1 Kings 18
Richard F Lead taxprof@ozemail.com.au
Fri, 24 Oct 1997 23:45:58 +1000 (EST) (00877722358, 199710241345.XAA06846@oznet07.ozemail.com.au)
At 03:16 AM 23/10/97 -0500, Walt wrote:
>Richard,
>
>This has already been done at one of the leading medical schools/hospitals
>in the country. It was in Time magazine and now a book is out about it.
>I think the name of it is "Be careful what you pray for." I think. Don't know
>much about it, but I saw the author talking about it on Politically Incorrect
>the other night.
>
>Walt Jr.
>
>
>
RICHARD:
Such a positive result would rid the world of pesky atheists instantly. We
simply could not maintain an intellectual disbelief in the commercially
marketed god(s) in the teeth of such evidence.
So please post the full results of this experiment. But be aware that we
will interrogate any sources you quote. Be very careful before quoting from
the usual creationist literature..
----------
>From: Richard F Lead[SMTP:taxprof@ozemail.com.au]
>Sent: 23 October 1997 15:34
>To: errancy@infidels.org
>Subject: 1 Kings 18
>
>A christian mantra goes along the lines of "prayer changes things." I recall
>seeing these words on a bumper sticker some years ago.
>
>Faith healers claim god cures diseases.
>
>These are testable claims.
>
>Let's approach a large number of doctors and get a list of patients
>suffering from an incurable disease. To be statistically significant the
>sample would need to be high. We will also need a bible-believing christian.
>Now let's segregate the sample into five groups:
>
>Group 1. The bible-believing christian will pray that these people will be
>cured. The patients will be told of this.
>
>Group 2. Ditto, but the patients will not be told they are being prayed for.
>
>Group 3. The patients will be told they are being prayed for, but they will
>not be.
>
>Group 4. The patients will be given a sugar pill but told it contains
>medicine. No prayers, no notification of prayers.
>
>Group 5. No action. This is the control group.
>
>An analysis of the mortality of each group will determine:
>
>1/ The placebo effect on the disease (Group 4)
>
>2/ The efficacy of prayer as a healing modality (Groups 1, 2, and 3).
>
>In the event that Group 1 experiences better mortality rates than the others
>(particularly Group 4) then the experiment should be repeated, but instead
>of a single bible-believing christian doing the praying, increasing numbers
>of them should be invoked to assess the Almighty's response to the WOP
>(weight of prayer) hypothesis. Perhaps we could then vary the denominations
>to determine which of the 20,000 or so christian sects is closer to the ear
>of god.
>
>I have challenged christians with this experiment for many years and have
>always been rebuffed. The standard canard is "God will not be tested." But
>the bible clearly shows that god is indeed prepared to be tested although he
>is a sore winner. Try 1 Kings 18, particularly verses 23 onwards. Verse 40
>is especially poignant, but cheer up christians - there were only 450 men
>put to the sword on this occasion.
>
>Richard
>"The Church doesn't believe in book-burning, but it believes in restricting
>the use of dangerous books among those whose minds are unprepared for them."
>Francis J. Lally, American Roman Catholic Monsignor, Mike Wallace Interview,
>Fund for the Republic (1958)
>
>"We found a great number of books...and since they contained nothing
>but superstitions and falsehoods of the Devil we burned them all."
>Catholic Bishop Diego De Landa, after burning priceless books of Mayan
>history and science, July 1562
>
>
>
>
>
>
>