Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
Can you develop this thought of yours for me? The first thing that popped into my head was if it isn't God's will that we become sick, suffer, and eventually die... why do we? It's all a part of the curse and our fallen condition. Which isn't God's perfect will, but since sin entered the picture, it is what God willed for all mankind in our fallen state.
The one thing I think we can all say is that with absolute certainty, we will all grow old, become sick, and as a result... die. Unless Jesus returns first of course. Consider this, even the people healed in Scripture eventually grew old, got sick again, and perished.
Can you develop this more? I might not be understanding your take on it.
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I'll try to explain more. First, a minor correction to the first paragraph above. I certainly don't believe we're immortal. We will eventually die. The Bible is clear that man's time on earth is finite. Life is a vapor, three score and ten years, etc.
I also don't believe a person can abuse their body with junk and drugs and alcohol and expect there to be no consequences. Gluttony is a sin which could kill you. Abuse of drugs, even medications, can do more harm than good. Alcoholism harms the body.
I do not read in the Bible where anyone who Jesus or the Apostles healed became sick again. Once a person was healed of their disease/infirmity they were healed completely.
"""And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease."""
Sickness = chronic, persisting disease; incurable.
Disease = condition which weakens or disables a person
"""Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where."""
"""And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you."""
Nowhere in scripture will you find Jesus refusing to heal someone who is sick. Anyone who came to Jesus for healing was healed. Even a centurion's servant, who was miles away at home, was healed. There isn't any scripture where a person asked for healing and Jesus said no.
Because of this, I struggle with why there aren't more healings today.
When I was 10 years old, my mother's Dr told her she needed a biopsy for a mass in her breast. We were preparing to go to General Conference in Anaheim, California, so my mother asked to schedule it after the conference. While at GC, she and my father would go before the services to pray and at one of these prayer meetings, a minister came up and prayed for her to be healed. IIRC, they did not know the minister. My mother said she felt the healing then. When she arrived at the office for the biopsy, she asked the Dr to complete another exam or scan. She waited a while for the Dr to come back, and when he did, he brought another Dr and had both images -- the first one from a couple weeks previous and a new image from that day. The Dr. showed her the mass in the first image and then showed the second image which did not have a mass. He told her he couldn't explain where it went or what happened. He said he couldn't do a biopsy on something which wasn't there. Thirty-one years later, my mother never had another mass.
My father had a stroke while preaching in GA. He was kept in a medically induced coma for a week. Dr's weren't sure he would make it. We prayed and his vitals stabilized and they were able to bring him out of the coma. It was a miracle that he had no side effects from the stroke. That was fifteen years ago.
I know God heals. I know it. I've prayed over the phone for my mother while she was in the ER with chest pains, and the pains left immediately.
I can't explain why healing doesn't happen every time. I have faith. I believe whenever I pray, it will be done. Period. I don't care if it's a paper cut. Granted, I've never prayed over a paper cut, but just saying if I prayed for a paper cut, I'd believe it would be healed then.
One of the worst experiences I've personally had was as a worship leader several years ago. A sweet couple came to church and were baptized. She was diagnosed with cancer and was receiving chemo treatments. We prayed. Months later she was pronounced to be cancer free. They continued to be faithful and she would testify any time she could about how God healed her.
Then she wasn't there for a service. Two services. A month went by and she hadn't been to church. I couldn't believe when I heard her husband tell us that the cancer was back, and worse than before.
Two months later we had a home going service for her. The Sunday following the funeral, I could barely keep composed while trying lead worship. In prayer before the service I was in tears asking why. Why torture the family like this? Why was she healed only to have it come back worse than before?
Rev. Tony Suarez, of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference experienced the same thing. His wife was diagnosed with cancer but was claimed to be cancer free. They were on TBN Salsa giving her testimony. They posted on FB about God's miracle. IIRC, within a month the cancer was back and she died.
So, I'm conflicted. I have my belief which says God heals, and that people should be able to be healed as it happened in the Bible. Yet, reality mocks my belief when there are people who pray for healing, believe God for healing, and yet die anyway.
Fortunately I'm a stubborn man. I can understand why a person would lose faith over this. I can also understand secessionists who don't believe healing happens today. Were it not for my personal experiences seeing family and friends healed, I might lose faith as well.
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