The Magic of Faith Healing
By Dave, the WM
What should anyone think when confronted with reported claims of miraculous healings? From time to time a commentator on this blog emphatically claims to have witnessed miraculous healings. Naturally, credit for these magical interventions of divine health is attributed to a moving of the Holy Spirit in some religious meeting, or perhaps by some special "anointing" that spontaneously falls on someone. One believer in supernatural healing commented on a letter posted here: You have a little mind.
But are Christians the only people laying claim to supernatural healings?
Here are some excerpts from the Deccan Herald published in India:
In case it wasn't obvious, these three "believers" weren't Christians.
Here's more, from an online article about Daya Mataji :
Notice the statement about temporary cures being considered signs of a lack of faith. I can't count the number of times I heard this exact same statement repeated in Charismatic circles.
Manaism is another religion that believes in supernatural healing. According to Wikipedia, Manaism is a belief in a supernatural force that travels swiftly like an electric current around the world and suddenly enters other people and objects giving them powers which they previously lacked. Visions, premonitions, sudden strength in people, faith healing all are part of this belief. This so-called supernatural force is known by several names:
(A) WAKAN IN AFRICA
(B) MANA IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA
(C) Qi (or Chi) in China; Gi in Korea; Ki in Japan
(D) SING-BONGA AMONG MUNDAS AND HOS OF MADHYA PRADESH
From Wikipedia:
To close this little rant, here is a quote from "Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking" by Warren H. Jones (page 35).
So, what do you think?
For further reading, see:
Faith Healing
"Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking" by Warren H. Jones.
An overview of magical thinking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking
Previously posted video:James Randi on Faith Healing.
What should anyone think when confronted with reported claims of miraculous healings? From time to time a commentator on this blog emphatically claims to have witnessed miraculous healings. Naturally, credit for these magical interventions of divine health is attributed to a moving of the Holy Spirit in some religious meeting, or perhaps by some special "anointing" that spontaneously falls on someone. One believer in supernatural healing commented on a letter posted here: You have a little mind.
But are Christians the only people laying claim to supernatural healings?
Here are some excerpts from the Deccan Herald published in India:
Gopi Malhotra down on holiday from the US says, "Sure I do believe faith heals, not just physically but mentally too. One does not have to put down ones crutches and walk to be healed. Mentally and emotionally too we can be healed through faith."
Pratima Mathias readily answered the question. "Yes! I do believe very strongly that faith heals. There is a power in faith that can move mountains. I personally have felt the healing power of faith in Shimoga where I come from. I had an abscess on my arm that was painful and gave me a lot of trouble. Then I attended a meeting in Shimoga where a faith healer prayed with a big group and the cure was not a miraculous cure, but the abscess just disappeared over a few days."
Walking along MG Road, conspicuous in his saffron robe was Giridhar, an Iskcon follower. "I come from Finland and I believe very strongly that faith heals. Of course, it depends on God's desire if he wants to heal you or not. In all religions, whether the Koran, the Bible, or Hindu texts, there is the fact that faith is a great healer. I used to have a lot of acne all over my face and back. Nothing would cure it. Only when I began to practice my faith, the acne just cleared up rapidly."
In case it wasn't obvious, these three "believers" weren't Christians.
