Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Why doesn't prayer heal everyone?
Q: Studies have shown that prayer does help heal people, but not all the time. Why?
By Anne C. Brower
The real question is not the one above, but why does prayer not always lead to a cure. Prayer for healing will always be granted. So the difference between the two terms --"cure" and "healing"-- must be understood.
"Cure" is returning your body to the same state it was in before it was attacked by a disease. You, as a patient, desire to be cured. I, as a doctor, wish to cure you. But essentially, there is no cure. Pneumonia leaves a scar on your lung. A broken bone, knitted together, is never the same bone as before you broke it. We, as physicians give you medication or perform surgery to help you function more fully with your disease. You will always have your diabetes, your arthritis, your heart disease, your cancer. The real question is can you live with your disease, through it and beyond it to a higher health and fuller life. Doing this is actually called "healing."
Healing is calling on that God within you to help you to live with your disease, through it and beyond it. By doing this you are in communion with God and have a desire to be closer to God. God desires your desire for at-one-ness. So when you pray for healing you are asking God for exactly what God wants. God will always grant you healing, even when there is no cure.
The Rev. Dr. Anne C. Brower, senior chaplain and director of the Healing Ministry at the Washington National Cathedral.
By
David Waters
|
December 11, 2009; 12:41 AM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: When prayer doesn't seem to work |
Next: Why do the holidays depress us?
Posted by: lepidopteryx | December 21, 2009 2:10 PM
Report Offensive Comment
"Q: Studies have shown that prayer does help heal people"
Oh? Please cite one.
Posted by: presto668 | December 14, 2009 7:57 PM
Report Offensive Comment
What??? What is this nonsense? You are going to redefine the meaning of the word "heal" so you can support your ridiculous religions beliefs?
I "pray to god" I never have to rely on idiots like you for my health.
Posted by: khote14 | December 14, 2009 6:06 PM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
IF you're going to take the Bible literally, (which I don't), then Jesus' "healings" were cures, not teaching people how to live with their disability.
The leper didn't learn to manage his disease, the rotting process going on in his flesh was stopped. The blind man didn't learn how to find his way using his other senses, he saw. The centurion's family didn't learn how to keep their child and brother alive in their hearts and minds, nor did Mary and Martha learn effective grief management for the loss of Lazarus; they were resurrected.
Learning to live with the fact that you are dying from a terminal disease isn't being healed - it's just coming to grips with reality.