Rob, I haven't decided if I believe in life after death, yet, and am completely uncertain about almost everything related to the meaning of life, God, who we really are, etc. It's annoying and uncomfortable. And unfortunately, I'm addicted to thinking about these things.

I have experienced deaths of family members, three were at the end of long lives, and one was an early death and completely tragic. My heart broke. Two of those people I still miss and think about an awful lot.

In the case where the death was a real tragedy, I WOULD sacrifice erasing two years of my life in order to have that person back on Earth. Even though I learned about heart break I would give up that learning.

I guess there is a difference between my suffering and witnessing loved ones' suffering. You're right, I don't want to erase my own character development (but I would erase other's experience for them????). That's hypocritical isn't it? Hypocritical and paternalistic. Well, we know GOD or the powers that be do not erase suffering so I guess it or they experience the suffering, too. Imagine if we could rewind and erase our lives at our own whim. Would we ever get anywhere at all?

DA, most people close to death turn to God even more so at that moment. In fact, I think a lot of people forget about their faith UNTIL moments of trial. Not to mention, that when a loved one is suffering sometimes there's nothing else to do except pray. Lots of people pray because they want to help somehow but can't do anything else. I would guess that a great deal of people pray during great suffering and at the moments of their own death.

I understand the point you are trying to make but I don't think it works in the scenerio you describe. When times get tough people draw strength from their belief systems instead of giving them up.
Ok Ok... but here's a better scenerio for your point.
Let's say someone prays and prays to their God to save their loved one or to manipulate their reality somehow and then their God doesn't come through for them. They experience great loss...in those cases I can imagine people letting go of a faith they may have entertained when everything in their life was easy. Yeah, it works in that situation. Is that what you meant? I have to go back and read your post again.
It's not DURING the struggle. It's AFTER the struggle is lost and there's nothing left to do but grieve. We were let down and nothing made sense in the long run. That's when we loose our faith. Because it didn't come through for us and in the end we couldn't depend on it. Yep, you're right.

But, what about when prayer does work. Has that whole experiment been up for peer review. The one about prayer benefitting recovery in the medical setting?

~Justine~