How do science explain faith healing?

[Lillen]

How do science explain faith healing through christian prayers?

 

[Orogeny]

Can you provide evidence, preferably from a medical journal, that a 'faith healing' has actually resulted in the permanent alleviation of sickness or injury?

 

[roach]

How do science explain faith healing through christian prayers?

Same as muslim, hindi, or satanic prayers - placebo effect (if any at all)


Elsevier
might even be better not to pray...

 

[fenix144]

The piece of abstract art is back! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[AV1611VET]

Can you provide evidence, preferably from a medical journal, that a 'faith healing' has actually resulted in the permanent alleviation of sickness or injury?

Do medical journals record those?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

The piece of abstract art is back! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I hope that does not hurt lillens feelings!

 

[AV1611VET]

Same as muslim, hindi, or satanic prayers - placebo effect (if any at all)

Someone needs to go to Haiti and upset the local witch doctor.

You'll get a wake-up call you never expected; and I guarantee you'll think twice before you call it 'placebo' again.

 

[RisingSpirit]

How do science explain faith healing through christian prayers?

It's the Qi that contains information. Qi heals. but the Pentecostals say the Qi is from the devil. Oddly, at the same time, it's the Qi that keeps them alive.


Christianity can be strange.

 

[AV1611VET]

It's the Qi that contains information. Qi heals. but the Pentecostals say the Qi is from the devil. Oddly, at the same time, it's the Qi that keeps them alive.


Christianity can be strange.

And unregenerates can manipulate Qi by posing (yoga), right?

Can you lay your hand on the top brick of a seven brick pile and break the next-to-the-bottom brick w/o affecting the other six?

Martial arts can be evil.

 

[Jazer]

How do science explain faith healing through christian prayers?

They usually explain it as the body has a amazing ability to be able to heal itself. So they say though prayer people are able to tap into the bodys natural ability for healing. This is also the explaination for the placebo effect. If you think your going to get better then there is a good chance you will.

Also stress can cause a lot of illness. So if you can reduce stress, worry and anxiety that is alway good to help the body to heal. Doctors know that often that is all they have to offer people is comfort and to reassure them that everything is going to be fine and that eventually they will get better. They know that when they reduce stress and worry this promotes healing. They know that prayer and medication can promote healing.

Of course if your somone like Steve Jobs with a major life threatening condition medical treatment maybe indicated. He tried alternate treatments and it ended up costing him his life. So it may not be a good idea to put all of your eggs in a faith healing basket. Good doctors and good nurses can help people the same as faith healing. In fact a lot of faith healing churches attract doctors and nurses who are interesting in learning about faith healing to help their patients. Along with the traditional medical treatment of course.

Exodus 15:26and said, "If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you."

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Someone needs to go to Haiti and upset the local witch doctor.

You'll get a wake-up call you never expected; and I guarantee you'll think twice before you call it 'placebo' again.

He he. I have read Stoller and Olkes "In Sorcery's Shadow" which documents an anthropologist's experience of witchcraft/sorcery. Also I have read some Carlos Castenada but that is meant to be admittedly fictional. Do you have any suggested further reading from scientific or scholarly press sources*?


*i.e. not the bible

 

[Jazer]

Can you lay your hand on the top brick of a seven brick pile and break the next-to-the-bottom brick w/o affecting the other six?

Back when I was in High School I use to work on Saturday at a tire shop to change tires. We had a rubber hammer but I would use the side of my fist to hammer the hub caps back on the car. Sometimes the bone hurt, but it would go away. Later what I found out was that I did break the bone to some degree only the bone grows back stronger. So after a while the bone gets hard enough you can beat the hub cap on with no pain at all. That is the same in Martial Arts. They practice a lot, and over time they build up the bone so they are able to break things that normal people can not do because they have not conditioned the body. Just like as a construction worker I was stronger then people who did not work for a living and build up their strength. People who run condition themselves so they can run a lot more then people who have not conditioned themselves. What a lot of people do not realize is if you hit someone in the jaw chances are your hand will break before their jaw bone will break. At least that was the story my dad use to always tell people. He said he treated a lot more broken bones in the hand after a fight then he treated broken bones in the face. You almost never see that. So with Martial Arts they have to condition the bones so they do not break when they hit someone. They do this by breaking boards and bricks. Which some people find to be impressive. I never did, anyone can break a board along the grain. You just have to know how to hit the board. We use to do this with our scrap wood to impress people that did not know the trick. Back when we use to use real wood and not that processed glue and wood chips that they use now a days.

