The Baha'i Studies Listserv In my view, a religious person can both pray and find a scientific remedy for their mental ailments. But, if I were forced to bet, I would choose science over the "power of prayer." But that's just me.
On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 1:45 AM, Mark A. Foster <ow...@markfoster.net>wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > David Friedman wrote: > >> I brought this issue up some time back. If I'm not mistaken, it was agreed >> that mental illnesses/disorders can be cured through prayer. Everything in >> my experience has been that prayer doesn't work for this. I've got an >> anxiety disorder and I gave up praying for it a long time ago. It's >> difficult to imagine the chemical balance in my brain magically correcting >> itself and me becoming a medical miracle just through prayer. Does anyone >> know of any Baha'is who have managed to cure themselves through prayer? If >> anyone here has managed to do so, please say a prayer for me. If God didn't >> want to answer my prayers then maybe He'll listen to someone else. >> > Hi, David: > > IMO, there are two issues involved here which are often confused. > Certainly, God can, if He wills, cure or remedy any condition. Prayer is one > means of asking for His assistance. However, God's grace is not the same as > positive thinking. No matter how strongly I may believe God will do > something, there is no guarantee that He will act according to my wishes. > > In Christian Science, in all, or most, of the New Thought churches (Unity, > Religious Science, Divine Science, etc.), and in the "word of faith" > movement within pentecostalism, strong belief and God's actions are regarded > as one and the same. That is no accident, since both New Thought and the > word of faith movement were, through Emma Curtis Hopkins and others, > significantly influenced by Christian Science. > > There is developing evidence that anxiety disorders, along with many of the > other conditions categorized in both the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual > of the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization's > International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health > Problems, have significant neurological causation. As an autistic activist > and self-advocate myself, I frequently find myself in the position of having > to explain this data. > > -- > Mark A. Foster, Ph.D. * 25 domains: www.markfoster.net SED: > www.neurelitism.com > "... the modern challenge is how to live with uncertainty. The basic fault > lines today are not between people with different beliefs but between people > who hold these beliefs with an element of uncertainty and people who hold > these beliefs with a pretense of certitude." — Peter L. Berger, sociologist > > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:matthewhaa...@gmail.com > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto: > leave-406796-9533...@list.jccc.edu > > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to > ly...@list.jccc.edu > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-406801-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
