FAITH HEALING WINSTON.GANA.VALERIE.AGNES.DESSY.AMELIA.NATASHA.

NOVEMBER 2013 VOL. #1 ISSUE 1

Throughout the history, the notion that prayer, divine

intervention or the ministrations of an individual

healer can cure illness has been popular. Partly due to

the emerging of the so-called ‘televangelists’, people

from around the world have (allegedly) testified about

the effectiveness of such practice. There have been

numerous reports, from how lumps immediately

subsided after the priest had laid his hands, or a

paralyzed person regaining her ability to walk all of a

sudden, until cancer mysteriously disappearing, to the

doctor’s amazement.

But to some people, this matter is always baffling:

How does this work? Is there any guarantee that it

will? If it does not, to whom are we pointing our

fingers—is it to God, for not fulfilling his promises, or

to our own self, for not believing enough?

Our group contributors have tried to provide a

balanced arguments, between trusting the inerrancy of

the Word of God and rational way of thinking. There

is no way we can absolutely sure about one thing, but

to the extent that a bunch of flawed human beings

may try to understand their God –we gave it a shot.

But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will

be well.” – Luke 8:50

FAITH

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.(Heb 11:1)

HEALING

to cause a wound, injury, or person to become

sound or healthy again

alleviate a person's distress or anguish (Oxford

Dictionary)

FAITH HEALING

Faith healing is the belief of some Christians that

God heals people through the power of the Holy

Spirit, often involving the laying on of hands.

CONCEDING THE RESULTS

Trying to find a story about faith healing in the scriptures is not

really an arduous task—there are many examples we can find,

especially during the life and times of Jesus Christ. One often-

quoted narrative is about a woman who had been flowing blood

for twelve years and then healed by Jesus (“But Jesus, turning

and seeing her, said, Daughter, take heart; your faith has made

you well. And the woman was made well from that hour.”-

Matthew 9:20). This may well serve as a proof that God has

promised one thing: believe, and you shall be cured.

HOW ABOUT NOW?

Cyst in Baby

“A Five month old baby was diagnosed with a cyst in

her neck. There was a hole where the cyst was

draining. The parents brought her for prayer. Pastor

Bill laid hands on the baby during a Sunday Morning

Service. On Monday morning, the hole in the neck

was closed up and healed over. Glory to God!”

Blocked Artery

“In our Duluth Church, a man came for prayer. He

was about to schedule a surgery because of a blocked

artery. He felt a strong presence of the Holy Spirit,

and he believed he was healed. Now, his doctor has

confirmed that the blockage is gone. The surgery will

not take place!”

There are hundreds upon thousands of similar stories—cancer,

blindness, deafness, infertility, even HIV/AIDS were reported

to be cured through faith healing.

Faith and prayer seem to be the only requirements, but then

comes the next problem, because the question does not merely

stop at ‘do you have faith?’—if so, those who claimed to have

been praying for years *should* have been healed.

Rather, it’s “Do you have the faith?”

FAITH HEALING: WHEN IT WORKS.

“Do you have the faith?”

CRITICIZING THE PRACTICE

For every argument, there is a counter.

If we were to tally the number of faith healing attempts

that did not work—maybe even put it side by side with

those who did, a lot of believers would be surprised.

Herbert Schaible, 45, and his wife Catherine, 44, were

charged with third-degree murder earlier this week after

their seven-month-old son Brandon died of bacterial

pneumonia in April. Basic medical care could have

prevented his death, but instead the Schaibles chose to

pray. ‘We tried to fight the devil, but in the end the

devil won,' they told homicide detectives at the time.

One case seems to be chilling enough to make us

question the whole thing: where do we draw the line

between the faith that God asks for—the one that is

doubtless and not wavering—and just pure ignorance

on the believer’s part?

When we seek medical treatment, does that mean that

we are part of the skeptics, questioning God’s ability in

healing us, thus ultimately doubting his omnipotence?

Or should we abandon faith altogether, stop praying for

our health and instead depend fully on man-made

medications and trusting our lives completely in the

hands of the doctors—not God’s?

AND LET’S NOT FORGET

Scammers, people who take advantage of the

believers’ desperation, make faith healing part

of the problem, not the solution.

FAITH HEALING: WHEN IT GOES AWRY.

WHAT WE DO KNOW IN SPITE OF ALL THE CONFUSION

It is entirely within biblical principles and common sense to seek

competent medical help and still rely on God for healing at the

same time; healing through faith in God and the modern health

sciences is not a contradiction or a combination of opposites; what

God can do for man as a special blessing should work together

with what man can do technologically for himself.

OUR STANCE