PAINT PICS
Finally, a little reader's quiz: that means you, reading this blog, get to say what you think! I've had several discussions with people in both medical and religious fields on the subject of miraculous healings; that is, people cured of ilness or injury through supernatural power. I'm interested to see what you guys think (Christians and non-Christians, perspectives from other religions might be especially interesting). Do you think miraculous healings:
A) Do not occur. Supposed healings are either fake or occur due to a placebo effect. If God exists, he does not heal people physically.
B) May occur, but only in the realm of the improbable, not the impossible. Impossiblilites such as healed paralysis don't occur; however, God might give a person the strength to overcome, say, cancer or serious injury.
C) Occur, but very rarely and unpredictable. God can, and has, work clear-cut miracles to heal people. However, it is vastly more likely that a person, Christian or not, will not be healed miraculouly from ilness.
D) Occur frequently, among people "tapped in" to God's healing power. God wants to heal us, and will do so provided we approach him the right way (be it prayer, healing services, enough faith, or whatever.)
My personal beliefs hover between "B" and "C." If anyone has a cool healing story I'd also LOVE to hear it!
5 comments:
I am very happy that you got such enthusiasm with the painting project. Comments on your survey will follow when I have thought about it some more.
Estelle
I fall somewhere in the B range. I've noticed a strong inverse relationship between the frequency with which God seems to preform a certain miracle and the availability of natural explanations. God is sometimes claimed to be responsible for remarkable coincidences and unexplainable events, but he never seems to do anything truly and incontrovertibly impossible, such as healing an amputee. I can't help but find that suspicious.
(Here's a long-winded expansion of that answer, if you're interested.)
I would like to preface this comment by saying I have thought about it for about 1/2 an hour so don't expect miracles (haha get it, yeah ok I know, I am very sick and flying to SA in an hour).
I think this whole notion of miraculous healings plays into the idea of free will, and how because of our free will we are given responsibility.
If God was to interject everytime a Christian person prayed for healing then it would almost be like taking away our responsibility. God, I am going to infer, would like us to take care of our minds, our bodies, this earth. So if he would start to heal someone everytime, or "frequently", whenever someone needs a miracle, I think we, as humans, would start to take no responsibility for ourselves. I, being a selfish and lazy human being, could say "well I can drink I can smoke, I don't have to take care of myself, because I know if I get sick all I have to do is pray to God and I will be healed." This, I am going to go out on a limb and say, is not what God wants for us.
So what about those that lead saintly lives and do not "deserve" to be sick? Should they not be granted a divine miracle for their perseverance and faith? Maybe, but I don't think it is as clear cut as that. Perhaps they are there to teach us a lesson. My grandpa died when he was 53 (i think) and he was about the most saintly unselfish man of God I think I have known. Yet he died. Through that experience I learned about perseverance in faith and living with peace and acceptance (I think I was only 8 or 9, I was a very observant child :).
Maybe it is a cop-out to say "we don't know God's plan for us" and use it as an excuse for not understanding what happens on earth. But we actually don't know God's plan for us and therefore can't possibly understand what happens on earth.
So does God perform miracles? I think if we are to accept the premise that God is God, and created humans out of mud and a rib, then we have to give him some credit and at least say he has the ability. However I don't think there is a formula to predict when those miracles will occur (or at least one that we have the ability to understand). What I think God wants from us is to see faith. How he then chooses to use us with our faith (be it to show a miracle or not), I believe is up to him.
Jacob; I agree with your "inverse relationship" theory. I do know a girl here who converted from Islam to Christianity upon seeing an "impossible", the healing of a paralyzed man. She's in medical school, which adds credibility for me, but I want to ask her about it in detail.
Kathryn, your ideas about free will are interesting. You are right that good behaviour does not necessarily need to divinely inspired health; even Jesus suffered, after all. I also agree that part of being God is having the power to work miracles. Whether God chooses to is another matter.
I'm sure we can discuss it in detail when you show up hear. Meanwhile, I will pray for healing-miraculous or not- of your cold:)
PS faith is hard
http://www.comics.com/comics/getfuzzy/archive/getfuzzy-20070422.html
no miraculous healing, just a funny comic...
Post a Comment