What’s So Important About May 3rd, Pray Tell?
by Tony Perkins
May 3, 2007
Here’s today’s Washington Watch Daily commentary from FRC Radio:
In Congress, the new leadership has given Americans plenty of reasons to get down on their knees and pray. From “hate crimes” legislation to bills on domestic partnerships, our country is under attack. But, we should remember that no piece of legislation or ruling by the courts is more capable of changing this nation than prayer itself. The Bible says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” The National Day of Prayer is set aside for our country to humble ourselves before the Lord—to ask for His mercy on us, our families, and our nation. Every morning, newspaper headlines remind me of how much we as a nation, and as individuals need Jesus. So today, join millions of people all across America in asking God to heal our land. As I meet with our nation’s leaders here in Washington—many of whom are Christians—their request is often the same: pray for us. Ask Him to bless our president and our leaders in Congress with wisdom. But most importantly, ask the Lord to draw the hearts of the people of America into a personal relationship with Him. God is all-powerful and all-loving, and He’s made a way for us to come boldly before the throne of grace—not just today, but every day.
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By: Suricou Raven | May 4, 2007 at 4:01 pm
What a strange post. I have yet to see a single definate example of prayer – either individual or collective – achieving anything at all. I even know of a study investigating the effect of prayer on some hospital inpatients – it determined the prayer had no detectable effect at all.
If given an unambiguous test, prayer invariably fails. The best-known example is to pray for a fair coin to land heads thirty times consecutively. The chance of this happening is about one in a billion. If God wanted to though, He could easily arrange the run. Yet the prayer has no effect – even when the salvation of an individual is at stake, which is a fairly strong motivation for God to intervene.
America has a very large population of christians, many of whome pray for the country on a regular basis. Yet the country still suffered the 911 attacks. Un-christian ideas continue to make headway in politics. Democrats still regained a majority in both houses, albeit very slim. The US forces in Iraq continue to take losses and struggle. Abortion remains legal. So what, exactly, has all the praying in the past done? As it appears to have failed at achieving the objectives of those doing the praying, is there any reason to suppose that more prayer in future should have any greater effect?
In some ways, prayer is like any other superstition. People continue to avoid walking under ladders, to touch wood, to hang horseshoes… even though these, like prayer, have no impact.