by free2beme 18 Replies latest jw friends
I remember this when I was on the basketball team at high school.
The one that gets me scoffing is organized sports teams prayers.
The coach would have us all bend over with our arms around each other and say the Lords Prayer. I felt uncomfortable doing this as a JW but I didn't refuse to do it.
Ken P.
Witnesses I know certainly believe in faith genocide. That their prayers and their religious behaviors can influence Jesus to come on a ghost horse and murder babies. If they don't believe in faith healing, they do believe in faith murder.
Prayers like these are for the benefit of the one praying, it shows Jehoooobie doo that the person is sincere and cares for the one prayed for. That sort of mercy goes a long way with the good and Happy God. He may not heal the person prayed for, but he is happy you made the call.
Aint that sweet?
W.Once
It is interesting, the responses people make on this. As it seems to be based on your congregation, on how you felt about this. I know people who would say, "If you pray for him enough, he will get better ... just keep in in your prayers." I also know people who said things like the people here said, in that they did not feel God took part in healing or helping any of his followers. We were just here on a ride of being tested, and we better do well, or he will give us the final death. I don't know about you, but Jehovah seems like a fairly crappy ally. He wants everything from his people, whether they are in good situations or bad, and offers no help ... but those elders, or course!
I am part of a faith community that believes that the early church experienced miraculous healings as a sign to the Jews (fulfillment of prophecy--the blind will see, the lame will walk...etc.) but when the gospel focus turned to the Gentiles, these signs ceased. However, what do JWs do with the passage in James that says a sick one can call for the elders to come and annoint him with oil and that the prayer of faith will heal?
Also, re: Benny Hinn. He has a huge following but has been guilty of deceit, lies, etc. From http://www.pfo.org/confusing.htm
All over the world, record-breaking crowds of up to a million eager seekers after the miraculous gather expectantly to witness the open display of supernatural power which Benny Hinn pretends to have at his command. ... His devastating effect upon gullible believers who are easily led astray, is more than sufficient reason for the authors of this book to present us with the terrible truth about Benny Hinn,” writes Dave Hunt in the forward of Personal Freedom Outreach’s revised, expanded and updated volume on faith healer Benny Hinn.
REVISED, EXPANDED and UPDATED — NOW IN ITS 9 th EDITION
 | The Confusing 322 pages – $12.99 each Web Special: 2 copies – $11.99 eachor 3 copies – $10.99 each (plus postage) |
Time and again preachers burst onto the scene, attracting attention and followers with what they claim are new insights into Scripture and new powers from God, only to be exposed as being not only unoriginal but false.
Benny Hinn, founder of Orlando Christian Center (later known as the World Outreach Center) in Florida, is the most prominent example of this phenomenon. Hinn, whose charismatic church at one time numbered weekly attendance at 10,000 and whose televised services and crusades reach a potential audience of nearly 100 million homes in the United States and Canada, epitomizes the kind of histrionics, emotionalism and hysteria that can bring reproach to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Even more damaging to his claim of “revelation” from God is the confusion which abounds in the statements and stories of preacher Benny Hinn. His propensity for exaggeration, embroidery and myth making is well documented within his many public statements and writing.
The Confusing World of Benny Hinn is a hard-hitting investigation of the best-selling author and healing evangelist. The reader is furnished with solid research and irrefutable documentation to unmask the bizarre teachings and contradictory spiritual experiences of the faith healer some have dubbed, “The Miracle Man.”
"Chicagoans will learn how to pray within the next two weeks." They're gonna need all the help they can get - without a decent quarterback they don't have a prayer of getting far in the playoffs.
Benny Hinn has "huckster" tatooed all over himself.
Benny Hinn has "huckster" tattooed all over himself.
I agree, with both your comments, about not having a chance in the playoffs with no quality QB and also about Benny Hinn. Although he does show you that Christianity does believe in such a thing.
Actually, this shows that a segment of Christianity believes in these things: they are considered "hyper-charismatics" and are considered to have gone off into the realm of heresy by most orthodox Christians. They are similar to the cults in that they receive their own "private revelation" from God (call it NEW TRUTH, if you want) and so anything goes, even if it is not biblical--in other words, they will interpret the Bible according to their experiences and not the other way around.
There is a good book called Charismaic Chaos by John MacArthur, Jr. that outlines how these groups have been able to travel down this road. He compares them in many instances to what has happened in the cults, including the Watchtower. In Hinn's case, his outrageous claims are defended by comments like "You must not touch God's annointed" and to do so is to "blaspheme against the Holy Spirit". Thus, believers must accept whatever is given to them (sound familiar?)
In our faith community, we believe that the miraculous signs and wonders evidenced in the early church were as a sign to the Jews, in order to verify that the new revelation regarding Jesus as Messiah, New Covenant, gospel open to the Gentiles, etc. was from God. Thus they have long since ceased, although God certainly can and will heal, but not through annointed "faith hucksters healers". Their practices, when examined in light of the New Testament healings, reveal themselves as being unsubstantiated hype. Remember too that the Bible foretells in the end times that Satan himself will mimic signs and wonders, therefore all the more reason for Christians to examine closely these types of claims.
