saintmichaeldefendthem
Gold Member
It's one of the least talked about dilemmas among Christians, faith healing. We all know and believe that God is all powerful and has miraculously healed the sick, given sight to the blind, made the lame to walk, and even raised people from the dead. Jesus praised people for their faith and rewarded them with healing, and it was so spectacular it drew crowds from distant cities.
Today's faith healing movements hark back to those times, when the passing shadow of Peter healed people, when in the shadow of the Crucifixion, tombs were opened and dead people walked alive. There's every reason to hope that God still heals today like he did in the Bible.
But what if faith is taken to such an extent that God is no longer allowed to say no? What if the lack of healing is proof of a lack of faith in the one asking for it? I see Pentecostal movements invite people to the altar for healing with an assurance that everyone who comes forward will be healed. I see Scientologists disdain doctors and medicine, trusting that God will heal them instead and it all leads me to one very important question:
Are Christians believing some lessons from the Bible at the expense of others?
We know the story of St. Paul who thrice asked the Lord to heal him of his infirmity, a thorn in his flesh. God told him that His grace would suffice instead. God said no.
But even further, it brings me to the healing of the paralyzed man. You know the story, Jesus is teaching in a house and the crowd is so thick that people cut through the roof and lowered a lame man on a gurney to where Jesus was. Jesus immediately forgave the man's sins. The crowd standing around waiting for Jesus to "do something" is instructive to us today. Jesus already had, the man's soul was healed and he was going to heaven. Jesus then, to prove to the doubters that he had the authority to forgive sins, healed the man and he walked out on his own two feet. But the physical healing was an afterthought, far eclipsed by the most important healing of all, the salvation of the soul.
And that sets the context for another teaching that Jesus gave, that if our eye causes us to sin, to pluck it out. Or if our hand causes us to sin, to cut it off, "for it is better to lose one member than to be cast whole bodied into hell". The lesson here isn't to mutilate oneself, but that A SAVED SOUL IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A PERFECT BODY.
Now let's close this by applying some real sobering context. Everyone who Jesus healed is dead. Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the grave died again. In the backdrop of eternity, our arthritis, diabetes, wheelchairs, cancers, and all other maladies are so insignificant as to not even be considered. We're putting our faith in healing when we should be putting it in Jesus.
And putting faith in Jesus means allowing him to say no. When clamoring for a healing leaves no room for another answer, we've lost sight of what's more important. We've failed to see that God works His glory on the canvas of pain, suffering, and the simple faith amidst the storm; that God creates in us a perfect work of trust and obedience.....
When we allow Him to say no.
Today's faith healing movements hark back to those times, when the passing shadow of Peter healed people, when in the shadow of the Crucifixion, tombs were opened and dead people walked alive. There's every reason to hope that God still heals today like he did in the Bible.
But what if faith is taken to such an extent that God is no longer allowed to say no? What if the lack of healing is proof of a lack of faith in the one asking for it? I see Pentecostal movements invite people to the altar for healing with an assurance that everyone who comes forward will be healed. I see Scientologists disdain doctors and medicine, trusting that God will heal them instead and it all leads me to one very important question:
Are Christians believing some lessons from the Bible at the expense of others?
We know the story of St. Paul who thrice asked the Lord to heal him of his infirmity, a thorn in his flesh. God told him that His grace would suffice instead. God said no.
But even further, it brings me to the healing of the paralyzed man. You know the story, Jesus is teaching in a house and the crowd is so thick that people cut through the roof and lowered a lame man on a gurney to where Jesus was. Jesus immediately forgave the man's sins. The crowd standing around waiting for Jesus to "do something" is instructive to us today. Jesus already had, the man's soul was healed and he was going to heaven. Jesus then, to prove to the doubters that he had the authority to forgive sins, healed the man and he walked out on his own two feet. But the physical healing was an afterthought, far eclipsed by the most important healing of all, the salvation of the soul.
And that sets the context for another teaching that Jesus gave, that if our eye causes us to sin, to pluck it out. Or if our hand causes us to sin, to cut it off, "for it is better to lose one member than to be cast whole bodied into hell". The lesson here isn't to mutilate oneself, but that A SAVED SOUL IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN A PERFECT BODY.
Now let's close this by applying some real sobering context. Everyone who Jesus healed is dead. Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the grave died again. In the backdrop of eternity, our arthritis, diabetes, wheelchairs, cancers, and all other maladies are so insignificant as to not even be considered. We're putting our faith in healing when we should be putting it in Jesus.
And putting faith in Jesus means allowing him to say no. When clamoring for a healing leaves no room for another answer, we've lost sight of what's more important. We've failed to see that God works His glory on the canvas of pain, suffering, and the simple faith amidst the storm; that God creates in us a perfect work of trust and obedience.....
When we allow Him to say no.