Chewie's spiritual showdown! Faith vs. Science

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-08-21 09:00pm

As some of you know, I've been having problems with my ear for about seven months now. Its a painful congestion, I've been taking painkillers every day as well as decongestents to manage it. Multiple doctors have been unable to identify any source of a problem or suggest any possible solutions, and have said I may have to 'learn to live with it'.

Now, I went to my bible study last week and there was a couple there who does spiritual (christian) healing and alternative medicine. The woman offered to treat me for free, and I'm taking her up on it. I talked to her today on the phone, and after discussing the history of my problem with her she put me on pretty much an atkins diet plan for a week to "soften the congestion". She thinks its some sort of fungal/bacterial thing in there that my body's own defenses are unable to fight off because I was on antibiotics for so long. Then, after a week of the diet I'm going to go in for some sort of massage-thing which should open me up and allow it to drain.

She's a nice lady, and I really have no other plans/ideas for how to fix my ear. I'm thinking this will be interesting to observe, as I both have faith in science and reason as well as faith in the power of God.

I'll keep you all posted on how things go.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-08-22 01:19am

Diets and massage have nothing to do about God, dude. If you get better, and I hope you do, it just proves that medical textbooks don't cover diets and massages and that these docs of yours are in the "pop magic medicine" mentality thing.

Shit, ear pain for seven months? That's horrible!

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-08-22 02:22am

Shroom Man 777 wrote:Diets and massage have nothing to do about God, dude. If you get better, and I hope you do, it just proves that medical textbooks don't cover diets and massages and that these docs of yours are in the "pop magic medicine" mentality thing.

Shit, ear pain for seven months? That's horrible!

Alot of the lady's stuff is "healing through prayer". When I was talking to her on the phone today, she prayed for my healing.

mr friendly guy · Post by **mr friendly guy** » 2006-08-22 02:35am

Have you seen an ENT surgeon? If you have, I am wondering if they had any ideas, or just said I can't explain it.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-08-22 02:45am

CaptainChewbacca wrote:
Shroom Man 777 wrote:Diets and massage have nothing to do about God, dude. If you get better, and I hope you do, it just proves that medical textbooks don't cover diets and massages and that these docs of yours are in the "pop magic medicine" mentality thing.

Shit, ear pain for seven months? That's horrible!
Alot of the lady's stuff is "healing through prayer". When I was talking to her on the phone today, she prayed for my healing.

Then why do you need to go on a special diet that will cut down on your mucus production? Can't God get rid of a little ear congestion without making you go on a diet?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-08-22 03:39am

Its how she works, and its free, so I'm not asking questions. Its a whole-body-wellness thing.

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2006-08-22 06:09am

The power of placebo...

Hope it works for you, mate. But if you start feeling worse because of it I strongly suggest you give it up as a bad job.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-08-22 06:20am

Hey, don't diss the diet. What you eat does have a significant effect on what you are

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2006-08-22 06:42am

I actually support Chewie on this. I know what you are thinking "Gil is a cynical atheist who in the past has publically stated that faith based healing is not any better than tribal hoodoo and he's going trash this", but something similar worked for me this summer.

See, I was trying to lose 25 pounds over the course of the summer as a target. So a friend of mine tuned me into the weight losing power of the Swedish pop group ABBA. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I'm an open minded person, so I took him up on it. As he lent me a mix CD of ABBA's greatest hits, he told me there were only special conditions for the disco based weight loss program to work.

-I had to listen to the hour long CD end to end and in that hour, in order for the fat melting power to fix my body, I had to do a series of aerobic exercises and free weights.
-Also, in the mornings, I had to leave the house and roller skate until the CD had finished spinning, to honor the frequency of ABBA being played in Roller Discos.
-Finally, I had to go on his special ABBA diet, where I decreased my calorie intake to 2500 calories a day during the week and couldn't just drink Coca-Cola all the time, but rather tap water half the time. I was allowed special occasions.

I thought this was all very weird, because I don't even like ABBA, but as I started digging the Dancing Queen and following the ABBA diet, I started losing a pound and a half a week and by the end of the summer lost 23 pounds from when I started! It was great! ABBA really burned the flab off of me like nothing I tried before.

So that's why I don't think we should bust Chewbacca's wookiee balls on this.

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2006-08-22 06:53am

Yeah, sometimes the simpler practical things are overlooked in over reliance to shiny stuff.

It makes sense if a healthy diet gets rid of the ear pain. I mean, if the wrong kind of food makes pimples grow on your face or make you want to scratch your hair off, then why can't they also affect your internal systems?

Lord Woodlouse · Post by **Lord Woodlouse** » 2006-08-22 07:31am

Gil Hamilton wrote:I actually support Chewie on this. I know what you are thinking "Gil is a cynical atheist who in the past has publically stated that faith based healing is not any better than tribal hoodoo and he's going trash this", but something similar worked for me this summer.

