Christian prayer for healing


 They were at that time incurable and most remain


so today


 Jesus almost never used physical means


 The cures were immediate


 Restoration was complete and therefore obvious


 There were no recorded relapses


 Miracles regularly elicited faith


These seven characteristics give us a New Testament gold standard for defining healing miracles. Contemporary claims for miraculous healing can be evaluated against this gold standard.


do healing miracles happen today?


Later in the book, 5 I describe an


objective approach for Christian doctors to use in evaluating claims for miraculous healing. First line questions include:


 What was the medical version of the story?


 What was the precise nature of the diagnosis?


 At what time did recovery take place?


 Were any treatments being given at the same time?


Depending on the answers to these, a second level of questions may be needed.


26


For example, concerning the diagnosis:


 On what basis was the diagnosis made?


 How reliable were the tests performed?


 How reliable were the observers conducting the


tests?


 Have experts checked the results?


 Could there be other explanations for the results?


During controversies about healing miracles in the early 1990s, I was one of three CMF members (each then at different positions on the ‘charismatic’ spectrum) who reviewed current claims, and concluded ‘…between us, we did not find a single case that unequivocally satisfied our strict criteria for a…miracle of healing’. 6


But each of us had exciting personal stories of answers to prayer for healing (and the least ‘charismatic’ of us had the best stories!). We christened them ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ after a TV programme popular at the time, and they led us to conclude that, yes, Christians should pray for healing.


Before I turn to the question of how we do that, it will be


helpful to list some of the categories that account for the different interpretations that both medical and non-medical Christians may hold: 7


 Was the diagnosis wrong?


 Was there spontaneous remission?


 Could the diagnosis have been hysteria or


psychosomatic illness?


 Was there just a genuine misunderstanding?


 Is it a case of exaggeration, half truth, or frank lie?


how should


Christians pray for healing?


I stated above that although we longed to see a genuine New Testament, gold standard example of a healing miracle we had not done so. For me at least, five years later that remains true. But my response is not to assume therefore that God doesn’t do miracles today. One of the dangers there is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy: God does not do healing miracles; therefore I will not pray for them; therefore exciting answers to prayer for healing (or even miracles) are less likely to happen; therefore my doubt is reinforced; therefore I will not pray…!


nucleus christmas ‘08


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44