NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--It’s being called the largest study ever to examine the effects of prayer, but a Southern Baptist professor says it’s not much of a barometer at all.

“Anyone who seeks a prayer life guided by Scripture will not take this study seriously,” Don Whitney, associate professor of biblical spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said. “Prayer is based upon a relationship, namely a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and prayer is itself a part of that relationship. And relationships cannot properly be evaluated by scientific methods.”

The study, which appears in the April issue of American Heart Journal, found that prayer by others has a neutral effect on the risk of complications after bypass surgery and that people fare worse if they know others are praying for them.

Doctors began the study on intercessory prayer nearly a decade ago when they asked volunteers from one Protestant prayer group and two Catholic prayer groups to lift up the names of patients in the trial, and they were required to include the phrase, “for a successful surgery with a quick, healthy recovery and no complications.”

Patients were randomly assigned to three groups -- one that was prayed for, one that was not prayed for and one that was told people were praying for them. None of the patients in the first two groups knew someone was told to pray.

Results indicated that 30 days after surgery there was no difference between patients who were prayed for and patients who were not. In fact, a significantly higher number of patients who knew they were being prayed for suffered complications.

“This study approaches prayer almost mechanically,” Whitney said, noting that a particular phrase had to be prayed exactly and specific medical results had to be recognized. Also, researchers presumed that those who prayed had a personal relationship with God that would give power to prayer.

“This divorces prayer from the Gospel of Christ which establishes the relationship between any individual and a prayer-hearing God,” he said.

Whitney added that it doesn’t matter what such studies conclude because Christians do not govern their prayer lives according to the latest scientific studies.

Another Southern Baptist professor, Mark Coppenger, was quoted in USA Today in regard to the study, saying he questions the wisdom of measuring God’s response.

“It’s my experience that God actually prompts our prayers,” Coppenger, distinguished professor of apologetics at Southern Seminary, said. “But I don’t see Him cooperating in a test.”

© 2006 Baptist Press