Testimony

[defanatic]

How do you explain away the 'healing power of God'? I mean, certain sicknesses I can handle (For some reason or other, I imagine a syringe going into my head and getting gunk out when I have a headache, and it works!), but what about things like:
"I felt the power of God flow through me, and alas! my bones were not twisted anymore"
or
"blablabla praise God blablabla through my life I have had a bent spine, but after that... etc."

How does that work?

Obviously it isn't the christian God, because other religions get the same stuff also. What is it?

[DPDarkPrimus]

Either they're just passing on hearsay from someone else, they witnessed deceptions by televangelists or the like, or they are plain out lying.

Simply saying "I was relieved of X malady, and God did it" is not proof. Even if they did pray and they did recover, they still have to demonstrate that there was divine intervention.

[Darth Wong]

Christians don't statistically live longer than anyone else, nor are they healthier than anyone else. Anecdotal stories of the "healing power of God" are most likely either exaggeration, placebo, or scams.

[Jalinth]

The placebo effect does exist - one reason why drug studies need double-blind controls. Whether the placebo in question is your white sugar pill or a reverend is irrelevant.

[Wyrm]

The placebo effect does exist - one reason why drug studies need double-blind controls. Whether the placebo in question is your white sugar pill or a reverend is irrelevant.

True, but you're not required to worship a sugar pill... well, you might if you had a sweet tooth, but you're not threatened to be plunged into a lake of fire for not believing in the Divine Sugar Pill.

[DPDarkPrimus]

The placebo effect does exist - one reason why drug studies need double-blind controls. Whether the placebo in question is your white sugar pill or a reverend is irrelevant.

The placebo effect only works if you pray for yourself, anyways.

[Guardsman Bass]

Pat Robertson would say on the 700 Club, "Some [insert man or woman] out there is being healed of [insert disease] right now!" Since he had a large number of viewers, odds are he'd get at least one person with that disease, who then had a quick recovery.

[ntstlkr]

Whats funny is the capriciousness of the "cure". For all the folks who get some sort of cure through prayer, faith, etc, I'd give you odss that there are far more who do not get cured though they possess the same amount of faith or prayed just as hard (or what ever).

The 'ol CYA angle. Every cured individual gets put up as a testamont to the "power of God", every death just a case of "the Lord decided it was their time to be called to him" or "the Lord works in mysterious ways" bs. They just won't admit that God really doesn't have crap to do with people dying, getting sick, or even getting cured. He's either a convenient scapegoat when shit goes wrong or the untouchable hero who can do no wrong, often both. Kinda pschizo eh?

[General Zod]

Obviously it isn't the christian God, because other religions get the same stuff also. What is it?

Ever hear of the expression smoke and mirrors? Frankly, the vast majority of "miracle healing" is either placebo or outright fraud. If such a thing did exist, the Randi prize would've been claimed already.

[mr friendly guy]

I also find it funny that this healing usually takes the form where its harder to verify on television. For example say someone "cured" of cancer. To be determine the cancer is in remission would usually involve blood tests and scans which aren't done live.

Now let God heal someone of an amputated foot live, now that would be something.

[Dooey Jo]

Now let God heal someone of an amputated foot live, now that would be something.

God can only do that when nobody's watching. And also only to friends of a friend