pancreatic cancer and prayer

nowisee

a friend of mine was recently diagnosed with cancer throughout her pancreas. this is usually a deadly and rapidly lethal cancer. at my bible study group prayer requests were taken and i placed her name in for prayer. the prayer that was prayed was for a miraculous healing. she underwent an operation called, "the whipple" on 5/15. the results just in indicate that they were able to remove ALL the cancer, nothing showed in the lymph nodes, no need for chemo. she is not a believer. all in the study group prayed. what say you about this?

Highlander

As an athiest, I do envy those that have faith and believe in their power of prayer. I also am an athiest that hopes there is a god, hopes there is more to this life.

That being said, I view this as a fortunate outcome to an often deadly cancer. The result of the surgery would have been the same with or without the prayer.

Had the outcome of the surgery not been favorable you wouldn't be posting this experience here as it would not look favorable to your group prayer.

misanthropic

Personally I believe it's all circumstantial. Otherwise what does this prove? That God answers prayers only if they're done in an organized way with several people participating? Think about all the innocent little children out there who have unspeakable things happen to them on a daily basis- no God steps in to stop that and make it 'just go away'.

(edited because my spelling is horrible tonight)

nowisee

highlander - i see a contradiction in your first paragraph; and are you absolutely sure of what you say in your second? the third paragraph is most likely correct. misanthropic -- i understand your question and i have no answer, only questions of my own.

Highlander

No contradiction in the first paragraph. There's a big difference between hope and faith/belief. Due to zero evidence of any god(s) existing, I don't believe in one.

I also hope that santa claus is going to give me a big screen tv this christmas, but like god, I don't believe in him either.

Yep, absolutely sure of the second paragraph. The result would be the same whether you had a group prayer, or stayed home and drunk yourself silly. However if the doctor drank

himself silly,, well, we would have a different outcome.

I'm not in anyway trying to destroy your faith or anyone else,, just don't expect me to believe without evidence. What you presented is not evidence.

Madame Quixote

I am sorry to hear that your friend has been ill and that she needed surgery, but I am very, very happy to hear that she seems to now be in recovery. I hope that she will continue to recover and be in remission. Best wishes and hugs to you both.

I personally would prefer not to use someone else's personal problems as an excuse to promote my own (religious or anti-religious) agenda.

It's understandable that you have questions about the power of prayer. You were likely feeling powerless to help your friend. Sometimes the only thing one can do for a sick loved one, it seems, is think good thoughts or pray for them, whether it works or not.

Prayer can bring comfort, although I've heard that some studies of this show that the sick people who knew they were being prayed for had lower recovery rates than those who did not. Sometimes, I suppose, suggesting that you're praying for someone can reinforce their own feelings of illness and/or hopelessness or helplessness.

In any event, I am glad your friend is in remission for now, and I truly hope it stays that way! What a cheery thing to hear about!

onlycurious

I've sent you a PM.

Odrade

I say the doctor was very very good, and the new procedure was effective, and if the prayers helped your friend's frame of mind, it was worth it, but God did not perform the surgery.

LovesDubs

Having just lost my dear 44 year old sister in law to this disease last month...I say, I hope the surgery extends her life. And...I hope she is diligent and continues to have testing done on a regular basis to assure that if it does come back she nips it quickly.

Personally Im way past believing in prayer because too many innocent people suffer, and children die on a daily basis in catastrophic fashion for there to be any kind of benevolent god up there.

Sad emo

I'm sometimes a bit sceptical about claiming 'healing' as an answer to prayer. It might be that they very fortunately found the cancer in the early stage before it spread - that is possibly the single biggest cause of high mortality with pancreatic cancer - it's just so vague in symptoms that it doesn't get diagnosed in time.

From my Christian POV, I might thank God for giving the medical staff their skills and abilities which may have led to the early diagnosis and the successful surgery but I would say that direct miraculous healing as an answer to prayer is rare.

As madame Quixote wrote - your friend is in remission, not (as far as we can know) healed!! We have an evangelist who visits here at least annually who claims to have been healed of cancer - twice! Sadder still, some folk actually buy that claim

As a matter of interest, had your friend become very ill and not survived, would you still have seen that as an answer to your prayers?

pancreatic cancer and prayer

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