Advertising Standards Bans Healing Prayer Claims

I have just watched a local news program featuring a story about a how Christian group have been banned by advertising standards from claiming that God and prayer can heal people. They then asked the viewers to email and tweet their thoughts, from a quick look through the twitter comments I guess 3 out of 5 people were strongly against prayer for healing, describing it as irresponsible, misleading and unfounded. 1 out of 5 were neutral and the last 1 out of 5 were Christian supporting or quoting examples.

I am worried about the majority view, I don't see myself as irresponsible and I would hate to mislead anyone, but I do believe that prayer can heal. Many or all of the major world faiths believe in Devine healing. Christian scripture gives us many examples of healing by the prophets, Christ himself and the apostles and believers who came after Him.

I think what worries me is the assumptions other people are making about my faith. There was an assumption that prayer should be used instead of modern medical care. I find that assumption quite ridiculous and therefore agree with several of the tweets of people who are against healing prayer. It would be irresponsible to stop someone seeking medical attention with a claim that prayer could heal them instead.

I believe in God and his son Christ as my saviour. I am also fascinated by science and our our desire to understand the world arounds us. I see no conflict between the two. A doctor can cut out a cancer and drugs can stop an infection. Let's use these wonders to save lives.

But if you have a faith, and if you are open to it, prayer can also help. I can't prove this, I don't want to even try. My faith is just that, it's not built on proofs, it has developed from love, from smiles, from relationships with Christian friends and is getting stronger as I spend more time with God. I can't see or touch or hear Him, but I have built a relationship with Him and I trust him to guide me in my life here on earth.

When my dad got cancer I prayed for him, I prayed for him to be cured. I also was very glad he got the best possible care from the medical profession. He died three years later, a horrible and painful death, he wasn't cured miraculously. Does this mean medicine doesn't work, no it means we don't know enough yet to cure all cancers. Does this mean prayer doesn't work, no all it means is that my prayers weren't answered as I wanted. I do know that I was supported through out his illness, and I think in some ways my dad was as well.

Prayer being sold as a guaranteed miracle cure is wrong. Prayer is a conversation with God, if you want to start that conversation it can and will take you to many wonderful places, healing could be one of them but that is not guaranteed. I know personally that I couldn't be without prayer and God in my life.

I am really sorry some people are worried by the Christian faith, to me it makes sense. Its not about magic, miracle cures and the moral high ground, it's about love and caring and that shouldn't worry anyone.

2 comments:

  1. There is a real issue here. We Christians believe in the power of prayer but we also know that there are charlatans who lead the vulnerable astray with false claims. I'd like to know a great deal more about the claims and the group concerned before I condemned the Advertising authority.

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    1. Frederick, Thank you for your thoughtful and balanced comment. You make a very valid point, however I hope I didn't come across as condeming anyone, that was not my intention.
      I also hadn't considered the motives of the prayer group concerned, I know little about them and it was quite a short news item. However, they came across as genuine and very enthusiastic about their faith. If I hear more about this story I'll get some detail and publish them here.s
      God Bless,
      J

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