Prayer: Helpful or harmful to those with diabetes?

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Comment by vicky clanton on July 29, 2009 at 7:30am

I'v had Type ! Diabetes for 45 yrs. I'm 46 yrs old. I'v been on the pump for the last 13 yrs, for the second time. My A1C_ is 9.8 it's always been high my blood sugars are very difficult to control. 13 yrs ago I had alot of problems with my eyes and kidneys. I thought to myself "This is it, when everything goes terribly wrong" They put me back on the pump, put me on med's for my kidneys and lasered my eyes. My kidney doctor told me I must have an angel watching over me. Today, same blood sugars, pretty much same A1C kidney disease gone. No signs of it. This disease scares me to death I know, You know, and I know what it can do. I don't understand how my body can take so much. I do thank god every day. I feel like a ticking time bomb waiting to off. I try to get my blood sugars under control but they can go from 468 and in a hour 62 then back up again. It's not like this all the time, this is a worse case. Sooo "God or No God"? I think there is because, who has been watching out for me. Vicky

Comment by Riette on June 15, 2009 at 12:36am

dito...

Comment by Bobby on June 14, 2009 at 10:31pm

This whole argument isn't really about whether or not God can or will heal a type ! Diabetic or anyone else for that matter. This argument really boils down to whether or not God even exists.
I would rather live my life as a Christian and get to the end and find out there is no God, than live my life as a non-Christian and get to the end and find out there really is a God.

Comment by Riette on March 9, 2009 at 2:11am

I am a Christian. One do not always have to pray for cure, but for the strength to cope and deal with the disease and I know this disease was placed in my way so that I can help others. I also believe that there are sects that make a mockery of God's healing powers.
Sometimes people just pray without really believing or doing anything from their side. It's like praying for the apple to fall in your lap but you are sitting 9 metres away from the apple tree. If you do not do your side why expect God to help. If you do not believe that He would help why would He. I believe that through the Holy Ghost he will work with you so that you will believe in the end.... The other thing I do believe is that there is a life after this - our bodies grow old and sick but our souls do not - I'm 46 but I still feel the same as when I was 20 - this must be a sign that my soul will go on to a next life when my body dies.
And I do feel that everyone has a right to their own opinion.

Comment by Anthony Holko on December 30, 2008 at 5:19pm

Dear Readers. Napoleon said that if God did not exist we would have to invent him. Did he intend this as a pragmatic statement or was he the greatest cynic in history? Look, if you believe that an omnipresent, omnipotent, omnisciant being is out there to take care of you personally them I would think this wuld be good for morale and therefore good for a diabetic.

Comment by Jason on December 30, 2008 at 4:56pm

I suppose my main issue with your approach Sara is that, like amputees, Type 1 diabetics are never in the "plan" to get healed. So, I'm not sure that God, if such a thing exists, would ever choose to heal diabetes or is even capable of such a thing. If it happened just one time, I may be persuaded otherwise. I imagine many amputees have the same questions- why can they never be given new limbs?

To say it is all part of a plan I can never understand does not bring me comfort, or anything really but misery and frustration. I can accept a decision I disagree with if I understand the fundamentals behind it, even if that decision has negative impacts for me. A god would not need to change its mind to satisfy me. But a god would need to explain to me why my particular disease is a special case.

Prayer to any deity can be said to have three outcomes: Yes, no, and wait. Coincidentally(?), these are the only things that can happen regardless of whether or not there is a god listening to and answering prayers. Either you get exactly what you asked for, something happens that precludes you getting what you asked for, or nothing happens and time goes on until one of the two former outcomes is clear.

I could say then, that my coffee mug on my desk answers prayers, but that the answer will always be "yes", "no", or "wait". I could pray to it as you pray to the Christian God and claim that prayer to my coffee mug is equally effective.

The one thing I have seen mentioned in these replies that I did not think of when I wrote this is the placebo effect. I know it is real and so if someone believes that something they are doing is going to affect them in some way, that sometimes the effect(s) do manifest in statistically significant ways. But this happens without any need for supernatural explanations.

