This is Just Painful to Read…

She has doubts during difficult times.

But she still prays for healing.

Sometimes, things get better:

Well, laugh all you want, but the boy and I got down on our knees one evening, placed our hands on the tank and prayed for [goldfish] Swifty’s healing. We prayed passionately. I kind of rode on the kid’s faith. Not too far in the back of my mind was this thought: If I can’t believe God to heal a goldfish, my faith really is pathetic.

…

Well, suffice it to say that Swifty is now a 2-year-old goldfish with a rippling tail and a full set of fins.

No, it wasn’t the prayer. It was the antibiotics given to the fish. That’s not the point, though.

In another case, the writer’s friend, DD, has a severe form of sickle cell.

When I walked in the door, DD was sitting on the floor in dim light, clutching a heating pad to her chest. She was rocking slightly, the same thing she’d done as a child to distract herself from the pain.

She stared at me expressionless. There was nothing to say.

“What do you want God to do?” I asked.

Stupid question of the day.

“I want to be healed,” she said.

I felt my faith shudder. I rambled on about this and that for a while and asked a bunch of lame questions, which she patiently answered, still rocking.

I was stalling for time. I knew this was the point where the rubber meets the road, and where our belief so often falters: Are we going to get down and pray for a miracle, or are we going to mumble platitudes about God’s goodness and his sovereignty and his blah-blah-blah to cover our own lack of faith?

…

The pain started to recede. I know because I asked her. I had made a decision to stay there and pray until things got better.

Or until I had to take her to the emergency room. Whichever came first.

If that sounds like a faith-deficient stance, all I can say is that is where I stood.

…

Within two days, there was no pain at all.

Is she entirely healed? I don’t know. She is still believing God for total healing of this medically incurable condition.

Even when it does provide temporary relief, not unlike a placebo, it’s so sad to know prayer is the best hope in this story. It’s the only hope a lot of people have. When there is no cure… or they can’t afford proper health care… can you blame them for turning to God? It’s hard for me to criticize their beliefs when I don’t have better options to give them.

But it’s even more disturbing when many of the people who pray for “healing” don’t support the very research that might actually help others with their problems in the future.

Ugh. This post is just depressing.

(Thanks to Kelsi for the link)


[tags]atheist, atheism, prayer, religion, Christianity, Jesus[/tags]