Christians Highlight Personal Relationship above Medical Prayer Study
Results from the largest study to examine the effects of intercessory prayer have caused waves of skeptical reaction among Christians.
Results from the largest study to examine the effects of intercessory prayer have caused waves of skeptical reaction among Christians who refuted the conclusions drawn from the multimillion dollar investigation.
Featured on the American Heart Journal, the Study of the Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer (STEP) found that having people pray for heart bypass surgery patients had no effect on their recovery and that patients who knew they were being prayed for had a slightly higher rate of complications - findings that Christians are refuting.
"I don't think everything can be proved subjectively," widely-recognized author and prayer specialist T.W. Hunt told The Christian Post.
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"My reaction is that [the effects of intercessory prayer] can only be understood personally by the many people who have seen personal healing that was unquestionably from God."
Similarly, Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press, "Prayer is based upon a relationship, namely a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and prayer is itself a part of that relationship. And relationships cannot properly be evaluated by scientific methods."
The controversial $2.4-million study, conducted on 1,802 bypass surgery patients from six hospitals, found that a larger percentage of patients (59 percent) who were told they would receive prayer suffered complications compared to the two groups who received prayer and did not receive prayer.
The randomly assigned the patients, most of who believed in spiritual healing, to one of three Christian groups - two Catholic and one Protestant. The prayer groups only received the patients' first name and last initial and prayed daily for 14 days beginning on the day of the surgery.
Brian Hite, director of Bethsaida House, said, "To draw conclusions from a controlled experiment that lasted only a few weeks, rather than from the testimonies of patients, families and the intercessors is short-sighted," according to Ledger Enquirer.
Although it was the most scientifically rigorous investigation of its kind, the co-authors of the study admitted to the limitations of the research and a need for further study.
"Each study builds on others, and STEP advanced the design beyond what had been previously done," said Jeffery A. Dusek, Harvard Medical School instructor of medicine and Associate Research Director at the Mind/Body Medical Institute, in a released statement. "The findings, however, could well be due to the study limitations."
And, according to Dr. Charles Bethea, a cardiologist at Integris Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City and a co-author of the study, "One conclusion from this is that the role of awareness of prayer should be studied further."
Having studied prayer since 1972, Hunt said he believes in medical healing through prayer, but the healing itself is unpredictable.
"In some cases. God's wisdom sees that [healing] is not appropriate, but He will grant healing on occasion where it will bring Him glory for people to see His omnipotence," he stated.
