Prayer, Pregnancy and Longevity

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.  This week’s item is from Psychology Today, Vol. 35, #1, page 20, with a headline: Prayer, Pregnancy, and Longevity.”Two separate studies reveal a surprising correlation between prayer and conception on the one hand, and longevity on the other.A team from Columbia University was amazed to discover that prayer appeared to double the chances of pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilization treatments.Women who were prayed for had a 50% pregnancy rate compared with a 26% success rate among those for whom no one prayed.The study rules out the power of persuasion.Neither the women nor the doctors knew that people were praying on their behalf.Prayer might not only hasten life, but stave off death, according to research from the University of California at Berkley.A team there found that Christians and Jews who attended regular services lived longer and were less likely to die from circulatory, digestive, and respiratory diseases.Devotees of Eastern religions were not surveyed.

Tom:

Dave, I find articles like this—this is again, from Psychology Today—I find articles like this fascinating on the one hand and on the other hand, I think uh-oh.Here we have another idea that “seems spiritual” and people flock to it, are drawn to it, even some Christians say see there, there you go!We’re supported by science!But this is problematic at best and delusionary—well, it’s probably something worse than that, I just can’t think of it.

Dave:

Well you had some favorable treatments of this sort of thing in Christianity Today.Wheaton College has co-sponsored at least one symposium with a number of scientists who believe this and this was the subject of it.In fact, it was co-sponsored with the Templeton Institute.

Tom:

John Marks Templeton.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

An occultist, New Ager, unbelievable.

Dave:

Now, people get excited about this and in fact, Christianity Today had a major article on it and they quoted some Christian medical doctors who were quite pleased with this sort of thing.Wait a minute!To what god are they praying?What is involved here?There have been other studies where Eastern religions and I mean all kinds of—Buddhism and so forth influenced people.Now I can give partial explanation.Solomon says, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”So that could help explain why Christians and Jews who attended regular services lived longer.They are more relaxed, maybe they are happier, they’ve got friends there and so forth and there is some correlation between our mental attitude and our health, no doubt about it.But it’s no cure-all.So that’s a partial explanation there.Now the part that it says neither the women nor their doctors knew that people were praying on their behalf—now we’ve got something to investigate further.Again we come back to which god were they praying to?It doesn’t tell us that.There are conditions for prayer being answered in the Bible.

Tom:

Well we have along this line, praying to become pregnant.I’m thinking about Hannah with regard to Samuel.Praying for Samuel; Elizabeth—

Dave:

But these were special cases—

Tom:

I know.

Dave:

That God intervened in.Now—

Tom:

And it’s important that people understand that.That when you look at the context—who the prayer went out to, what was the basis for the prayer and so on, you can’t just say, oh well yes, I know some examples in the Bible so this must work.And now science is reinforcing it.

Dave:

Yes Tom, unfortunately it’s an encouragement to make prayer sort of a mantra and God our servant.

Tom:

A formula.

Dave:

If we just follow certain techniques—what about my life?John writes in his first epistle, we know that God hears our prayers because we keep his commandments and do those things that are well pleasing in his sight.There is nothing about any of that here.So now we’ve got, as you said, sort of a mechanical thing.Just get some people praying for you.I think we need some further study on this.I would hesitate to say that Satan, this one that we’ve been talking about is maybe involved in this.You remember that—

Tom:

Well just let me throw this out.He’s involved with anything that would draw people away from truth.

Dave:
Right, that’s—

Tom:

So we’re not saying that you’re going to end up with Rosemary’s baby here.We are saying that if there’s something that draws you off, turns you away from the truth of God’s Word, from His will, what He wants, you can believe that the adversary is involved to some degree.

Dave:

Yes, first of all, Satan does have certain powers if God allows him.He can put boils on Job, he could take them off.He could bring about a pregnancy.He could have prevented it and brought it about, and so forth.He’s not all powerful and God would have to allow him to do it.I am thinking of Professor J. B. Ryan at Duke University who got involved in studying psychokinesis.And they—

Tom:

Which is mind over matter.

Dave:

Right.They had a thing set up where a number of dice would roll down an incline plane and they had someone sitting there thinking of a number.And what do you know; they found out that somehow his mind was influencing the dice.But wait a minute, he wasn’t looking at them.He couldn’t direct them.Just his mind was doing this?They began to wonder what mind?Something is going on, but it caused them to believe in psychokinesis.The idea that there are psychic powers that the human mind can exert.And this is a step toward, “Ye shall be as gods.”I think Satan was involved in that and he could have very well have been involved in this.

Tom:

Yes, Dave, what we want perhaps warn our listeners about is that when you pick up an article or you turn to an article that looks like it reinforces your beliefs, if you are a biblical Christian, take a closer look, okay?

Dave:

Amen.