Here's more, from an online article about Daya Mataji :
The stories about Mataji's healing prowess are legion. Tales of curing incurable cases of cancer, making the blind see and the lame walk are avidly told and retold among her followers. Indeed, as with many other gurus and cults, the hope of obtaining relief from a physical ailment or a distressful emotional condition is one of the two primary motives for becoming a member of the cult; the other being a hidden wish for siddhis, or magical powers, which are interminably talked about by her followers even while they are being overtly decried. The gurus themselves would look at healing of sickness as necessary bait for their proper task of leading a person toward self-realization. Perhaps they regret the fact that skepticism is a child of well-being and deplore the perversity of man who is otherwise so little interested in mystical bliss, even when it is so easily and so painlessly provided as by Mataji. As a healer, Mataji is undoubtedly effective, though again, as with other healers, a number of her cures are little more than provision of temporary relief. A typical example is a woman who suffered from excruciating "back pains." After exhausting the resources of modern medicine she went to see Mataji at a friend's house. At that time Mataji was still developing her mystical technology of kundalini raising and had yet to complete the transition from healing to holiness. Mataji asked the woman to put her head on her lap and be still. After a few minutes the woman felt the pain leave her while at the same time there was a strong scent of jasmine flowers in the room. The pain came back when she returned home and though she faithfully attended Mataji's discourses on the following days, that first experience of a sudden disappearing of pain was never repeated. The cult members of course consider such temporary cures as showing a lack of faith in Mataji and her divinity. Given their premise that faith in Mataji can permanently cure the most intractable disease, a patient's persisting symptoms "prove" that he lacks faith, which in turn "proves" the correctness of the premise.
Notice the statement about temporary cures being considered signs of a lack of faith. I can't count the number of times I heard this exact same statement repeated in Charismatic circles.
Manaism is another religion that believes in supernatural healing. According to Wikipedia, Manaism is a belief in a supernatural force that travels swiftly like an electric current around the world and suddenly enters other people and objects giving them powers which they previously lacked. Visions, premonitions, sudden strength in people, faith healing all are part of this belief. This so-called supernatural force is known by several names:
(A) WAKAN IN AFRICA
(B) MANA IN AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA
(C) Qi (or Chi) in China; Gi in Korea; Ki in Japan
(D) SING-BONGA AMONG MUNDAS AND HOS OF MADHYA PRADESH
From Wikipedia:
Faith healing has not scientifically been proven effective. What few controlled studies have been performed have evidenced no beneficial effect. Its practitioners can only cite anecdotal evidence of cases where it has been successful, ignoring the far more numerous cases where the patient dies despite the efforts of faith healing. Doctors often ascribe any success to the placebo effect or to spontaneous remission: some people will heal with or without treatment, and it is generally natural to credit the most recent treatment for the cure.
Prominent 1980's-era faith healer and televangelist Peter Popoff was publicly exposed by noted skeptic James Randi working together with popular TV host Johnny Carson, when it was discovered that the apparent healing miracles and prophetic acts performed by Popoff were in fact part of an elaborately stage-managed setup including planting of audience members and broadcasts to an in-ear radio receiver. Other faith healers such as Benny Hinn (who was videotaped by hidden cameras and profiled on an episode CBC's The Fifth Estate) have also been hit by allegations of fraudulent activity.
To close this little rant, here is a quote from "Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking" by Warren H. Jones (page 35).
It is possible to accept the fact of recovery from a severe illness or handicap without medical intervention and at the same time discount claims that recovery was caused by a supernatural force. Many recoveries can be explained by known physiological and psychological principles. Others cannot be so explained. To equate the unexplained with the miraculous, however, is unjustifiable. Unexplained only means unexplained.
So, what do you think?
For further reading, see:
Faith Healing
"Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking" by Warren H. Jones.
An overview of magical thinking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking
Previously posted video:James Randi on Faith Healing.
Comments
The impact of the mind is pretty powerful, since much of the body's responses are controlled by direct use of neuropeptides. This was only really significantly found in the 1980s, but the direct effects are not known fully. There are numerous 'mysteries' (unpredictable behaviours) in endocrinology, that effect all the body chemistry, at times faster than can be transmitted by nerves...
'Mystic' experience has a pretty strong effect on brain chemistry. The Buddhist monks who can consciously raise or lower body temperature as a prima facie case of 'mind over matter'. The kind of experience that happens with the 'faithful' is of the same class. The endocrine system controls mood, cell replication and metabolism, and protein and nutrient absorption, so why shouldn't a sufficiently powerful jolt to the system trigger physiological changes of greater or lesser duration?
