Explaining Faith Healing Claims

[TheHappyWarrior]

Most faith healing claims are dubious based upon factors such as misdiagnosis, actual medical treatment, or there being no cure at all. However a few are in my opinion somewhat more ambiguous. Given my lack of medical knowledge I'd be curious what people who are more knowledgable in that regard makes of some of these claims. For example in the first (towards the end of the article) the author claims that one of his daughters was healed of poor hindsight so that she no longer needed glasses. How plausible is that in medical terms?

http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1188026/22719188/1368902944123/Philosophy+The+Bible+and+the+Supernatural.pdf?token=oa1mNEMvj00lBrdyD7VjalSch%2Bs%3D

[GraphicsGuy]

Pretty much every single story of faith-healing I have ever heard was second or third-hand accounts or completely anecdotal in nature.

 

The supposed first-hand accounts usually came from "faith healers" who turned out to be hucksters.

 

My one personal experience with faith healing happened when I had an infected wisdom tooth and the "healer" got up to speak and said he felt like there was someone in the audience that had jaw pain. So, amazed, I stood up and went up. The pain temporarily receded (probably from dopamine release), but came back with a fury after a few hours and, of course, I still had to take antibiotics and have the tooth removed. And, of course, I blamed myself for not having enough faith.

 

Point being...I played bass on the worship team that night and the preacher/healer sat in the front row. He obviously noticed I was rubbing my jaw and making pained expressions regularly.

[sdelsolray]

Most faith healing claims are dubious based upon factors such as misdiagnosis, actual medical treatment, or there being no cure at all. However a few are in my opinion somewhat more ambiguous. Given my lack of medical knowledge I'd be curious what people who are more knowledgable in that regard makes of some of these claims. For example in the first (towards the end of the article) the author claims that one of his daughters was healed of poor hindsight so that she no longer needed glasses. How plausible is that in medical terms?

http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1188026/22719188/1368902944123/Philosophy+The+Bible+and+the+Supernatural.pdf?token=oa1mNEMvj00lBrdyD7VjalSch%2Bs%3D

You're forgetting one large factor regarding faith healing claims - they are often made up stories or outright lies.

[mymistake]

Right now, at this very moment, there are hundreds of gurus in India who each have hundreds of witnesses

 

who will testify to the healing power of their guru.  And yet the Western World continues to go about it's

 

business as if nothing happened.  Maybe such claims are unconvincing.

[Guest sylensikeelyoo]

From what I have read up on this, most of it is dubious as you have said. Saw a video about how people that are well trained and charismatic can use the power of suggestion and hypnosis techniques to produce temporary pain relief in their targets. These people in this video I watched were journalists, and they were athiests. they were doing that documentary to prove that there is nothing supernatural in the "faith healing" process. It was really neat. They used the same techniques that street evangelists and faith healers used and 100 percent of their random targets experienced some type of pain relief. The explanation given was that if you go up to a random adult, around age 30-50, and ask them if they experience some type of pain of any kind (something vague) the answer will be yes...But that doesn't mean that they are experiencing the pain at that moment. But that is part of the trick. You use the power of suggestion to fool your target into thinking they are experiencing the pain right now, just by asking about it. Then you "pray" and lay your hands on the affected area, and then ask them, "How's the pain? Has it improved?" and of course the answer will be yes, because they most likely weren't experiencing much pain at the time, especially if you caught them walking around outside somewhere. It's a really cool video. Here's a link to the vid:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuP5uOI7Xwc

 

 

 

 

My personal experience with faith healing was pretty dangerous. When I was a kid I had asthma. It was triggered mostly by exercise, cigarette smoke, impurities in the air, and allergies. I used a fast acting inhaler that I carried with me everywhere. When I was eight, I went to church one sunday where there was this faith healer performing all these "miracles". He said that there was someone in this congregation who had breathing problems. He was looking right at me. I was stunned. My eight year old mind couldnt possibly comprehend that the dude saw me using my inhaler as I walked into the sanctuary, as it was spring time in FL and I was allergic as all bloody hell to those fucking orange blossoms. There was an orange grove right across the street to this church.  So naturally, I was wheezing and coughing like I was fucking dying. Anyways, I'm only eight so I was super duper impressed and I jump up and go down to be prayed for. He told me that it would only work if I had faith....BUDDY, did I have faith. After the prayer, I threw my inhaler in the trash to confirm that I had FAITH, motherfucker.

