We've probably all heard of scientific studies showing that prayer lowers blood pressure and results in better outcomes for intensive care patients. But of course some still raise doubts. "They were unconsciously influenced by other factors!" Even though these experiments have been repeated over and over with the strictest scientific practices to ensure complete objectivity. Even those conducting the experiment and the subjects were not told what the study was about, or who were the controls!
But prayer has even been shown to affect the growth of fungus in petri dishes and the germination of plant seeds... positively or negatively, from a distance! Hey, I'm not making this stuff up. You can Google it and find tons of information yourself.
How do you feel about this? I have mixed feelings. Part of me goes, "Ya, right on! I KNEW it!" But another part of me cringes at the fact that we've taken our infinitely holy and sovereign God of inapproachable light and turned Him into just one more banal headline for the tabloids. "I Found Jesus Under My Wallpaper" or "What Would Jesus Buy/Drive/Play/Wear?" Consider this actual survey served up on The Huffington Post:
What would Jesus do?
Rummage through Britney's trash?
Wait outside of Nicole's house for a shot of her baby bump?
Do lines with Lindsay and then tell all the next day? (pre-"rehab", of course)
Appear on "The 700 Club" to plug his latest project?
None of the above.
Please forgive me if this offends any of you. IT OFFENDS ME!! My point is: THAT is almost how these studies on prayer affect me. How dare anyone demean our God in this way? How dare they trivialize Him like this? Reduce the awesome privilege of prayer into a double-blind study?!!
Picture this tabloid headline: King of Ages Just a Baby in a Feed Trough Wrapped in Dirty Rags!
Oh come ON! Have they no sense of dignity whatsoever?
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