Maybe pray to each different god and see which prayers were answered? I dunno how would you go about it?
2007-12-30 12:35:00 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There was a study on intercessory prayer (but, only included prayers to the Christian God). The prayers had no effect.
Those who were told they were receiving prayers had slightly more complications.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0403/p13s02-lire.html
2007-12-30 12:43:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
i have no doubt that someone will get on here and say something redundant like "Prayer always works", but i have been pondering the same thing here lately - does prayer really work, or is every answered prayer nothing more than an occurrence of something that was going to happen anyways. for instance, people used to pray for their child to heal when the kid would get a fever, but now we know that fevers are caused by viruses which go away on their own. or praying for or against rain. this also isn't necessary since the field of meteorology has found that weather acts in certain specific ways, which can be predicted as much as a week in advance.
2016-05-28 03:47:21 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is possible, and I believe I might try it. The problem is, where is the control? Life is all chance and choice... so if all the chance happens during one experiment of prayer, then you're concluding on that prayer with not enough evidence. There would probably need to be an infinite amount of evidence, or it would need to be a life-long experiment.
As for the first answerer, he/she contradicts him/herself.
2007-12-30 12:50:25 · answer #3 · answered by Amo 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's been done. People have prayed for certain sick people to see if they have better recoveries. They didn't. But you can do your own experiments if you like. Good luck.
2007-12-30 12:43:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The problem with a controlled experiment is that God is only able to judge the heart and truly know the faithfulness of the person who is praying. Therefore, it would be impossible (without inspiration from God) to create a true group of "believers" of the true God. Then there comes the difficulty of knowing how God chooses to answer the prayer, which might be in a way that would require the faith of the person experiencing the answer to believe (except for the confirming witness of his Holy Spirit, which cannot be measured currently by scientific means).
Mosiah 27:14 (abridged) And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant...for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.
Now that I think about it, though, there was an instance in the Bible where the Lord allowed for a controlled experiment on prayer between himself and the idol Baal:
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
24 And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.
28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name:
32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word.
37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.
2007-12-30 12:51:36 · answer #5 · answered by rbwmail 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
some prayers aren't answered for a long time and i know atheists lose interest in something after 14 seconds, so no you couldn't
2007-12-30 12:41:17 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Salam
How could it be an experiment when its already proved through theory and hypothesis?
2007-12-30 12:38:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
it's already been tried by the templeton foundation. didn't work.
2007-12-30 12:39:34 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
actually, there have been several:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/31/health/31pray.html
2007-12-30 12:41:18 · answer #9 · answered by Brendan G 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. God Is not to be put to the test.
2007-12-30 12:40:29 · answer #10 · answered by clusium1971 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