 

 

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. It wasn't but a week later, and I was in the hospital with a bad asthma attack and I did not have a rescue inhaler.

[Brother Jeff]

I've had three experiences with faith healing (one experience for each version of the Lard!). One was at a church I was attending in the late 1980's. A visiting evangelist asked me if I wanted to see a miracle, and of course I said yes! He proceeded to lay his hands on the leg of this woman sitting nearby, and he prayed and claimed that her leg had grown out in length to match her other one. All I remember is that I felt strangely disoriented for a few moments, but I did not observe anything miraculous happen. I was taken in by the power of his suggestion and the strong desire to believe in the miracle, but the truth is that, of course, nothing supernatural or miraculous happened that day.

 

The second experience involves Mylon LeFevre of "Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart" fame. He and his Christian Rock band were very popular back in the 80's and early 90's. They broke up in 1992 after Mylon had a serious heart attack. Mylon believed God for healing, of course, and he claims to have "before and after" pictures of his heart that prove God's healing power. But the fact that he switched from playing in a Rock band to the much less physically demanding job of preaching and teaching after his heart attack tells me that, of course, God didn't heal him of his heart disease. He's still around at 70 years old now and he's still preaching and teaching the religious bullshit he so strongly believes, but his Rock 'n' Roll days are long in the past.

 

The third experience is my own! I have bipolar disorder, and it had not been diagnosed yet back in my Christian days. We knew something was wrong with me, but we never had a clue that it was a mental illness. I was prayed for many times, and I hit the floor for JESUS many times, gloriously Slain in the Spook! Glory! I was told many times that the Holy Farter was magically healing me and at least once that the Holy Farter was magically performing "spiritual surgery" on me. I believed strongly that the Holy Farter was magically healing me with the same gloriously powerful Sky Magic that He had used to magically create the universe and our flat world by speaking a powerful magical spell from Nowhere (10,000 years ago and 6000 years ago, respectively) each time, and I wasn't going to let the fucking Talking Snake rob me of my Sky Victory in Kryasst! Each and every time, after the incredible religious emotional highs wore off, I was EXACTLY THE SAME. I still had bipolar disorder that had not been diagnosed yet, and I was still seriously mentally ill. The Holy Farter did NOTHING, and of course now I know that's because he doesn't actually exist.

 

Glory!

 

[Guest sylensikeelyoo]

Brother Jeff, I LOVE reading your comments! Your wording is so AWESOME. SERIOUSLY, when you were all like:

 

I was prayed for many times, and I hit the floor for JESUS many times, gloriously Slain the Spook! Glory! I was told many times that the Holy Farter was magically healing me and at least once that the Holy Farter was magically performing "spiritual surgery" on me. I believed strongly that the Holy Farter was magically healing me with the same gloriously powerful Sky Magic that He had used to magically create the universe and our flat world by speaking a powerful magical spell from Nowhere (10,000 years ago and 6000 years ago, respectively) each time, and I wasn't going to let the fucking Talking Snake rob me of my Sky Victory in Kryasst!

 

]

I just busted out laughing and scared the shit outta my dog. I totally share your sentiments on the matter and your satire is spot on!

