and<\/em><\/strong> physically was at the heart of Jesus\u2019 mission.<\/p>\nSo, I\u2019m torn on this issue.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve never been miraculously healed myself or seen anyone miraculously healed with my own eyes, but I\u2019ve heard countless stories, often times from very reputable people, that attest to God\u2019s continued ability to heal the sick.<\/p>\n
But then there\u2019s that part of my brain that says \u201cGod doesn\u2019t work that way anymore. There\u2019s probably a \u201crational\u201d (whatever that means), scientific\/medical explanation for why their stage 4 cancer suddenly went into remission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps there is. I\u2019m sure there is. I know that we have the tendency to insert God into the vaccum of our inability to explain things we don\u2019t understand. Often times, we learn later that there is a less than divine explanation for what happened.<\/p>\n
But as people of faith who profess allegiance to a Jesus who held divine healing as a central part of his ministry, what do we do with claims like the one on this bilboard?<\/p>\n
Do we play the \u201cGod doesn\u2019t work that way anymore\u201d card? And if so, why doesn\u2019t God? Has God chosen for some mysterious reason to withhold God\u2019s ability to heal? And if so, what would that say about God?<\/p>\n
Were the gospels, as the lady in the report said, simply \u201cmisleading\u201d? Were Jesus\u2019 miracles mere metaphors for some spiritual truth? Perhaps, but wouldn\u2019t people who had known the blind, demon possessed, or dead people before the miracles happened called out the gospel writers for making the story up?<\/p>\n
Or perhaps we face a situation like Santa Claus did in the movie Elf<\/em>. Maybe Jesus\u2019s divine healing powers, like Santa\u2019s sleigh in Central Park, can\u2019t get off the ground because enough people don\u2019t still believe in him. Honestly, that sounds far more absurd to me than the idea of a pastor healing someone through the laying on of hands.<\/p>\nWhat then do we with our great 21st century, scientifically grounded intellect do with claims of divine healing? It doesn\u2019t seem to me that we can simply dismiss them, for to do so, I think we would likewise have to dismiss the gospels since at their core is the story of the greatest medical miracle of all time: resurrection from the dead.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m torn.<\/p>\n
I think I believe that God still heals the sick. I want to believe that God still heals the sick. I wonder if perhaps I suffer a disease myself and am in need of my own healing.<\/p>\n
I wonder if I suffer from what John Milbank calls a \u201cfalse humility\u201d of faith. I wonder if in my need to be accepted and affirmed by an increasingly agnostic\/atheistic society I cower away from the more \u201cextreme\u201d\u00a0claims of my faith. I wonder if perhaps I\u2019m ok with God\u2019s grace being radical, so long as it fits within my parameters for\u00a0acceptability. I wonder if maybe I don\u2019t really believe that God is actually capable of all the incredible things I\u2019ve claimed God is capable of.<\/p>\n
To be honest, I just don\u2019t know. So, I\u2019m left with a bunch of unanswered questions and for now that will have to do.<\/p>\n
What I do know is there are people who have been seriously ill and whether through divine\u00a0intervention\u00a0or more earthly methods they are well today and that is something worth celebrating.<\/p>\n
What do you think? Does God still miraculously heal the sick?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grace and peace,<\/p>\n
Zack Hunt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 A church in New Zealand this week posted and then\u00a0abruptly\u00a0removed this billboard after \u201cheated response\u201d from several nearby residents. According to The New Zealand Herald, \u201cThe Equippers Church billboard which displayed the phrase \u2018Jesus heals cancer\u2019 caused outrage amongst many, and sparked an Advertising Standards Authority investigation after nine complaints were laid.\u00a0The sign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":5934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/jesus-heals-cancer.jpg\" "\\"jesus")
<\/a><\/p>\n