{"id":4590,"date":"2018-01-26T10:41:38","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T17:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2019-12-19T16:12:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T23:12:32","slug":"15-myths-realities-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/15-myths-realities-healing","title":{"rendered":"15 Myths and Realities of Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my recent book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils<\/em>,<\/a> I address the topic of healing. \u00a0I’m not only interested in explaining how healing works. I’m also interested in explaining why many are NOT healed.<\/p>\n

To conclude one chapter, I summarized my main points. I provide a list of what I think are 15 myths and realities about healing. I explain these in detail in the chapter, of course. \"\"<\/p>\n

15 Myths and Realities of Healing<\/h2>\n

1. Myth: <\/strong>God healed long ago but does so no longer. Reality: <\/strong>God always works to heal, and this was true in the past and true in the present.<\/p>\n

2. Myth<\/strong>: God may choose not to heal until we beg, plead, or elevate our faith. Reality: <\/strong>God works to heal even before we ask.<\/p>\n

3. Myth<\/strong>: To heal, God must supernaturally intervene in our lives. Reality<\/strong>: God is always already present and doesn\u2019t need to \u201ccome into\u201d our lives or circumstances.<\/p>\n

4. Myth: <\/strong>We should add, \u201cif it\u2019s your will\u201d to prayers asking God to heal. Reality: <\/strong>It\u2019s always God\u2019s will to heal, so this add-on is unnecessary and confusing.<\/p>\n

5. Myth: <\/strong>Our pain, suffering, and abuse are part of God\u2019s preordained plan. Reality: <\/strong>God\u2019s plan does not include causing or allowing evil.<\/p>\n

6. Myth<\/strong>: God only loves sometimes and is only present in some places. Reality: <\/strong>God always loves everyone and is always present all the time working to heal.<\/p>\n

7. Myth<\/strong>: God is the only cause of healing. Reality<\/strong>: Creaturely causes \u2013 whether small or large \u2013 also play a role in healing.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0Myth<\/strong>: God can heal singlehandedly. Reality<\/strong>: God cannot heal singlehandedly, because doing so would require God to control others. And God\u2019s love is inherently uncontrolling.<\/p>\n

9. Myth<\/strong>: There is natural healing, healing by doctors, and divine healing. Reality<\/strong>: All healing involves creaturely and divine causes.<\/p>\n

10. Myth<\/strong>: God selects whom to heal and whom to allow to suffer. Reality<\/strong>: God works to heal everyone, but various constraints or creaturely lack of cooperation can frustrate God\u2019s efforts to heal.<\/p>\n

11. Myth<\/strong>: Those not healed did not have enough faith. Reality<\/strong>: Those not healed often have plenty of faith, but their bodies or factors in their environment prevent them from being healed.<\/p>\n

12. Myth: <\/strong>While God doesn\u2019t control free will creatures, God can control smaller entities in our bodies and the environment. Reality: <\/strong>God expresses uncontrolling love to all creatures, great and small.<\/p>\n

13. Myth:<\/strong> Our prayers for healing don\u2019t make any difference. Reality: <\/strong>Our prayers alter the circumstances and open up possibilities for God\u2019s healing.<\/p>\n

14. Myth: <\/strong>There is no hope for those whose hope for healing was thwarted by actors and factors. Reality: <\/strong>God\u2019s healing work continues after our bodies die.<\/p>\n

15. Myth: <\/strong>God only heals in the afterlife. Reality: <\/strong>God works to heal in this life. When we, our bodies, or other factors cooperate, we enjoy healing now.<\/p>\n

I realize that these statements are pithy and require greater explanation. But I offer more detail in\u00a0God Can’t.<\/a><\/em> I’ve also addressed the broader issue of miracles in earlier blogs. Here’s a link,<\/a> if you’re interested.<\/p>\n

Your thoughts?<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my recent book, God Can’t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, I address the topic of healing. \u00a0I’m not only interested in explaining how healing works. I’m also interested in explaining why many are NOT healed. To conclude one chapter, I summarized my main points. I provide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[37,96,6054],"yst_prominent_words":[6042,6777,6053,6052,6048,6047,6046,6045,6044,6043,1431,6041,6038,6037,6036,6032,5330,4698,4692,2395],"class_list":["post-4590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open_and_relational_theology","tag-miracles","tag-healing","tag-recovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4590"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}