[Brother Jeff]

Brother Jeff, I LOVE reading your comments! Your wording is so AWESOME. SERIOUSLY, when you were all like:

 

I was prayed for many times, and I hit the floor for JESUS many times, gloriously Slain the Spook! Glory! I was told many times that the Holy Farter was magically healing me and at least once that the Holy Farter was magically performing "spiritual surgery" on me. I believed strongly that the Holy Farter was magically healing me with the same gloriously powerful Sky Magic that He had used to magically create the universe and our flat world by speaking a powerful magical spell from Nowhere (10,000 years ago and 6000 years ago, respectively) each time, and I wasn't going to let the fucking Talking Snake rob me of my Sky Victory in Kryasst!

 

]

I just busted out laughing and scared the shit outta my dog. I totally share your sentiments on the matter and your satire is spot on!

 

 

Hey Sister, Bless the Lard! Your magical Sky Joy over my glorious satire mightily blesses my inner spook! I love making people laugh! Glory!  

 

As far as scaring the shit outta your dog goes, if you don't mind my saying so... 

[♦ Fuego ♦]

I promoted a preacher famous for raising the dead. For 9 years I spent thousands giving out CDs of his preaching only to finally catch him lying on a video. After analyzing why I had believed him, and why "his men" also claim miracles, I found myself recalling how most cults are able to flourish. Charismatic leader telling people what they want to hear, a few join and now there is an "in-crowd" with the famous guy. Then more want to join and experience the reality of god, and find hours of super-difficult work in a remote part of the world with a very hard-ass leader who expects complete obedience and no questions. They either toe the line and promote the party line, or leave. I knew all of this going in, but I couldn't see it because he was so damn convincing (really good story teller). But all of the evidence was anecdotal. I expected it to be true, because the Bible said it ought to be true for believers. Now I know why he had to make up stories.

[yunea]

I myself experienced a hip joint pain removal that lasted 7 years. Even my friends were commenting how much my walking had changed.

 

Then it came back absolutely crippling. (A good thing that the second time round, I actually had a doctor, physiotherapist and PT, and slowly I became pain-free again.)

 

I'm also very suggestible. Much later, I learned that hypnosis really can be that strong if the time is right and the other person is receptive enough. Too bad that the removal of pain or other symptoms isn't the same as actually fixing something, and in fact it can make things worse. I should have seen the doctor, physiotherapist and PT years and years earlier. I had a LOT of work to do with myself after having had wrong posture, wrong walking style and all kinds of ignorance about my body's condition for so many years.

[florduh]

[Healed of poor hindsight? I love it!]

 

Anyway, we obviously have misdiagnosis, spontaneous healing or remission, psychosomatic disorders, liars and frauds with vested interests. I think this sentence from the originally posted sales pitch article sums it up:  I echo the words of John Wesley in a similar situation: “Let men say what they will—I choose to say this is the power of God.”

 

It may be old and trite now, but I still have to ask the most pertinent and valid question, "Why doesn't God heal amputees?" There's no faking or mistaking that.

[Jeff]

Or just blind people occasionally.??

He even has precedent.

[Jeff]

Now that we have Google translate we won't need interpretation of tongues any more now that I think of it...

Omg. There has to be a random 'speaking in tongues' generator out on the web somewhere... If not, it must happen.

Ok I'm off topic badly now

[rach]

The faith healing nonsense isn't confined to the Christian circle.  I was desperately ill a couple years ago and went to see a specialist at the hospital.  On the way out I stopped to check in with the nurse.  She told me, "believe you will get better and you will."  She insisted that I should say the words "I will be healed before I come back next time" to her.  She became angry when I refused to do so.  I explained that I do not know whether I will be healed or not and saying magical words has no power to actually heal.  She proceeded to blame me for being sick because of "my negative attitude."  The attitude of "faith healing" is pervasive in the medical community.  These situations keep happening to me at doctors offices.  And my primary condition is Autism...an obviously lifelong problem! 

I can understand how Christians can fall into the trap of faith healing.  As Christians our minds were trained to operate on faith and the Bible is full of stories and promises about faith healing.  But for doctors and nurses, there is no excuse.  They are supposed to be smarter than that.