See, I was trying to lose 25 pounds over the course of the summer as a target. So a friend of mine tuned me into the weight losing power of the Swedish pop group ABBA. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I'm an open minded person, so I took him up on it. As he lent me a mix CD of ABBA's greatest hits, he told me there were only special conditions for the disco based weight loss program to work.

-I had to listen to the hour long CD end to end and in that hour, in order for the fat melting power to fix my body, I had to do a series of aerobic exercises and free weights.
-Also, in the mornings, I had to leave the house and roller skate until the CD had finished spinning, to honor the frequency of ABBA being played in Roller Discos.
-Finally, I had to go on his special ABBA diet, where I decreased my calorie intake to 2500 calories a day during the week and couldn't just drink Coca-Cola all the time, but rather tap water half the time. I was allowed special occasions.

I thought this was all very weird, because I don't even like ABBA, but as I started digging the Dancing Queen and following the ABBA diet, I started losing a pound and a half a week and by the end of the summer lost 23 pounds from when I started! It was great! ABBA really burned the flab off of me like nothing I tried before.

So that's why I don't think we should bust Chewbacca's wookiee balls on this.

There's a hidden message here, I'm sure of it.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2006-08-22 09:59am

Just keep in mind that if your ear does start to get better, then chances are it's the diet and massages and not the prayer. Prayer doesn't do a damn thing, but this therapy actually sounds like a good idea. Just take it with a grain of salt, if you know what I mean.

Setesh · Post by **Setesh** » 2006-08-22 10:19am

You need to be damn careful on any diet plan, especially Atkins-like low carb diets. Atkins is a serious health risk if followed to the letter. It was formulated for people with certain kinds of heart disease and/or diabeties, people without those conditions and have kept to the diet to long have been suffering of all thing gout.

That aside this diet won't affect mucus production since its mucins (a kind of heavy protein) and inorganic salts suspended in water. As long as the body has the materials and a reason to make it, it will continue to make it.

That aside, this may seem like a strange question but have you had any wisdom teeth pulled?

Darth Raptor · Post by **Darth Raptor** » 2006-08-22 11:18am

Lord Woodlouse wrote:There's a hidden message here, I'm sure of it.

Can you discern the active ingredients from the inert ones?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-08-22 12:37pm

Setesh wrote:You need to be damn careful on any diet plan, especially Atkins-like low carb diets. Atkins is a serious health risk if followed to the letter. It was formulated for people with certain kinds of heart disease and/or diabeties, people without those conditions and have kept to the diet to long have been suffering of all thing gout.

That aside this diet won't affect mucus production since its mucins (a kind of heavy protein) and inorganic salts suspended in water. As long as the body has the materials and a reason to make it, it will continue to make it.

That aside, this may seem like a strange question but have you had any wisdom teeth pulled?

I know about the problems with Atkins. I ran this thing past my mother, who's a nurse practitioner, and she said since I'm only doing this for a week or two it would be ok as long as I didn't keep up with it. And yes, I got my wisdom teeth out about 7 years ago.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-08-22 06:22pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:I actually support Chewie on this. I know what you are thinking "Gil is a cynical atheist who in the past has publically stated that faith based healing is not any better than tribal hoodoo and he's going trash this", but something similar worked for me this summer.

See, I was trying to lose 25 pounds over the course of the summer as a target. So a friend of mine tuned me into the weight losing power of the Swedish pop group ABBA. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I'm an open minded person, so I took him up on it. As he lent me a mix CD of ABBA's greatest hits, he told me there were only special conditions for the disco based weight loss program to work.

-I had to listen to the hour long CD end to end and in that hour, in order for the fat melting power to fix my body, I had to do a series of aerobic exercises and free weights.
-Also, in the mornings, I had to leave the house and roller skate until the CD had finished spinning, to honor the frequency of ABBA being played in Roller Discos.
-Finally, I had to go on his special ABBA diet, where I decreased my calorie intake to 2500 calories a day during the week and couldn't just drink Coca-Cola all the time, but rather tap water half the time. I was allowed special occasions.

I thought this was all very weird, because I don't even like ABBA, but as I started digging the Dancing Queen and following the ABBA diet, I started losing a pound and a half a week and by the end of the summer lost 23 pounds from when I started! It was great! ABBA really burned the flab off of me like nothing I tried before.

So that's why I don't think we should bust Chewbacca's wookiee balls on this.

What does that have to do with faith healing again? You dieted and exercised, and consequently lost weight. Holy shit.

Chewie's treatment, on the other hand, expects the same thing to cure ear pain, which is slightly less substantiated, though still plausible.

Lord Zentei · Post by **Lord Zentei** » 2006-08-22 06:29pm

wolveraptor wrote:
Gil Hamilton wrote:I actually support Chewie on this. I know what you are thinking "Gil is a cynical atheist who in the past has publically stated that faith based healing is not any better than tribal hoodoo and he's going trash this", but something similar worked for me this summer.

