Any views on faith healing?

"I don't know why he doesn't heal every sick child or send a bolt of lightning to strike wrong doers ,if he did would mankind ever learn ?" - learn what?

A family I worked with had a very disabled baby. I was alarmed when they told me they were taking him to a healer. I couldn't stop them of course, they were desperate and really struggling to cope with his complex needs. However, the outcome was not what they expected although they were delighted and it made all the difference to how they felt about him : the little lad finally gave them his first ever smile. He was so developmentally delayed that it could just have been some form of maturation but the parents truly felt it was a miracle and I was happy for them as they now felt that they could and would manage somehow. Healing takes many forms.

Granjura In His Word, Job 38:4 God challenges Job saying," Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you have understanding"
In fact that whole chapter is worth considering in the light of acceptability. The book of Job is an amazing book overall and well worth studying for enlightenment.

Sorry annie- little children and babies do not have free will - should they suffer the most dreadful diseases, handicaps, pain, injuries- to teach grown-ups about 'free will and choice'-

and then save some who pray, and not those who don't? Apart that often those who do, are not, and vice versa.

Makes no sense, no sense at all.

Jane I am sorry - that was not the question you asked- so will keep off the thread.

But the answer is, for me, that Faith Healing is more to do with hysteria than anything else- and manipulating the weak and vulnerable.

I don't know why he doesn't heal every sick child or send a bolt of lightning to strike wrong doers ,if he did would mankind ever learn ?

Unless you believe in karma and reincarnation, no, it doesn't seem likely that mankind will ever learn. Hardly much incentive, is there?

What about those millions of people who existed before Jesus? I am thinking Stone Age, Ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans etc. Were they all damned as they didn't believe? I know this topic has drifted a bit from faith healing but it was bound to really.

I think Christ was just saying we come to know God through his teachings, his teachings being , love, forgiveness and tolerance . All faiths and those of no faith can live this way and even though they don't accept or believe they know God .

I don't know why he doesn't heal every sick child or send a bolt of lightning to strike wrong doers ,if he did would mankind ever learn ? I do believe we have free will , man starts wars not God.

Not pick and choose ...

Well Synonymous that's all the genuine people living kindly lives and doing good with no desire for reward down the pan then! Hey-ho!

Granjura, if you were God what would you do ?

Well the Christian bible would say that wouldn't it!!

I am sorry Synonymous- but this is just not acceptable- however you look at it. Either God can, or he can't. If he can but won't- or pick and chooses- then it is not acceptable, however you look at it.

Many children are born in parts of the world where they won't even have heard of God- and therefore can't pray- it's a lottery.

Yes Annie. Only one true God. John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me."

There is one God, just different names used and different forms of worship carried out

Its not just the Christian God though is it? Throughout time and all round the world there is a history of 'miracle cures'. I just don't know. However, there was a time when people completely believed the world was flat. I think we still have a lot to learn.

It is very hard isn't it but I do think that this helps to explain: creation.com/why-us-the-problem-of-evil

There is far more on this website about other aspects too and very well worth looking at. Sadly, our biggest problem is in looking at things from our very human perspective and not from the point of view of the one true, perfect and holy God.

I agree granjura. Does God pick and choose, it's ridiculous.

jane10 it is interesting what you said about your Father's observations re skin rashes. In homeopathy it is believed that disease goes inwards and healing outwards; thus if you had say eczema then developed asthma that is the disease worsening and going inwards, whereas an asthmatic who developed a skin disorder, especially if it travels out of feet and hands, is a sign of disease moving out and away.

Why would God choose to heal me, or my sister-in-law, my neighbour, my grand-child - and then let all the children in Aleppo or elsewhere suffer so much and die in the more tragic and painful of ways- without even the comfort of their parents? If God can heal - picking and choosing in such a way is beyond cruel.

So many have tried to answer this question- and have never ever come up with anything that makes any sense at all.

janeainsworth I completely agree with your statement that "it is dangerous to believe that prayer itself ...., can turn around pathological processes." Only Almighty God Himself can do such things.

Lazigirl I would never go to a "healing service" and am inclined to agree with your thoughts on such things. I went once to a meeting that turned out like that and would never go again, they are what I would call 'unsound'. (Some people I know go so far as to call them 'charlatans' but those kind of meetings make me feel very uncomfortable.)
The laying on of hands is an intensely private thing and in the reformed church, of which I am a member, it is done quietly, contemplatively and prayerfully in a worshipful manner by the church elders for the brethren. It should never be done in a mass or exploitative situation. God will not be mocked.

Only God Himself can give you the strong faith and the sense of peace and security that comes with that. Ask Him for it.

If a person is healed by the laying on of hands what evidence do you want Lazigirl?

I accept that our immune systems can be affected positively or negatively by our state of mind and that prayer may induce a feeling of optimism, and that may be enough to tip the balance and allow the body to repair itself.
But I think it's dangerous to believe that prayer itself especially prayers by other people, can turn around pathological processes.
synonymous thank you, I'll read your link later.

I used to be a committed Christian and went to a few evangelical "healing services". What I witnessed was what I would describe as a type of hysteria, with people falling over when hands were laid on them. I think psychologically it may have helped some, but I never saw any actual physical evidence of healing. It just left me cold as I felt people were being emotionally manipulated, but admittedly I am quite cynical and prefer to have some evidence about such claims. I would like to have the sense of peace and security that those with a strong faith enjoy, but I just can't go along with it.

The advanced cancers that my Dad was so amazed to find had just gone were absolutely not misdiagnoses. There was clear evidence on scans. One thing in common among those cases (and only a very few over many years in practice), was that they all had a sort of rash. It would have been fascinating to research what was going on but he was just a busy GP but so happy for these lucky few.