I like how you dealt with the question, my take is you're not so much trying to argue with someone about how their experiences aren't real, but you're trying to help others who hear about these experiences understand why it does not necessarily correlate with reality (in this case god's existence).
To add on to the placebo effect, if you use an opioid blocker, placebo effect cannot be felt and is not observed. Meaning placebo effect is actually a measurable molecular response of the body, where your endogenous (means produced by your body, for those who aren't bio people) molecule binds to the opioid receptor and help you with pain relief. This is the placebo effect for pain relief, I'm not sure how it works for other types of medication.
As for the prayer study, I hear it's because those who have been prayed for feel like if they don't get better they're letting down those who prayed for them (and possibly god), so that could be why they perform worse.
For me, I have a lot of friends and family who have personal experiences that pertain to buddhism and now I know people who have these experiences pertaining to christianity. I think that's the strongest evidence I need. It is hard to examine how your own brain works, but by look at how others' work, you can deduce that if there is a common factor, that common factor cannot be the god of one religion. And since any explanation is probably simpler than positing a telepathic being, I once again see no need for the god hypothesis.
To add on to the placebo effect, if you use an opioid blocker, placebo effect cannot be felt and is not observed. Meaning placebo effect is actually a measurable molecular response of the body, where your endogenous (means produced by your body, for those who aren't bio people) molecule binds to the opioid receptor and help you with pain relief. This is the placebo effect for pain relief, I'm not sure how it works for other types of medication.
As for the prayer study, I hear it's because those who have been prayed for feel like if they don't get better they're letting down those who prayed for them (and possibly god), so that could be why they perform worse.
For me, I have a lot of friends and family who have personal experiences that pertain to buddhism and now I know people who have these experiences pertaining to christianity. I think that's the strongest evidence I need. It is hard to examine how your own brain works, but by look at how others' work, you can deduce that if there is a common factor, that common factor cannot be the god of one religion. And since any explanation is probably simpler than positing a telepathic being, I once again see no need for the god hypothesis.
