Why we pray?

[clmowry]

The following is a recent e-mail from one of our parishoners, I’ve taken out some of the names and locations to “protect the innocent”.

On Wednesday evening I sent a message asking for your prayers for Claudia (…), who was to have surgery on Thursday morning in New Orleans. Here is an update.

As it turns out, Claudia was in the hospital because of an upper
intestinal blockage that caused her great pain and kept her from
being able to eat or to keep anything down. The blockage was not responding to treatment and surgery was the only option. The problem was that cardiac and other problems made her a high surgical risk.

(…) was at (…) tonight and talked to Claudia’s sister
(…), who is in Late Night Catechism about how Claudia is doing.
(…) said that Claudia told her that sometime in the middle of the
night, early Thursday morning, “God touched me” and she suddenly felt fine. The doctors X-rayed her and found no sign of the intestinal blockage and did not have to perform the surgery.

Yes, they were using the “M” word, and you are all part of the
miracle.

Thank you very much for your prayers, and your ability to “ask in
faith, not doubting,” as James says.

When you hear/see something like this, do you think “miracle” or “bad doctor”?

I’m guessing the answer depends mostly upon your particular belief system.

Does your answer change depending upon the beliefs of the people involved? i.e. Would you think differently if they were Catholic, non-Catholic or non-Christian?

Chuck

 

[jpjd]

Where does “bad doctor” come in to play? I thought it was Claudia herself who experienced the pain and couldn’t eat. If you doubt the miracle, then you have to doubt Claudia’s claim of pain – she must be a fraud.

Why do you doubt that a miracle could occur? BTW, miracles can occur to anyone, regardless of faith. We are all creatures of God and He works in all our lives, gathering us to himself.

 

[clmowry]

Oh, no, I think it is simply one of the many miracles God works every day in response to our prayers.

The “bad doctor” comments was simply in anticipation of the folks that explain such things away with: Well there was nothing really there in the first place, the Dr. must have been mistaken. She never really needed surgery in the first place. etc. etc.

Chuck

Where does “bad doctor” come in to play? I thought it was Claudia herself who experienced the pain and couldn’t eat. If you doubt the miracle, then you have to doubt Claudia’s claim of pain – she must be a fraud.

Why do you doubt that a miracle could occur? BTW, miracles can occur to anyone, regardless of faith. We are all creatures of God and He works in all our lives, gathering us to himself.

 

[fellowChristian]

reminds me of the movie Signs.

“So you have to ask yourself are you the type of person who believes in signs?” something like that.

 

[NonDenom]

The following is a recent e-mail from one of our parishoners, I’ve taken out some of the names and locations to “protect the innocent”.
I would say “GOOD GOD”
Prayer really does work

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

The following is a recent e-mail from one of our parishoners, I’ve taken out some of the names and locations to “protect the innocent”.

When you hear/see something like this, do you think “miracle” or “bad doctor”?

I’m guessing the answer depends mostly upon your particular belief system.

Does your answer change depending upon the beliefs of the people involved? i.e. Would you think differently if they were Catholic, non-Catholic or non-Christian?

You pray for sausages. Ther’s a flash and bang, and a string of sausages materialises on your table. Very clearly a miracle.

You pray for sausages, and five minutes later a man from Walls comes rounnd saying he’s doing some market research. Would you agree to sample his sausages. No violation of any physical laws, but that is so unlikely God must have intervened somehow.

You pray for sausages, and an hour later you remember that you have old tin of hotdog sausages in the back of the pantry that you’d forgotten about. This is troublesome - it is easy to convince yourself that God is showing you some special favours when actually nothing at all unusual is going on.

You pray for sausages, and nothing happens. However you have money in your pocket, petrol in your car, and the supermarket is only ten minutes away. You could get sausages if you want, but in fact you don’t bother.

In all cases God has answered the prayer, and you have no cause for complaint.