See, I was trying to lose 25 pounds over the course of the summer as a target. So a friend of mine tuned me into the weight losing power of the Swedish pop group ABBA. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I'm an open minded person, so I took him up on it. As he lent me a mix CD of ABBA's greatest hits, he told me there were only special conditions for the disco based weight loss program to work.

-I had to listen to the hour long CD end to end and in that hour, in order for the fat melting power to fix my body, I had to do a series of aerobic exercises and free weights.
-Also, in the mornings, I had to leave the house and roller skate until the CD had finished spinning, to honor the frequency of ABBA being played in Roller Discos.
-Finally, I had to go on his special ABBA diet, where I decreased my calorie intake to 2500 calories a day during the week and couldn't just drink Coca-Cola all the time, but rather tap water half the time. I was allowed special occasions.

I thought this was all very weird, because I don't even like ABBA, but as I started digging the Dancing Queen and following the ABBA diet, I started losing a pound and a half a week and by the end of the summer lost 23 pounds from when I started! It was great! ABBA really burned the flab off of me like nothing I tried before.

So that's why I don't think we should bust Chewbacca's wookiee balls on this.
What does that have to do with faith healing again? You dieted and exercised, and consequently lost weight. Holy shit.

Chewie's treatment, on the other hand, expects the same thing to cure ear pain, which is slightly less substantiated, though still plausible.

Your sarcasm detector is broken, methinks.

CaptainChewbacca, if you want to gauge the effects of prayer, anecdote isn't worth shit - especially if you are using other methods in conjunction with it.

Spin Echo · Post by **Spin Echo** » 2006-08-22 06:34pm

wolveraptor wrote:What does that have to do with faith healing again? You dieted and exercised, and consequently lost weight. Holy shit.

I could be wrong on this one, but I'm pretty sure what Gil wrote was satire.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2006-08-22 06:34pm

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-08-22 06:43pm

I could be wrong on this one, but I'm pretty sure what Gil wrote was satire.

Your sarcasm detector is broken, methinks.

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2006-08-22 09:53pm

Gil Hamilton wrote:I actually support Chewie on this. I know what you are thinking "Gil is a cynical atheist who in the past has publically stated that faith based healing is not any better than tribal hoodoo and he's going trash this", but something similar worked for me this summer.

See, I was trying to lose 25 pounds over the course of the summer as a target. So a friend of mine tuned me into the weight losing power of the Swedish pop group ABBA. I was skeptical, to say the least, but I'm an open minded person, so I took him up on it. As he lent me a mix CD of ABBA's greatest hits, he told me there were only special conditions for the disco based weight loss program to work.

-I had to listen to the hour long CD end to end and in that hour, in order for the fat melting power to fix my body, I had to do a series of aerobic exercises and free weights.
-Also, in the mornings, I had to leave the house and roller skate until the CD had finished spinning, to honor the frequency of ABBA being played in Roller Discos.
-Finally, I had to go on his special ABBA diet, where I decreased my calorie intake to 2500 calories a day during the week and couldn't just drink Coca-Cola all the time, but rather tap water half the time. I was allowed special occasions.

I thought this was all very weird, because I don't even like ABBA, but as I started digging the Dancing Queen and following the ABBA diet, I started losing a pound and a half a week and by the end of the summer lost 23 pounds from when I started! It was great! ABBA really burned the flab off of me like nothing I tried before.

So that's why I don't think we should bust Chewbacca's wookiee balls on this.

So what you're saying is, all I have to do is listen to Abba for an hour a day and the fat will melt off no matter what I eat or drink? I'm in!

Chewie: What about having tubes implanted in your ears?

StarshipTitanic · Post by **StarshipTitanic** » 2006-08-22 10:35pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Its how she works, and its free, so I'm not asking questions. Its a whole-body-wellness thing.

Then where's the showdown? Are you going to accept any improvement of health as the work of God and ignore the fact that you're doing healthy things?

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-08-23 03:33am

This healer is a fucking idiot. This bogus "diet-can-anything" nonsense is a bunch of crap. Ask her to throw some magnets in with that snake oil.

And you can bet this screwball chick believes all this nonsense because she herself screwed up. Her parents screwed her up somehow, now she "heals" people with more protein and less carbohydrate intake diets. Who the hell needs medical school? Just eat this special diet!

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2006-08-23 03:38am

By the way Chewie, you doing okay with those painkillers? Narcotic opiate pain killers can have a nasty withdrawal syndrome when usage is ceased.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2006-08-23 10:03am

Superman wrote:By the way Chewie, you doing okay with those painkillers? Narcotic opiate pain killers can have a nasty withdrawal syndrome when usage is ceased.

You know, they're not supposed to. If you suffer from withdrawal symptoms because of painkillers, then your doctor is obviously incompetent because he's prescribing the wrong dosage and advice.

Most medical research now show that the myth of painkiller addicts is a myth, and that prescribing more painkillers to alleviate pain does not create physical addiction. In particular, it may even shift patients off the "sick" role they may choose to play if they're in pain.