FAITH HEALING – Many parents have been charged of neglect and even homicide and manslaughter after refusing treatment for their children.

Throughout the history of humans, faith healing has played a major role in the diagnosis and curing of illness.

 

According to the New Testament, one of the earliest doctors using faith healing was Jesus Christ, who healed the blind, lepers and the deaf, among many others. Since the life of Christ there have been other faith healers who have invoked the power of God or the Holy Spirit for purposes of healing.

Ancient cultures also often invoked higher powers for healing purposes. The Egyptians practised pseudo-scientific faith healing procedures, and often invoked the power of different gods for different ailments.

A number of rituals and practices are used in faith healing. These include praying, anointing, blessing, exorcisms, religious readings, the use of amulets and laying hands on the sick person. Specific holy book verses are reportedly better for healing, and certain oils are infused with healing power. Some prayers will be made one-on-one with an ill individual, while other types of faith healing advocate large groups of people praying over an individual. Some faith healers using faith healing in conjunction with Western medicine, but others rely solely on faith healing.

Accounts of mysterious and miraculous faith healing can be found throughout history. After being told he could not be cured, a doctor in 1887 was miraculously healed of heart disease. In 1991, an American woman experienced the powers of faith healing when her prayer invoked God to remove a suspicious lump from her breast. The woman, after visiting a doctor on a Friday afternoon, focused her energies on healing over the weekend. When she went back to the doctor, the lump had disappeared completely. A Canadian woman witnessed the power of faith healing by prayer after she came to God and asked for her sister to be healed. Shortly after her prayer, the woman reported feeling “as if a heavy weight” had been lifted from her. Her sister, who had been for 10 years afflicted with mental illness, was miraculously healed by the power of God, according to the woman.

In the present-day Middle East, faith healing is practiced alongside modern medical procedures for both physical and mental illness. Many healing practices in the Middle East are performed by women, and some women make pilgrimages to the shrines of saints who they can invoke for healing. The use of amulets, small pieces of paper, cloth or other materials, is common in the region. Prayer and chanting is also common.

Scientists who have attempted to study faith healing have produced conflicting results. A 2001 study on persons with rheumatoid arthritis concluded that patients who received in-person prayer showed “significant overall improvement” in their condition. A later study, on the other hand, determined no effect of prayer and criticized the earlier study for misinterpreting data. Although many scientists and theologians believe that practices such as faith healing can not be accurately measured by scientific means, others continue to study the phenomena.

Critics of faith healing argue that it is not a reliable form of treatment. Thousands of people have died after relying on faith healing, including a number of children. In the United States there have been numerous cases of children from faith healing households dying as a result of Measles, bacterial infections, diabetes complications and pneumonia, among other diseases. As a result many parents have been charged of neglect and even homicide and manslaughter after refusing treatment for their children.

Despite the controversy surrounding it, faith healing has been an enduring force and will likely exist for many years. Like the mysteries of other metaphysical phenomena, the mysteries of faith healing will very likely remain forever unsolved.

For more information see:

The Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, Ed. J. Wentzel Vrede van Huyssteen, Vol. 2. (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003)

Encyclopedia of Religion, Ed. Lindsay Jones, Vol. 6. 2nd ed. (Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. p3843-3848.)

http://www.unsolved-mysteries.com/metaphysics_psychology/faith_healing.html

 

The PAIN while we are going through DOWN periods can be a blessing in disguise.

The PAIN while we are going through DOWN periods can be a blessing in disguise. It is a known fact that we are strongly motivated by two factors in our lives. We automatically gravitate AWAY from potential PAIN and we are ATTRACTED by potential PLEASURE. It is our FEELINGS that direct most of the choices that we make in life. We more often than not follow the path of least resistance. We tend to slavishly obey one of the millions of mind movies that we gathered since our early childhood. We blindly act on the FEELINGS that are “packaged” together with every experience we acquired during our lifetime. We never STOP for a moment and question the validity of the feelings that we experience. We become like some kind of copy machine that daily copy everything that came before. This mindset stops all potential for GROWTH. It is often only when we go through serious emotional or physical PAIN that we WAKE UP to the REALITIES of life. It is often intense PAIN that is needed to force us to notice a “TRUTH” that we have been ignoring. We tend to see what we want to see and hear only what we want to hear while we are in this hypnotised state of mind. The PAIN ALARM fortunately wakes some of us up and forces us to ask, “Is there something that I have been ignoring in my relationships, work or any other area of my life?” It is only when we are outside the reach of the “spell” of a person or situation that we seem to notice things and people in their true perspective. Repeat the following as often as you can today. I will today become acutely aware of the role that PAIN plays in my life. Pain is my ALARM system to inform me that there is something that needs to be modified. You will be astounded how accurate this system is and how it guides you not only in the moments, but remind you that some of your historical perceptions (beliefs) might need updating.

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