Comment by Sara on December 30, 2008 at 4:39pm

I am a Christian. Therefore I believe God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc. To pray with the purpose of thinking I can change his mind and make him do things that are not in his plan seems pretty ridiculous and short-sighted.
I pray mostly to change me. To ask God to work through me to fulfill his purposes for my life and to bring glory to him.
Do I know why I have diabetes? No, not yet. But everytime I meet someone who is newly diagnosed (and unbelieveable it has happened multiple times!) and I am able to help them, I feel like I have a little bit of a purpose with my diabetes.
Sometimes praying gives me comfort, relieves my stress, etc. That can have an obvious positive effect on my diabetes.
Can God choose to heal diabetes through prayer? Of course. Am I waiting for that and not testing my blood sugar or taking my insulin. Of course not!

Comment by Denise on December 30, 2008 at 11:14am

Religion/Spirituality/Prayer are allvery personal things, and people have different asks of them, and get different things out of them.

What I know for sure..is thta I have diabetes. Waht I don't know is why (did God give it to me as the trail-did the devil..it is just one of those human things to edure). At this point, to me, it doesn't really matter; I have it and I must deal wiht it.

That being said, music helps my diabetes, as does prayer, days off, and proper meds (my case insulin-T1) however, stupid bosses, crazy drivers and um..cinnabuns (yep--I indulge occasionally--its a sanity factor) do not help my diabetes.

So whats a girl to do..hopefully more of the things that help my diabetes than do not. I beleive in balance (everything in moderation kinda thing), and live and let live. My life is mine to live, other peoples are theirs to live. I will help when I can and when I can't,well that is the way it is (I have learned over the years to say no-hard thing for me to learn)

Like others have said--I see no way of prayer being harmful, unless it is the only thing one is doing for their diabetes.

Comment by kerry on December 30, 2008 at 10:59am

For many people of many faiths, prayer and meditation is a way of coping and feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, that we have some sort of eternal purpose, and that we can rise above our own problems in order to help others. I do pray for the strength and discipline to do some of the activities required to help treat my Type 1 diabetes. It's not an easy life we have...

However, there are certain religious groups that promote immediate healing and make it very showy and seem to require big audiences for it, and place a large emphasis on asking for donations.

Most people of faith do not follow that approach. There is a huge population who worship at meetings/church weekly, who give generously to their church, who serve as volunteers to help others in their church and community, and whose everyday kindness and good citizenship stems from their faith which strengthens their ability to do what they know is right in life. These people are not on TV asking for donations, and they are very rarely represented in newspapers or magazines. I just visited a church last Sunday which opens its doors to the high school students from across the street several afternoons a week, giving them a safe, supervised place to study, play video games, and have a snack. No, this was not a headline article in a newspaper. Yes, it did cost a great deal of money to construct the church building for the high schoolers. But the people of the church gave generously to be an influence for good in their community, to hopefully prevent some of the latch-key kids from getting into harmful activities and messing up their lives.

I personally know of two men who are middle aged now who were drug dealers in their youth. Religious conversions opened their eyes to the wrong that they were doing and enabled them to kick their horrible habits and become good citizens.

Yes, good can come from prayer. No, I don't know of a Type 1 who has been healed from their disease. (I've never sat in a church service listening to anyone who claimed that was true, either.)

But let's not judge all people of faith by the ones featured on TV and in the news and, yes, on street corners--usually those are extreme examples that don't represent the majority.

Comment by George Simmons on December 30, 2008 at 10:40am

Asking if prayer works or not is not the same as asking if it is harmful or helpful. This can go on and on so I will just say this.

The bunny suit could help you if you believe it does but you could get dehydrated if you wear it during summer so that would be harmful. Praying can be helpful if you believe in God and that prayer helps, but praying in the middle of the highway would be harmful.

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