Originally Posted by sleazydoesit

No. I vaguely recall a philosophy class in college where the question posed was something like "does 'hope' serve any purpose" and the example given was the Melians facing destruction at the hands of a much greater military force on their doorstep, ie: do the Melians benefit from hoping they don't get their asses kicked. If they sit there and just hope it doesn't happen, then of course it won't do any good. They have to take action in order to affect their destiny.

So no, just hoping (read: praying) by itself does nothing. Sometimes freak occurrences will make it seem like hope/prayer will do the trick, but generally speaking you have to take action to get the desired results. Followers of Christ the Scientist would have you believe that prayer alone is enough to heal the sick because most illnesses aren't fatal, but they shut up really quick when the feds come down on them for letting their children or other family members die of medically treatable ailments like diabetes.


http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/19/us/christian-scientists-found-liable-in-death.html