I got the following story by mail. I have made some small changes , for instance, removing the capitals from words like church and bar!
In a small town in America, a man decided to open a bar right opposite a church. The church and its congregation started a campaign to block the bar from opening, with petitions and prayed daily against his business.
Work progressed, nevertheless. However, when it was almost complete and about to open in a few days, a bolt of lightning struck the bar and it was burnt to ground.
The church folk were rather smug after that, until the bar owner sued the church authorities for $10 million on the grounds that the church, through its congregation &and prayers, was responsible for the destruction of his bar, either through direct or indirect actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility and any connection between their prayers and the bar's fate. In support of their claim they referred to the Benson Study at Harvard that intercessionery prayer had no impact!
As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented: "I don't know how I am going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church and its devotees that doesn't!"
This made me curious and I looked for references to the Benson study and found some contradictory web sites and also a post by "Stimulus" with the same story!
This story reminds me of a quote of Osho - "Acharya" Rajaneesh. - only the priest knows that there is no god!
Another friend tells me a story about a begger finding that the habitués of taverns are more munificent than the people coming out of places of worship! I will get that story from him again and post that too - later.
In a small town in America, a man decided to open a bar right opposite a church. The church and its congregation started a campaign to block the bar from opening, with petitions and prayed daily against his business.
Work progressed, nevertheless. However, when it was almost complete and about to open in a few days, a bolt of lightning struck the bar and it was burnt to ground.
The church folk were rather smug after that, until the bar owner sued the church authorities for $10 million on the grounds that the church, through its congregation &and prayers, was responsible for the destruction of his bar, either through direct or indirect actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility and any connection between their prayers and the bar's fate. In support of their claim they referred to the Benson Study at Harvard that intercessionery prayer had no impact!
As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented: "I don't know how I am going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, that we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church and its devotees that doesn't!"
This made me curious and I looked for references to the Benson study and found some contradictory web sites and also a post by "Stimulus" with the same story!
This story reminds me of a quote of Osho - "Acharya" Rajaneesh. - only the priest knows that there is no god!
Another friend tells me a story about a begger finding that the habitués of taverns are more munificent than the people coming out of places of worship! I will get that story from him again and post that too - later.
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