Why? This question has always bothered me as i have tried to repair myself over the years. Jesus was healing people left and right that nobody could do today, did he have knowledge that we simply do not. I know what you will say that the man did not exist but why so much emphasis on this man in the new testament if he never existed and why is nobody else more revered across the board. Even the muslims acknowledge the guy if i am not mistaken. Anyways i have always felt someone was watching me from somewhere even if i didn't agree with the cult since i was young. Believe me i have tried very hard to not be found by society but yet i still get found. I know i am a hypocrite for being here still but as i saw a man with one leg today i just thought this is bullsh#t. My legs don't feel normal at all and this guy has one leg and doctors and medical science have no clue what to do to fix it.

Spiritual healing, should it really exist, apparently cannot be controlled; there's no switch to turn it on. That's a fact that cannot be disputed.

Words were put in Jesus' mouth, to the effect of, "if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'move ye hence' and the mountain would move."

The implication was that 'faith' was the key. Thus allowing for a tidy explanation for a failure to gain the sought for result, usually assigned to the person wanting the 'miracle'. He or she just didn't believe...

Ever wonder why Tommy and other 14 special witnesses to the name of Christ don't go around healing and raising from dead? It's cuz they can't. If they could, many of us would have to wonder, 'Hey, could the church be true?!' But I will bet you all next year's toe nail clippings that it'll never happen.

Oh, sure, every once in a while you hear a miracle story, but mostly they are the exceptions that prove the general rule.

Better you should believe in nano technology being developed that will fix us all up like never before.

Yeah, there's no "biblical healing."
Just unconfirmable stories, and people desperate for 'miracles' that don't happen.

Look at it this way: in the bible, the stories tell of Jesus 'healing' either 1 or 11 lepers (it depends on which 'gospel' you go by). Out of probably tens of thousands of lepers in the area when he was supposed to have been there.

Meanwhile, the science of our day has produced a cure for leprosy in the form of medication. It works on everybody who takes it. The afflicted doesn't need to have 'faith' in Jesus or anything else, doesn't need to beg or pray, just needs to take the medication. And world health organizations have been making the medication available to anyone who needs it, free of charge. And the healing effects of the medication, rather than coming from old unverifiable stories, are completely documented. In the past 20 years, more than 16 million people have been cured of leprosy by the science of our day.

The science of our day wins. Hands down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprosy

Didn't he heal more than just the lepers. Like blindness and other various diseases and of course raising someone from the dead. Maybe they are just fairy tales but maybe science went backwards from what this jesus knew over time. It takes like forever just to get one freaking surgery accomplished and get fully recovered yet jesus was healing blindness in an instant if i am not mistaken.

Badassadam1 Wrote:
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> Didn't he heal more than just the lepers. Like
> blindness and other various diseases and of course
> raising someone from the dead.

That's what the stories say.
But the same as above applies:
The "Jesus" character heals a few measly people.
The science of our days heals millions daily. Because it's based on demonstrable facts and not claimed but never demonstrable magic.

> Maybe they are
> just fairy tales but maybe science went backwards
> from what this jesus knew over time.

Yes, they are fairy tales. No, science didn't go backwards -- there was no science at the time. The scientific method didn't exist until 14 or 15 centuries after the supposed time of "Jesus." At that time, there was superstition, not science.

It's a common but completely wrong idea that some group of "ancient people" knew more than we did, or knew "magic" that we've forgotten. Complete BS.

> It takes
> like forever just to get one freaking surgery
> accomplished and get fully recovered yet jesus was
> healing blindness in an instant if i am not
> mistaken.

You are mistaken -- there's no reason of any kind to believe those healing stories ever happened. No evidence supports them. Nobody can do the same things, even though the bible Jesus character claims they'll be able to. The science of our day can't heal everything -- and probably never will. But it can and has healed far more than any religious figure, real or not.

As you know, I grew up in Christian Science, which purports to have rediscovered "primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." You may also note that I am a believing Christian who repudiates such claims. I agree with ElderOldDog (wow!) that such reports are the exceptions that prove the rule. More often, they are unsubstantiated faith-affirming tales involving ailments that were not properly diagnosed, conditions that would have eventually healed anyway, things like that.

A few months ago, this subject was debated on the thread "Why would anybody believe in Bible miracles," with the usual people lining up in predictable ways. I posted an answer and briefly summarized something called "Dispensational theology:"

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1968150,1968219#msg-1968219

To oversimplify, miracles served a certain purpose at certain times in spiritual history. With the availability of the Gospel widely available now, God neither needs nor uses supernatural "signs and wonders" to serve His purposes. We are to walk by faith, and not by sight (miracle evidence) as they say. You might recall what Jesus said to "Doubting Thomas," who wanted to see the nail holes in Jesus' hands (wrists, actually):

"24Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin,d was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20, ESV)

I've experienced healings that can only be described as divine intervention through prayers that were said for me, or that I prayed myself.

I don't believe in the evangelical healings as shown on television. Or at least most of them look staged to me.

But there is something to be said for tapping into the divine source of light and energy that is all around us.

When you've lost it all, sometimes the only thing left is to pray. It's helped me many times in my life. I don't understand the whys or hows. I have found great peace and healing through prayer that I wouldn't have found otherwise.

That being said it hasn't negated human pain or suffering. That's a part of the human condition we are born into.

What is an evangelical healing?

Adam, I'm posting here the following quote from Bart Ehrman for your consideration. I've bought into the idea, espoused by some mainstream academic New Testament scholars, that a main theme in the gospels is Jesus' proclamation of the coming Kingdom of God in which there would no longer be "works of Satan" -- sin, sickness, and death. Scholars also say that early Christians believed that sin, sickness, and death were not just bad things that people do or experience. Rather they were "cosmic powers" under the control of Satan that manifested in individual instances of sin, sickness, and death. New Testament gospels present Jesus' healings and miracles as evidence that the Kingdom was already beginning to break into human life in the ministry of Jesus.

I say the above, not to convert you to any particular point of view but rather to provide what some scholars see as context for Jesus' healing ministry. This context would remain the same from a literary standpoint even if someone could show that the healings never happened.

Here is the quote from New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman, who teaches at the University of North Carolina:

“One of the key aspects of Jesus’ teachings was that those expecting the imminent arrival of God’s Kingdom need to prepare by living in ways that are appropriate to it. Life in the future Kingdom will reflect God’s values, such as love, justice, and freedom. These values should be reflected in how the followers of Jesus live in the present. In the future kingdom there will be no hatred, and so Jesus’ followers should love one another now. In the future kingdom there will be no loneliness, and so Jesus’ followers should visit the widows and orphans now. In the future kingdom there will be no poverty, and so Jesus’ followers should sell their possessions and give to the poor now. In the future kingdom there will be no hunger, and so Jesus’ followers should feed the hungry now. In the future kingdom there will be no sickness, and so Jesus’ followers should heal the sick now. In the future kingdom there will be no demons, and so Jesus’ followers should cast out demons now. In the future kingdom there will be no war, and so Jesus’ followers should work for peace now. In the future kingdom there will be no injustice, and so Jesus’ followers should fight injustice now.

“The future Kingdom could begin to be realized in the here and now, as Jesus’ followers begin to implement its values and standards in the present.” (Bart D. Ehrman, Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend, page 202.)