Can Prayer Heal?

Can Prayer Heal?:I did something good today

I did something today that I can't explain.....

I was lying on the bed with my girlfriend, half hour before she was about to go to work. She was having terrible stomach pains, and a nasty headache. I felt really sorry for her.

So I prayed (in my mind) to have the pain transferred from her to me, because I had no work to go to and I felt guilty.
5 seconds later, my g/f opens her eyes, gets up and says she feels terrific. She couldn't believe how fast she recovered. And I got a stomach pain, a shooting pain in my neck, an aching leg and a little headache.

Of course, I didn't mind, because I had just cured my g/f by taking on her pain. Has anyone else ever done this? I found it amazing......

So, what do you think? Can Prayer Heal, physically?

I obviously think so, not just from the above experience but from ongoing experience.........if I completely forget about God for a while, I get really bad stomach pains and shooting pains in my back and my heart. But prayer always cures me.

Also, I have read articles in respected papers and websites claiming that it has been scientifically proven that prayer can speed up and/or help the healing process, even if you don't know the person you are praying for. They did a lot of experiments on it.


Well, what do you think?

Nice story and sentiments.

I think prayer can heal, yes.

More effectively than a placebo.

And using the same healing mechanisms.

Prayer? Prayer is talking with God. Can God heal? Of course. Can one request to stand in the gap for another? Certainly. Can it be honored by God? Of course.

I'm sorry I go against.It is the power of thought.

Though as an agnostic I reserve the right.

[Edited on 22-8-2003 by John bull 1]

JB1

For the same reason that you said "No" (that part to do with the power of thought, not your belief structure) I said "Yes".

Interesting.

Healing is healing.

I dont know if prayer heals or not, but hey it couldn't hurt right?

Originally posted by Ocelot
I dont know if prayer heals or not, but hey it couldn't hurt right?

Bingo.

Personally I believe prayer can heal...having seen the benefits of it not only in my own life but the life of others. However, I have also seen people die who were prayed for constantly, who were beautiful souls...yet were their prayers unanswered?? Who knows...some say they went to a better place, some say they were called back home, it was their time etc etc.

But...I do believe in prayer...not only that, if I was terminally ill or a loved one was on the brink of death...even if someone told me that wearing a banana skin on my head and dancing a jig might cure them...think I'd be willing to at least give it a try...



Peace,
ALIEN

I do believe that prayer works....
A few years back, my father inlaw passed away,he was suffering from Alzeimers and Pneumonia which he spent his last 2 years in hospital.......I prayed that he would get better (as i'm sure others did as well ) After visiting my father inlaw in hospital (the day before he passed away) I prayed to the Arc Angel St Raphael (November is the name day of these angels order*) I asked if the pain and suffering would go away (as my husband was very close to his father as a son would be) The next day......being the name day of the Arc angels .......he passed away.......
Now does prayer work?
Maybe in many peoples eyes they would say, it did not.....but the suffering and pain did go because I do beleive that the prayers were heard but not in the way as some would expect them to be heard.......
I'm sure all prayers that are from the heart are heard, but not as we expect them to but as God wishes.....

*November.....Feast of the Archangel Michael and the other heavenly powers was instituted, to be celebrated in November. Why in November?
Because November is the ninth month after March, and it is thought that the world was created in the month of March.
The ninth month after March was chosen because of the nine orders of angels that were the first created beings. St Dionysius the Areopagite, a disciple of the Apostle Paul (that Apostle who was caught up to the third heaven), writes of these nine orders in his book: 'Celestial Hierarchies'.

Possibly it might work along the same lines as such things as spiritual healing and reiki. Some kind of force or energy directed or channelled by the mind to the recipient. I'm certainly very persuaded by the idea of spiritual healing as years ago (when I was an unbelieving sceptic) a lady cajoled me into letting her have a go at easing a stomach problem that I had suffered from since childhood and which conventional medicine had been at a loss to either explain or cure. More to humour her I let her give this healing, there was an intense heat radiating from her hands and deep into my stomach and I've never suffered from it since.

I'm glad to see that most people think "yes". JB1, how would you explain these accounts about prayer? How do you think it "works"......

Ubermunche, I too have been the recipient of "a stomach problem that I had suffered from since childhood and which conventional medicine had been at a loss to either explain or cure.", so I liked hearing about the healing.....if anyone ever approaches me suggesting spiritual healing like that I'll welcome them!

"I'm glad to see that most people think "yes". JB1, how would you explain these accounts about prayer? How do you think it "works"......"

Tish and Piffle!

Prayer is asking a deity to intervene.Positive thought can heal.We know that because placebos work.

If you believe prayer will help it may well do But then if you believe hopping on one foot will help it will do.

Well JB1, I agree with you in that I think most illnesses can be cured with positive thought....it does help a lot. But that does'nt explain what happened yesterday - My girlfriend didn't know I was praying for her, but she was still cured....so she wasn't thinking about it, I was, but she was helped. I think that goes beyond positive thinking, so logically it comes down to God.....in one way or another

I dont buy it..you pray to stop a tummy ache and God grants you your wish, but all the other horrors in the world are still happening?
Prayer = positive thought and self healing

prayer can heal because it is in the mind, most things are in the mind, it's basically just the power of suggestion

I don't believe in a healing prayer you are actually getting a higher spirit to cure whatever pains, but I believe that a person can cure themselves through self-healing or positive thoughts as already said. Power of Suggestion is very powerful as Banjoe said.

chebob, when you say prayer do you mean to a higher being?

Originally posted by MrEisenhower
chebob, when you say prayer do you mean to a higher being?

Yes I am, but only because I'm religious. I can understand why someone who doesn't believe in God would put it down to positive thought, and it is a logical theory, but I'm still inclined to believe it is praying to a higher being that does the trick, thats just me

Prayer can heal, but so can any positive mental attitude.

It's doubtful in my mind that god has anything to do with it.

Originally posted by chebob

Originally posted by MrEisenhower
chebob, when you say prayer do you mean to a higher being?

Yes I am, but only because I'm religious. I can understand why someone who doesn't believe in God would put it down to positive thought, and it is a logical theory, but I'm still inclined to believe it is praying to a higher being that does the trick, thats just me

I agree with you chebob

There have been people who have been healed without even knowing they were being prayed for. Just such a test and it's conclusions was undertaken recently were heart attack survivors were seperated into two groups one being prayed for without there knowledge and the other group receiving no prayers whatsoever. The first group averaged a quicker statistical recovery rate than the second. To say it is God or it is the power of the mind may both equally be missing the point, it could be something in between perhaps a background energy or consciousness that interacts with our minds and subtly alters it's responses to changes within the body, thus propogating healing. Whatever it is I don't think it can be put down only to a placebo effect.

ubermunche, I too read about those tests, and that was what lead me to believe that it is God. This, among other things, seems to lend proof to the notion that it is definately something more than just "positive though", at least to some extent.