Soc 490: Can we cure diseases with prayer?

Faith can be a very strong thing in everyday. It can have a big impact on your mind and body psychologically which can effect your health as well. But is it the prayers or the medications and your positive thinking that helps the sickness?

There are many people who believe that prayer is the only thing to keep you strong through tough times. In one of my favorite stories theres a line that says "medicine can only do so much and then comes God". The power of believing in something bigger than yourself can have tremendous change on your outlook on almost anything.

In class we talked about how even knowing someone is praying for you can make you feel stronger and have more hope. This works just the same when you are sick. You can take all the medicine they tell you to but if you don't have a positive attitude you'll never be able to fight off the sickness. Having a strong relationship with God is something I have seen throught the trip. So many times the people get lost within prayer and but all their trust in God which can be a scary thing, but an even more powerful thing than fear, is hope.

While there may be some things that must be cured by medicine such radiation and chemo for cancer there are things cured with the power of faith. While science seems to have an answer for almost everything, if our lives were based solely on science who would there still be all this fuss about religion. The miracles of the crippled and diseased being cured by Jesus along with other miraculous things not explain by science is something you must take into consideration when you think about these things. If science can't answer the questions there has to be another explanation

Sickness isn't something easily delt with. Whether you yourself is sick or someone you really love is, it is a hard thing to see. Sometimes you don't know what else to do other than pray because deep down you know theres something bigger out there. I do not think we will ever truly know if prayer will "cure" a disease, but I do know it gives us the faith to keep fighting for our life.