Problem with much of this material is that it's largely anecdotal. It's had to get a 'mystical' experience to order (unless you're a Buddhist Monk, and they tend to be both fit and happy)so lab testing isn't going to work. Most GPs won't record it since it 'doesn't fit' so in the end, you only get the religious fruit loops claiming their invisible friend did the work when really, it appears to be a 'wild talent' (in the Charles Fort sense.
Love and hugs
Gramps
GH
I believe that our brain has the power to make us sick and to heal, to a certain extent.
I think what many people call God is no-more than the human brain. After all, it is a computer which runs the body. So if you can tell your brain to do something and you can energize the thought, you may be healed.
No gods involved--unless, of course, we are all gods.
That 'We're all gods' view is something of a feature in New Thought or Theosophy :)
GH
1 - It probably was a lab mistake. They do happen, regardless of what the doctors try to claim. Many doctors actually RELY on the "mysterious god healed you thing" because its bad form to admit they don't know something or mis-diagnosed someone.
2 - I had hicups once. No matter what I did all day they would not go away. I tried standing on my head and swallowing water, holding my breath, biting a lemon seasoned with various salts and sugars and spices, even breathing into a bag for 45 minutes - all to no avail. Then someone told me the easiest way to get rid of hiccups was to hold my breath and spin in a circle 3 times counter clock wise, and 3 times clock wise. Eventually they talked me into trying it and the hiccups vanished!. Does that mean their 'remedy' is true? No. Because it did not work the next time I had hiccups - when you suffer from something and are trying many things, eventually what you suffer from may clear on its own and the last thing you tried (or thing you mentally believe actually helps) will be what you give credit to working.
3 - Your prayer group probably had some generic prayer they sent out for all distant members and when you later reported your experience they expanded upon the original actions because people simply like to stretch the truth of a story. Most likely you were not specifically named when they had their prayer group, maybe you were, but in the end once they became aware of your story they melded theirs along to it. Also, how often does your wife and her group spontaneously get together to pray? Doesn't it seem more likely a coincidence? Also, why do you feel that god would take the time to heal you of a headache while allowing so much other suffering in the world? Do you think that you are special? The only true believer in god? Does this make sense to you? Seriously - you try and show proof of god with a coincidence dealing with a headache? Can you see how inane that statement of claim really is?
Why is it that when prayer works or god acts it can always be attributed to randomness or coincidence? Why does he never do anything in the open (and please don't say he doesn't want to remove "free will" because that bad claim - didn't stop him from showing himself to people as described in the bible).
Why has god never healed an amputee or cured a child of Down's syndrome or spontaneously regenerated a severe burn victim? These miracles that are always attributed to god are also things that happen to anyone, at anytime, believers and non believers alike.
Blaine, it's really nice for "god" to heal you of a headache and yet let 100 children starve to death each and every day, don't you think? And if life is eternal, what is death, a temporary speed bump on the road of life? We have graveyards that prove that life if not eternal. That is reality. Perhaps you may want to give that a try.
"faith" doesn't heal. If you're sick, you're gonna be sick. If you are sick all your life and no doctor can cure you, it sure as hell ain't YOUR fault. It's either theirs for not knowing any way to cure it or just the way things are.
Patients always get the blame though when they don't just get better and get it over with.
I guess I still don't understand your reference to 1971 being the experience that showed you god. You've described a rough life and you've described some experiences about saving lives during gang fighting - but nothing that really ties it all together. In fact, what I see here is a lack of god and the acts of a brave individual. I see a single person standing against other people.
What kind of "god of love" would allow the torment that you experienced with your dad? The sexual abuse, beatings, mental abuse, hard times, lonliness, etc. Again, what kind of god?
I simply do not see the same message of faith that you do while reading this. I see someone who was simply alone. Someone who was spurned by their own father and experienced sexual abuse by others and who really had no one to turn to. It's no wonder that you would cling to a cherry picked idea of a god that would fulfill your needs of someone who actually loved you and would look over you.
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