Any views on faith healing?

granjura, your comment at 10:18 re homo sapiens! OH MY GOD!! Despair!!!!
?????

Faith healing works for some people in much the same way as a placebo drug. The body is wonderful at healing itself so whatever you were doing at the time you got better gets assumed to be what "cured" you. It could be prayer, prescription drugs, sitting with your feet in cold water, making bloody sacrifices to the gods, - anything!
If you believe in any of these things it probably positively affects your outlook which might help your body repair itself.
As for so called Faith Healers, they are charlatans. If they take money they are committing fraud.

Sorry Elegran that's all I know. He thought it was very interesting. Two elderly men in a hospice he attended had sold their homes and given all their things away. Amazingly they made complete recoveries but of course had all sorts of problems -nobody ever expected to be discharged from the hospice.
No prayers or divine intervention suspected but something happened. Neither of them had known each other before.

In the end how or what you believe is irrelevant: it is how you behave that matters.

My mother got some faith healers to visit my father when he was seriously ill in hospital.
She asked the consultant whether he would mind.
He said, no, not at all, he had known it to help.
Sadly it didn't work for my father.

Jane10 I am interested in a throwaway remark in one of your posts above - that all the patients in your father's practice who inexplicably recovered had a rash. I have a vague memory of hearing that suffering from one of the common diseases that produce a high temperature (maybe malaria) appeared to prevent/cure another, worse, one. The heat "burned it out" somehow. Maybe something similar was involved? Anyone know anything about this?

If some posters are right when they claim these cures do come from God or prayer, perhaps the mechanism by which he achieved them is by some natural means which we don't yet understand, and not by a miracle at all? Things that would have seemed a miracle in past centuries don't raise an eyebrow now.

I won't take sides on whether/why God intervenes in specific cases but not others. That is sometimes seen to hinge on whether they have "enough faith" - a rather circular theory as faith is increased by experience of the results of that faith. A spiral.

When I lost my best friend as a young child- I asked that question to the Vicar. He said it was to make us appreciate what we've got and make us pray and believe, and be good- to test us. I was only about 6- but his reply revolted me so... that was the end of me and religion from there on.

pennyh47- I am so so sorry you had to suffer the loss of a child like this - I just can't bear to even think about it.
x

I lost my little boy to leukaemia a month before his 4th birthday. He was my first child and I adored him. I prayed constantly for him and can't believe In a god who could let a child suffer. There is too much suffering in the world that is no fault of the people. If miracles do happen then why are some chosen and others ignored?

thatbags, reminds me of that tv interviewer in the USA who asked people in some Evangelical backwater what they would do if they found out their child was an homosapiens- and over 50% said they would throw them out !

I do not believe in original sin

I don't have any belief in reiki, hands on, power of prayer, crystal healing etc I believe they can all have positive effects as our brains are wired to believe in positive outcomes and it's very uplifting and comforting to believe that many people are wishing you well... I think people can heal themselves with the power of their mind I also believe that people can make themselves ill through the power of their mind I once took part in a double blind medical trial afterwards the opinions and results were made public the people on the placebo sugar pill had more and varied side effects than the people on the actual pill They varied from sickness, lack of sleep, aches pains, and even suicidal ideation all on a sugar pill Our brains are what heals us or in many ways makes us ill

I also have a great antipathy towards Christians who believe other religions are not worthy of an afterlife if there is such a thing I believe that is about as unchristian and ungodlike as you can get I was once told at a Christian church that of course only Christians can expect an afterlife went off the whole kaboom then

I have my own beliefs and feel if I can live my life helping instead of hurting loving instead of hating whatever happens after that won't depend on anything else but me, I have definitely 'sinned' in my life so maybe I m doomed, but I ll still carry on just doing my best and not rely on how many times I enter a church building or even how many times I kneel to pray

Old Testement teachings annifrance

It's not about blaming god - it is about questioning whether a benign god would tolerate the suffering that his/her design has created and do nothing about it.

I do not blame god for any of this suffering as I do not know whether such a thing exists. But I do feel the need to ask those who do believe in god's existence and who believe in his/her omnipotence to think about the logic involved in also claiming that this being is benign.

I do not think that the concept of original sin is valid nor that it explains all this.

I do not think science explains everything at the moment, not to us, but only because we have not been clever enough to find it all out yet, but I do think science can and does, theoretically, explain everything. I think we're doing quite well interpreting it, actually, even though we obviously have a long way to go and possibly always will. We're only apes, after all.

Just think we would have no NHS worries , no need for doctors, nurses, charities , illness would be iradicated

Just read the link synonymous, made me angry. Smug sanctimonious.self referential arrogant. After reading this how can anyone have faith? What happened to humanity?

Where are Hanuman, Ganesh and Shiva in this? There are many forms of God throughout the world. White, middle class God would only be one manifestation.

If God (or whoever) healed all the sick & dying children, how soon would it be before we were all standing shoulder to shoulder & unable to move for lack of room?

Think God, if he/she/it exists, must be white, middle class on a good salary. Glad to be an atheist.

I agree radicalnan

I am a Reiki qualified person, did a course at a reputable college and thought it was all hooey.........however, a couple of people on the course reported significant success with their animals (horses mainly) so as horses cannot be influenced by placebo effect, what was happening there? Horses were old, arthritic etc and owners were keen on pain reduction.............

I do get asked to pray for people and often light a candle for someone but am not a Christian, I do feel that there is some comfort in knowing another person if holding you in their thoughts.not sure how that works, collective consciousness maybe.

Energy is the force field of life,almost all cultures believe in healing as gift so there must be something out there................

I'm not thinking about any particular God or religion in this, just forms of healing not currently understood. Forces of nature perhaps? I don't know.

what would some do if they couldn't blame God for all the ills in the world

I do not think that science can explain everything - yet. There are things that science has now been able to explain that previously were inexplicable and attributed to divine intervention. No doubt at some point in the future many things that we cannot understand now will become clear through rigorous research.

If god is all powerful he/she has the power to prevent the suffering of children but chooses not to. Is this because we are being punished for our sins? Let us hope that any god (should there be one) is not so petty and vindictive.

I choose to believe in love and kindness and do my best to aspire to this - though I often fail. There is nothing more that we as individuals can do.

Thinking of the food grown /made by man , bought by man and thrown in the bin this weekend by man is God's doing? exvuse me but s definite no no