by Van Jay 29 Replies latest jw friends
I do not know much about faith healing but I have a friend who had polio as a child and also had severe scoliosis - her spine was very curved. She is catholic and went to the waters at lourdes and can now walk and has no pain in her back at all.
A miracle or act of satan I don't know. I am just happy for my friends relief.
All you can say is that the WTBTS believes that all these worldly organizations are satanic but as been mentioned they do use worldly facilities such as hospitals and medicare and so are all other religions . There's no doubt in my mind that the government has caught these faith healers defrauding people by putting actors in the audience pretending to be ill with all sorts of things . I think it's a scam for the most part but there are scriptures that portray God as letting these things take place so that those that believe a lie are thoroughly convinced of it . There is possibly some super natural things taking place but not always for the benefit of those involved . I don't doubt that faith can move mountains, just very leary of those that profess such faith and are making themselves extremely wealthy in material ways . If you read the apostle Paul letters he does condemn the material aspect of it .
Heathen , you are correct about the soliciting of money, that very often takes place when faith and healing are involved..this would be a blatant misuse of the gifts of the spirit...It would be equivalent to a situation that occured in Pauls day, when I think a convert called Simeon (correct me if wrong) tried to pay the Apostles for the gift..and he was condemned in the strongest possible terms...
Any supposed faith healing where money is involved is not from God...Those that are involved in this sort of thing are among those condemned by Christ as workers of lawlessness...regardless of how successful the healing may be...
I believe that "faith" or Spiritual healing is possible.
I, too, mistrust those who appear to use it for material gain or who make a showy display of their gifts. Much more palatable to me is the case of the woman who, upon learning that my daughter had a brain tumor in a setting where we had not come for that service, said that she wanted to put Lena on her Reiki table to work on her as many times as we could get there pre-op. She has since phoned to ask us if when we could return, does her work on a donation basis, and was chagrined that I paid her as much as I did! So we agreed that I would donate less for the second and respective treatments. (Actually, I paid her less than I do my therapist for more than twice the amount of time spent, so I thought I had given her a less than fair fee, but didn't have as much in my wallet as I'd like to have spent.)
I think LT hit upon something when he said that Christians are often mistrustful because healings also happen in other religions (or with no "religion" at all, just faith in the oneness of the Universe). So much of Christianity holds the rigid view that one must believe in JESUS to be "saved" or "healed," otherwise salvation or healing is impossible. Not so.
The mind, body, spirit connection is very strong, very valuable, and can be utilized in ways not yet commonly accepted in the West to the betterment of one's physical and emotional bodies and one's intellect and intuition. I should like to point out, too, that "healing"is not necessarily "cure." There are ways to be healed of a chronic disease -- acceptance of it and its limitations, for example, while not letting it unduly daunt one's spirit or hinder one from fulfilling one's purpose -- without being physically "cured."
That said, there have been few and far between cases of faith cures being effected, too. As science learns more about the power of thought waves effecting a change in virtually all that surrounds us, I think mankind will learn to use the power of positive thought to its benefit.
"This we Know: The Earth does not belong to man, Man belongs to the Earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself." -- Chief Seattle, 1852
V665
LOL @ the cat pic
Read randi.org he was the one that exposed that slime ball Peter Popov.
I love that pic!
I think Faith Healing is just another phrase meaning positive energy and manifesting. I do agree that many religious wackos use it improperly. Physical touch definitely has an affect as well.
My cousin used to do 'energy treatments' on my Mom who was very ill with a lung disease. My Mom always benefitted from those sessions. Also, whenever she'd go into a crisis with her breathing, if any of us put our hands on her back where her rib cage was, she would immediately come out of crisis.
There is definitely energy transference that occurs with physical touch. Being able to manipulate energy positively is something anyone can do if you educate yourself and practice it.
Here is an interesting story on the subject
I was so desperate with pain that I thought I would try it. My mom and close friend who was Epsicopalian decided to go with me so I would give it a chance. All I did was mutter to myself that I did not believe JW stuff anymore. Also, I muttered not to be stuffy and proper. It was a very different audience than I imagined. Solidly middle class. The faith healer was Greek and Pentecostal. There was nothing remarkable during a short service. She asked everyone with a terminal diagnosis to step forward. I saw a wave of attractive people in their 20s and 30s go forward. She pulled her arm out and announced that the person was slain in the Holy Spirit. The people swooned back. It was a very graceful movement.
She went on to less compelling cases. I kept debating whether to go or not. My intellect was completely against it. I was afraid of leaping demons from the WT days. She came to me. I felt nothing. It was sort of bad form, feeling nothing when the rest of the room is falling backwards. I wasn't beng patriotic to the Holy Spirit. I decided that I was too Anglcan. There was zip feeling. She raised her voice considerably. No action.
So everyone fell back at her command except for my mom, my friend, and my self. Maybe we were dunces. Some very educated types were almost manic. They had no hope. She gave hope. Their faces were smiling. They kept running to the head of the line to be slain by the Holy Spirit. I wanted the Holy Spirit to stay in its sphere. On a previous experience, I saw a minister manipulate an Assembly of God crowd. It made me angry.
I thought about what depression spiral the slain in the spirit would feel when their illness continued its course. Their smiles were so happy. I don't know whether I was wise or not.
I kept going up for Anglican oil and laying on of hands. The services made me realize I was not the only one is agony. Sometimes I would say I wanted relief if it were Christ's will. The healers weren't too happy with that formulation. The existence of suffering makes it hard for me to say Jesus is just all right. One Good Friday service detailed what happens to a body during crufixion. How can Jesus know suffering and not intervene now? It is my biggest question.
I can't say Jesus is groovy or truth as long as any human suffering or even animal suffering exists. Job asked some good questions.
