An Incredible Moment with a Demonized Boy

Something about this chapter just rubbed me the wrong way. I'm sure there were lots of really wonderful points to be made but I didn't get any of them. Why? Because once you start talking about illness in someone being the result of "a demon" or "the devil" my mind flies off someplace else and I can't think straight.

Of course, back then, one would assume this to be true because they had no other reason to believe otherwise. Now, in the days of medical science and discoveries in the world of medicine, we know different. Yet, some things we think we should be able to cure go uncured and some things we think will be fatal aren't. Now how do we explain that?

Whether the boy had epilepsy or "a demon" inside him, Jesus did heal him. I see the miracle of all that. But I think the thing that gets me going is how so many people still use faith (or the lack thereof) as a reason today for someone not recovering from an illness or from being healed - like someone would WANT to be ill or have a life threatening disease.

And how can we even think of blaming someone today who lives with a disease like epilepsy for not having enough faith? Yet, it happens...

But what even gets me more than that are the people who claim to have had enough faith to BE spontaneously healed from something that would normally be an ongoing illness. I know a woman who feels that her MS was spontaneously healed. Could be. Could also be she had a crappy doctor who misdiagnosed her in the first place and she just got better.

To wrap this little rant up...

Do I believe that we will ALL succomb to some form of disease (even if it is just old age) in our lifetime? Well, of course I do. And will our dying from something have anything to do with our level of faith? Of course it won't. We all get a throw of the dice genetically and we all get to make the best of what we're given. BUT...do I also believe that sin in our lives causes undo stress which causes our bodies to break down sooner or faster than if we lived in a serene, faith-driven path all our lives? Yes, I believe that, too. So, can changing our lifestyle change our condition? Sure it can. And is that actually a form of faith healing? When we believe that God will help us handle our problems thus, taking the pressure off ourselves, and then try to continually steer clear of sin and temptation so our lives stabilize to some degree, we will probably live a healthier, longer life. It makes sense medically. It makes sense spiritually. But does this mean people don't have enough faith to save their lives when they die before their time? Can you be healed from anything if you just believe hard enough or long enough? Is the devil to blame for what is wrong with each of us?

Yeah, not buying it.