In this entry on the last day of 2019, I am largely shooting from the hip in reaction to some interactions I have had on Facebook over the last year. But it seemed appropriate, because despite believing in an invisible God who is triune and grants prayers and everything else, I still do have some sense of healthy skepticism.
For that reason, there are times when, just by thinking about it, I can see holes in an idea that claims to be Christian and claims to be biblical. And while a convincing exegetical case for such a doctrine would require an exegetical response, usually that isn’t part of the discussion in these matter. At most, a few passages here and there are presented, clearly out of context or clearly not saying as much as the person presenting them seems to think. And so pointing out the problems even just on the surface of the view can get you a long way.
In this case, I am discussing a belief that is part of the so-called Word of Faith movement and spread about here and there that if you have faith in Jesus, you are guaranteed to be healed if you get sick.
The belief is not just that God may heal you; if you don’t think God acts miraculously then you really aren’t going to like any semblance of biblical Christianity. The belief here is that God will heal you miraculously as long as you have faith that He will.
Underlying this is a general belief that God is good, God heals (as He does many times in the Bible), and so all that keeps you from being cured of cancer or multiple sclerosis or whatever else is your lack of faith.
Now, I should note that this has come up with Bethel Church and a couple there who prayed that God would raise their two-year-old daughter from the dead after she died suddenly. I don’t know much about that case or Bethel Church. My issue is not with the parents of that baby, and I only bring it up because a lot of people reading this will probably be thinking of that. My only commentary there is that God is real, He does do miracles including raising the dead before the resurrection (albeit quite rarely), and I shame no one who asks Him to intervene miraculously – so long as they accept His decision not to grant that request and still worship Him if that is how things pan out.
That said, that story did bring to mind this belief
that God always heals (if you have faith) and that it is contrary to who He is
to not do so in this life (obviously as a Christian I believe everyone in
Christ will be fully healed and live forever with god in the world to come).
The real glaring problem with this is the fact that death and suffering apart from natural illness are still things. And all of God’s children, even the most holy and faithful, seem to die before hitting a certain advanced age. Even if they have lived to be 100, there are none who are 1,000 years old. How can it be that there has never every been anyone in history who was faithful and therefore has avoided death?
Does this promise about God always curing the sick if they are faithful only apply to illness, and so therefore every single person who has been holy and faithful has instead died only of accidents and murder? After all, God’s will is that you never get sick...
That must be the case. Either that, or no person has ever been faithful enough to avoid sickness forever. Not even the apostles.
It is believed that at the very least, the apostle John lived to die of old age. But since old age is just another way of describing illness that isn’t specifically diagnosed (no one actually dies of “old age”), did he not have enough faith to be healed and live indefinitely?
But even if we grant that just simply everyone who had enough faith to be healed died of murder or accident, why would the God who wants to bring heaven to earth and heal everyone now still allow them to die (sometimes quite painfully)? If anything, at certain times in history, His most faithful followers have been the most likely to be tortured and murdered. Why would we think that God can, in His sovereignty and wisdom, allow such temporary suffering and death when the temporary suffering of serious illness is out of the question?
What promise of God’s is consistent with death still being part of the world now, so long as it is not from illness? What aspect of God’s love or character is consistent with death being around now but not forever (for those who put their faith in Christ) but requires that illness be gone already?
When I have pressed individuals on this point, they have no answer. They don’t even really attempt one. They just simply accept that they don’t have an answer and just believe what they believe, that God is good so therefore He surely cures all illness if you have faith, and ignore the rest. To them, God guaranteeing healing just makes sense, and nothing else matters.
Unless there is a super-compelling biblical case for this doctrine of healing that I am missing, those who hold this view have to come up with some coherent explanation for why we must assume that God guarantees freedom from illness in this life when death and suffering from other sources is still the norm for everyone, even believers. I am not confident that we will get such an explanation.
Fortunately, as Christians, we do know that any suffering in this life is temporary, as is death for us. The basis for this absurd doctrine of guaranteed healing is the love and the promises of God that will bring us all eternal life. And it is not as though God does not give us a foretaste of the world through miracles even now. We just have to be willing to trust in our heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ in whatever happens in the meantime. God will complete in us the task that He has begun.
So on that note, happy new year :)
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