTrips222 wrote:

Umm, it seems you're assuming that he was praying? How do you know he did? I wouldn't say this was a very scientific refutation of the power of prayer.

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ryan93
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24 Feb 2011, 7:17 am

Inuyasha wrote:

simon_says wrote:

Prayer might have a better record if it could heal visible injuries. Replace a leg or hand, that sort of thing. For some reason it doesnt work on missing body parts.

How about cancer mysteriously going into remission?

Studies have actually been done which show that prayer makes no discernable difference to patient recovery. Cancer goes into remission for no reason occasionally.

The reason I don't believe in prayer is that it doesn't work.

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leejosepho
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24 Feb 2011, 7:30 am

ryan93 wrote:

The reason I don't believe in prayer is that it doesn't work.

Prayer is outgoing and meditation in incoming, and neither works on its own.

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24 Feb 2011, 7:44 am

leejosepho wrote:

ryan93 wrote:

The reason I don't believe in prayer is that it doesn't work.

Prayer is outgoing and meditation in incoming, and neither works on its own.

Not sure what you mean. I reckon mediation probably works, I imagine the fact that my pulse has gradually increased to 88bpm resting through anxiety might knock a few years off my life.

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24 Feb 2011, 7:55 am

......whatever

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