 

[AV1611VET]

You just have to know how to hit the board.

What I'm talking about, Jazer, is simply laying your hand on the top brick, meditating, then watching the next-to-the-bottom brick shatter.

What they claim they're doing is focusing Chi (or Qi) energy through the bricks to the one they want shattered.

Don't quote me on this, but I think some claim they can do it from across the room -- focus on an object, and it shatters.

 

[Jazer]

Can you provide evidence, preferably from a medical journal, that a 'faith healing' has actually resulted in the permanent alleviation of sickness or injury?

There are a lot of studies that shows prayer is effective. Of course there are also studies that shows that prayer is not effective. So that clearly shows you need to know how to pray if you want to get results. Most of the studies has to do with a church group somewhere praying for people in the hospital or for their recovery from a surgical procedure. The conclusion of most doctors is that prayer is at least as effective as a placebo. So they are happy for wherever improvement you can get from whatever your beliefs are.

 

[AV1611VET]

There are a lot of studies that shows prayer is effective. Of course there are also studies that shows that prayer is not effective. So that clearly shows you need to know how to pray if you want to get results. Most of the studies has to do with a church group somewhere praying for people in the hospital or for their recovery from a surgical procedure. The conclusion of most doctors is that prayer is at least as effective as a placebo. So they are happy for wherever improvement you can get from whatever your beliefs are.

Ya -- but he said 'medical journal'.

Either use their everchanging bibles, or consider yourself pwned.

 

[Jazer]

What they claim they're doing is focusing Chi (or Qi) energy through the bricks to the one they want shattered.

My son thinks that when people get slayed in the spirit from prayer that is from Chi. For me I put people in a chair before I pray for them. Then you do not have to worry about them falling down or swaying all over the place.

 

[Jazer]

Ya -- but he said 'medical journal'.

Yes of course that is what I am talking about published studies. The results are not good enough to give up medical treatment. But the results are good enough to show that prayer is effective along with medical treatment.

"David R. Hodge, an assistant professor of social work in the College of Human Services at Arizona State University, conducted a comprehensive analysis of 17 major studies on the effects of intercessory prayer – or prayer that is offered for the benefit of another person – among people with psychological or medical problems. He found a positive effect.

“There have been a number of studies on intercessory prayer, or prayer offered for the benefit of another person,” said Hodge, a leading expert on spirituality and religion. “Some have found positive results for prayer. Others have found no effect. Conducting a meta-analysis takes into account the entire body of empirical research on intercessory prayer. Using this procedure, we find that prayer offered on behalf of another yields positive results.”"

Does God answer prayer? ASU research says 'yes'

 

[Orogeny]

You will note that I said 'PREFERABLY' a medical journal. I added 'preferably' because I was relatively certain none of you would be able to actually cite anything of value, so I left you an out. Even given the out, none of you has fulfilled my request. Surprise surprise.

 

[hedrick]

There's an interesting book, Healing: a doctor in search of a miracle by William A. Nolen. (It's available used, but doesn't seem to be in print.) He looks at a number of faith healers. Nolan is a Christian, and hoped to find documentation. He didn't. While I don't think his study is definitive, because he didn't study orthodox Christian healings (e.g. documented Catholic healngs) the study still shows the kinds of things that can lead people to believe that a healing occurred when it didn't. Some of it is fakery, but some of it is due to apparent cures that weren't real, or cures that probably aren't miraculous. His treatment of Kuhlman is particularly interesting. She seems to have been sincere, but culpably ignorant about how you would go about making sure the cures are real.

 

[Lillen]

Now, actually i can go for placebo, but that is not a refutation, are you saying that faith help!!? Placebo is faith, the question is in whom, a doctor, or Jesus!?? For it is written for he who believes nothing is impossible! That means with enough faith you can say to a mullberry tree "throw yourself in the ocean" and it will be so! we agree faith healing does work!

Now as for the placebo relying on a doctor, i only have bad records of that. such as never getting out of the paddled cell and so on!