Original Sin?

Quote: boymimbo

I think a good control would be: 4,000 people have terminal cancer and there are 10 people in a prayer group. All receive the same treatments. 1,000 people are not prayed for at all. 1,000 people are prayed for and the patient does not know it. 1,000 people are prayed for and the patient knows it. 1,000 people are not prayed for but the patient is told that they were prayed for.

That's a good start.

I've heard of studies done in this area, but at rather smaller sample scales. Ethically there are problems with the form of treatment. For one thing, cancer treatments involve some patient choices and for some types there are varied alternatives. You can't treat everyone the same way, even if they all start treatment at the same stage.

But it would be worth pursuing.

Quote:

But I know that this could equally be the same result of thinking about something before going to bed. Studies have shown that your brain is able to put things together in a non-linear way while you are sleeping, including the problems of the day.

The bulk of thinking takes place subconsciously. Pretty much everyone experiences sudden insights about daily problems or events, or even rare occurrences, while consciously occupied in something else.

I'll get stuck on a plot point and worry at it from different angles. Often I untangle it. But sometimes it just seems to me I created a Gordian-level knot and there's no way to unravel it. When this happens I take a break and then tackle the events leading to the knot. About half the time, I find a solution while on a break. I'll be cooking, for instance, and suddenly think "Of course! She has NO friends!!" Problem solved.

I don't pray. I know what conclusion I draw from this. No doubt some believer can tell me the insight came from some god anyway, even if I didn't ask for it.

Happy Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception!

Trivia time: This feast is all about the Immaculate Conception of Mary, not the Incarnation of Jesus. It means that from her conception she was preserved from Original Sin to be the perfect vessel through which the sinless Son of God could come into the world. This makes her the second woman conceived without Original Sin. Who was the first?

Quote: FrGamble

This makes her the second woman conceived without Original Sin. Who was the first?

The daughter Jesus had with Mary Magdeline?
I saw that movie at least 4 times.

Incorrect.

Quote: FrGamble

Incorrect.

You don't think he was having sex with Mary?
Some think Jesus was Gay, he sure spent a
lot of time with a lot of young men and he
wasn't married.

It's a ridiculous question. First you invent sin,
then you invent original sin, then you invent
people that were conceived without it. The
truth is, we were all conceived without sin,
because sin is a made up concept. The silly
games people play to make themselves feel
important.

Quote: FrGamble

This makes her the second woman conceived without Original Sin. Who was the first?

Quote: Wizard

My answer

Eve

Maybe that was too easy for you - you are the Wiz!

Quote: FrGamble

Maybe that was too easy for you - you are the Wiz!

Yeah, that was kind of easy. Give me a harder one.

Here is a fun one for you -- What verse proves there was baseball in biblical times?

Quote: FrGamble

Maybe that was too easy for you - you are the Wiz!

Wait a minute, Eve was conceived? Who
was her mother? I thought Yahweh took
a rib from Adam and produced Eve. She
was not conceived inside a mother, or
so the myth says.

Wow, very good point Evenbob. You win this round.

As to the baseball references they are legion, one of my favorites is, "To the one he gave five talents..." (Mt. 25:15) referring to the five tool player in baseball or course.