I'm a skeptic at heart when it comes to faith and the supernatural, but as I've continued my studies of religions and beliefs I've come to the conclusion that belief and acceptance of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the truth. Scientology is a philosophy based on paid counseling. And, you cannot advance in this philosophy without money. Jesus spoke of the widow and her mite (half a penny) that she gave in offering and said her act of love would be spoken of for many generations to come, and so He was correct. It doesn't take money to accept Jesus and His truth. Of course, Christians tithe and give out of love and wanting others to experience the joy and benefits they've received by faith in Christ. I've even experienced actual physical miracles in my life and within my family because of prayer. My wife had a tumor at the base of her brain that the doctors couldn't help her with. A true Christian minister prayed for her in the name of Jesus and that night the tumor instantly disappeared and has never returned. So, I'm no longer a "doubting Thomas". I've seen what God can do for people who believe in Him. God helps people through doctors also, but when they've done all they can do there's still hope in God's divine intervention. There's been no greater impact by a single person in this world than by Jesus Christ. He changed history forever. True scientologist do not believe that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Despite what some have said, you cannot be a Scientologist and a true Christian. Real Christians (Catholic and Protestant) believe that Jesus is the Divine Son of God and believe in the virgin birth as the only way that Divine blood could flow thru His veins. Jesus never had his earthly father's blood. I feel sorry for scientologists, for they don't realize the reality of absolute miracles for mind, soul and body that can be received by having this kind of faith in Jesus and the whole Trinity. Self help and counseling can only go so far in helping in this life. Thank God there's someone bigger than us all that can go beyond nature to help us. All He needs is us to believe and trust Him and His Word.

who don't have that kind of personal experience to go on, we'll just have to make do with the clinical trials showing no effect of prayer. Your experience, though truly amazing, appears to be statistically exceptional. Consider how many such prayers are unanswered. Since you are a skeptic at heart, you should realize that one anecdote posted anonymously on a web forum isn't very persuasive to skeptics.

Oh boy.

I totally understand what you're saying. I've had too many great experiences that have happened to me and my family that I cannot doubt that there is a real God and that He cares for us. Obviously, those clinical trials never involved us or they would have had some different things to report. My name is Duane Sullivan.

AMEN, BROTHER IN CHRIST. He is alive! He is still in the market for miracles!

Blessings,

Stacy Ryan

Thank you for your beautiful testimony!

In His Name,

Stacy Ryan

Thank you for your comment. I'm humbly grateful for God's grace!

Truthseeker,

Amen! You have a strong testimony. Always remember a few things ...

1) "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." II Cor. 4:4 - the devil (small "g") has blinded people so until a person comes to Christ ... by faith ... they will continue to be blinded and deceived which is exactly what Satan wants )also John 1:5)

2) "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:19 - According to 1 John 1:5 "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all ..." People who will not listen to what you say love their sin more than they love God

3) "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" Romans 1:20 - the way it is supposed to work is for mankind to look at Creation and say "Wow! We must have an awesome God to have created all of this! We must have a powerful God" And then turn to Him. His Creation is clearly seen by everyone - yet, those who clearly see Creation yet turn from Him instead of turning to Him are without excuse.

Why am I telling you these things which you probably already know? To encourage you ... keeping sharing your testimony - keeping telling people about Jesus - keep giving people hope in Christ. Tell people that they are sinners ... just like you and their sin has offended a holy God (Romans 3:23) - tell people that the consequence for their sin is eternal death ... separation from God in hell (Romans 6:23, Rev. 20:11-15). Then tell people how much God loves them and wants them to be saved (II Peter 3:9, John 3:16) and all they have to do is receive God's free gift of salvation by trusting in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (Eph. 2:8-9, Eph. 1:7, Romans 10:9-10) People may laugh ... ridicule ... speculate ...all they want but based on your testimony you have peace with God because you have trusted Jesus as your Saviour.

Lord Bless You!

I have also been a believer in God and the trinity for most of my entire life. I have also seen miracles happen in my life and others around me. And from my educational experiences I also know that statistics can be skewed in many different ways to produce many different outcomes. Nevertheless, the issue of "is there a God" and "whose religion is correct" will never be solved in this lifetime and certainly not through scientific reasoning. Using science to try and prove or disprove religion is like comparing apples to oranges. They can't be compared because we are not even talking on the same subject matter. And we certainly can't use history to prove or disprove religions because if there are 100 different historians, there will be 100 variations of what they believe is the truth. All anyone can do is search their own heart and mind and soul to find what they truly believe. The most important piece of research you can use is your own life experiences to help guide you to your beliefs. And to all those other Christians out there, I say stop trying to use science or history to PROVE to others what you believe. It isn't going to work. If you truly believe in the Christian faith then you know that the only thing we can do is speak the words of God, point to our experiences and God will speak to their heart. If you can PROVE your faith, is it truly faith? I say no. And to all the skeptical logical thinkers out there, I say this. In a court of law the person on trial does not have to prove their innocence, but rather the accuser must prove their guilt. So with that said, to all of you accusers I say quit trying to tell Christians that what they believe is not true. When you can PROVE their is no God then maybe others will begin to listen.

That was an interesting article; however, how can one really study prayer? From my perspective, this particular study didn't have the basics. IT IS GOD'S WILL, NOT OURS! How do you study that???

Warmest Regards,


Stacy Ryan

Love those scriptures! Thank you for your encouragement!

Well written. Thank you for your insight...

Stacy Ryan

Thank you for your scripture and words. They are encouraging!

Bless you,

Stacy

The Jews look for signs. The Greeks seek wisdom. We preach the gospel of Christ crucified.

From the beginning Christianity embraced a radical arationalism. That is, you weren't supposed to look to evidence like the Jews or to pure reason like the Greeks. It was to be founded totally in personal faith. That is why the hubris of Christians is so puzzling to me. Part of the founding idea of their religion is to believe without reasons, yet they can't figure out why skeptics don't see any reason to believe what they do!

It may have been Gods Will to hide the effects of prayer from any attempt to get any evidence whatsoever. That God and his ways. So mysterious.