I know I reference a lot of articles in my posts, but things I read trigger multiple thoughts that I feel compelled to share. Like this one.
Article title: “Family shares cautionary tale of addiction’s downward spiral.”
Sounds neutral enough, right? I mean, we all know the harmfulness of addiction. But wait … here’s the leading sentence:
Whitney Ferguson begged God to take away her addiction.
Next line?
Before the 25-year-old Knappa native died December 11 while undergoing detox in West Hollywood for heroin and methamphetamine use, she prayed for the strength to overcome the drug dependency that had derailed her life.
Her mother commented:
She was always trying, it seemed like, to stop. As a parent, you keep believing, you keep praying …
Yes.
You keep praying.
And praying.
And praying.
There’s no denying the story behind the article is tragic in that it describes all the terrible stuff drug addiction does to a person and how this girl went through “hell” trying to kick the habit. (I have little doubt some of you reading this know first-hand what drug addiction can do to a person AND a family.)
But what is truly tragic is believing prayer will change circumstances. It does not. It won’t. At the most, all prayer does is offer comfort to the person doing the praying.
In fact, when someone says prayer works, they are actually saying “My deity alters reality when I ask for it.” (Credit SiriusBizinus).
I know many Christians reading this will offer numerous examples why they believe prayers are answered. But the question always follows: What about all those OTHER times when nothing changed, even after the fervent prayer of the righteous (James 5:16, NRSV)?
Sad but true … begging god did not help Whitney.
Nan's Notebook 
Praying and begging for a timeless, spaceless, limitless, invisible guy to “fix” things that are wrong or troublesome in your life is, IMO, a waste of time and energy. If prayer worked, there’d be no more christians because I used to pray every night for them to friggin’ go away. In case you’ve not noticed, they’re still here.
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Yes they are. Yes they are. *sigh*
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I am far too familiar with the horrors of addiction. It seems to me there are people with addicitive personalities, of course it can happen to anyone, but certain people are plagued with this malady.
My first wife had addiction issues, unknown to me before we were a thing. It did though recur during my living hell with the mother of two of my kids. It was too late before I saw it coming. I’ll spare you the details, many long forgotton anyway, brushed under the rug of history, but it was a nightmare that only ended upon her suicide.
There was a time, she spent time with the AA and NA crowd. I got to know some of the people and witnessed their customs. One day she asked me what I thought of the program/s and I said something along the lines of this: “It looks to me to be something akin to the Wizard of OZ. You have all of these people looking outwardly for a cure to their issues, when they need to be looking within.”
Prayer would fall under that category.
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It is sad, isn’t it? It’s pathetic, in a genuine sense of the word.
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Sorry to hear about your late first wife, shelldigger. I can only try to imagine what you have been through, as my experience is incomparably shorter, and luckier than yours. Two sons of friends of ours (unaware of each other) got addicted but rather quickly they became conscious of the risks, and cooperated with the assistance in time.
Christians accept that very often prayers are not answered. Nevertheless, they keep trying because of their trust in “God’s will” in their favor. Things may turn out as they wished [probably, it was much liker than not!]. and when that happens, they happily say, – see, thanks to our prayers!
So, perhaps insisting on it is not so amazing as I thought.-
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Nan,
As you know, I have stage 4 cancer–I was given 51% of living 5 years in April 2009.
But, I’m still here.
What helped me? Two surgeries…numerous radiation treatments…but even more a strong desire to live another day–to see another sunrise–the desire to spend time with my grandchildren and see them grow-up.
But, there was a time I almost died–and it was the direct result of “blind faith.”
I almost died when I submitted to a blind faith in doctors, a blind faith in all things spiritual and placed my hope in the divine for healing and purpose…all of those submissions and willfully ignoring reality nearly cost me my life.
I’m here today because of medicine, reason, truth and the natural desire to survive–something faith dampened for a brief time…but now I happy, at peace and living in truth as a non-believer.
It works for me. 🙂 Thanks, always, Nan, for your encouragement! Best to you, luke
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