Does anyone know someone who's been healed?

I know 3 people who have had a miraculous healing.  The most miraculous being eyesight. A friend of mine in college had gotten her vision fixed by some Christians and no longer needed glasses and it was apparently beyond just fixed but better than most like 20/10.

And most recently a friend of mine was healed by her neighbor who is a preacher. She is not a church-going person but had seen doctors and acupuncturists for her sciatica pain.  He healed her that day and she has been baffled by it.

Anyway, I was wondering if other people have miraculous stories.  You never hear about them and most everyone will write them off as being placebo.

I believe you 100 percent.

I know 3 people who have had a miraculous healing.  The most miraculous being eyesight. A friend of mine in college had gotten her vision fixed by some Christians and no longer needed glasses and it was apparently beyond just fixed but better than most like 20/10.

And most recently a friend of mine was healed by her neighbor who is a preacher. She is not a church-going person but had seen doctors and acupuncturists for her sciatica pain.  He healed her that day and she has been baffled by it.

Anyway, I was wondering if other people have miraculous stories.  You never hear about them and most everyone will write them off as being placebo.

In my view, there are only 4 possibilities

God exists and is personal, and picks people at random to heal

God exists and is personal, and picks people to heal for discriminatory reasons

Various random people around the world have healing abilities

God does not exist, placebo

God is not personal, placebo

I favor the last 3 and 5. Personal gods aren't realistic in my opinion, and I just don't do atheism either.

I know 3 people who have had a miraculous healing.  The most miraculous being eyesight. A friend of mine in college had gotten her vision fixed by some Christians and no longer needed glasses and it was apparently beyond just fixed but better than most like 20/10.

And most recently a friend of mine was healed by her neighbor who is a preacher. She is not a church-going person but had seen doctors and acupuncturists for her sciatica pain.  He healed her that day and she has been baffled by it.

Anyway, I was wondering if other people have miraculous stories.  You never hear about them and most everyone will write them off as being placebo.

Actually you can heal yourself, yet most of us do not have the thought or inclination to attempt it because it involves focusing your mind.
This is where faith healers come into the equation to do it for you. It's brainwashing your own mind to allow it to repair your body or dispel the problem you have which in most cases can simply be psychological.

It's definitely the placebo effect that's being created.
It's called having a belief system and trusting in those who you feel are qualified to aid you.
It's also why people go Lourdes to get healed. They were told the water has healing properties, so the brainwashed simply believe it. In many cases they will be healed and attribute it to that place when in fact they healed themselves by shutting down their mind to the problem they believed they had which was real to them, except it was their own brain causing it.

I was once turned into a newt.  But I got better.

A friend of mine in college had gotten her vision fixed by some Christians and no longer needed glasses and it was apparently beyond just fixed but better than most like 20/10.

And most recently a friend of mine was healed by her neighbor who is a preacher.

"Spirituality" and "faith healing" are synonymous.  And both are bogus.  That a purported "healer" invariably believes in the existence of supernatural entities (or a god) and paranormal phenomena (or miracles) makes them the least likely of all people to actually heal any medical condition.

Faith healing is very appropriately named, particularly as "faith" is defined as belief without evidence.

How is spirituality bogus?

How is spirituality bogus?

It's not necessarily the spirituality, it's more what the "spirituality" is claiming. If this healing was real, it would be used to it's full effect in medicine, and it would solve a lot of problems. It wouldn't be someone's desperate last chance, it would be their first choice. But the fact that this "healing" hasn't been studied and applied to medicine greatly implies that it's placebo. Or (as I would like to think) people with supernatural powers are wandering the world and avoiding government, healing people 

How is spirituality bogus?

I may have not made that claim clear enough in my comment.

Spirituality is "bogus" in its alleged application and/or purported success towards the healing of illness.  Spirituality, per se, has no place in the science of medicine.

It's also been scientifically proven that intercessory prayer (a manifestation of personal spirituality) has no bearing on the recovery rate and/or survival of people who've undergone open heart surgery.

Check out THIS site. 

—So much for "spirituality".

Quote from: Rama Set on October 17, 2014, 05:08:29 PM

How is spirituality bogus?

I may have not made that claim clear enough in my comment.

Spirituality is "bogus" in its alleged application and/or purported success towards the healing of illness.  Spirituality, per se, has no place in the science of medicine.

It's also been scientifically proven that intercessory prayer (a manifestation of personal spirituality) has no bearing on the recovery rate and/or survival of people who've undergone open heart surgery.

Check out THIS site. 

—So much for "spirituality".

Spirituality is valuable for morale and placebo. 2 very real healing factors.

Spirituality is valuable for morale and placebo. 2 very real healing factors.

I can agree with you with regard to minor illnesses, but there's no viable evidence that suggests that morale or placebo play any part in the success (or otherwise) of major surgeries such as open heart, organ transplants, cancer, or serious illnesses such as haemophilia, multiple sclerosis or cirrhosis of the liver for example.  Those sorts of conditions will run their course regardless of the patient's state of mind.

And one of the interesting findings of that study was that even the post-operative patients who knew they were being prayed for actually recovered more slowly and with more post-op complications than the control group.

I tend to agree with the definition of spirituality as per Wikipedia:

Traditionally spirituality has been defined as a process of personal transformation in accordance with religious ideals. Since the 19th century spirituality is often separated from religion, and has become more oriented on subjective experience and psychological growth. It may refer to almost any kind of meaningful activity or blissful experience, but without a single, widely-agreed definition.

I think it's important to note the term "subjective" rather than "objective".

Actually you can heal yourself, yet most of us do not have the thought or inclination to attempt it because it involves focusing your mind.

So if you were unlucky enough to get prostate cancer, then you're quite confident that you could heal yourself simply by focussing the power of your mind?  You wouldn't seek help from a doctor?  And can you cite any specific cases where it's been proved that a patient with a medically terminal illness has healed themselves without any medical intervention?

This is where faith healers come into the equation to do it for you.

There is no such thing as a "faith healer".  You can read some thoughts about faith healing HERE.

It's [the placebo effect] also why people go Lourdes to get healed. They were told the water has healing properties, so the brainwashed simply believe it. In many cases they will be healed and attribute it to that place when in fact they healed themselves by shutting down their mind to the problem they believed they had which was real to them, except it was their own brain causing it.

This contradicts your first claim, which was an affirmation that one can heal oneself by positively focussing their mind.  Now you're saying that the people who partook of the allegedly healing waters of Lourdes "shut down" their minds.  In fact, you're saying that despite those people being "brainwashed", they're actually healing themselves.

So... do you supercharge your brain to cure an illness, or shut it down?  You seem to be confused by this apparent contradiction.  Please explain.

And this thread is another classic example of sceptimatic running away with his tail between his legs LOL.

He does this sort of thing frequently; when he hasn't got any meaningful responses to a questions directed to him, he disappears, and hopes the thread will die a natural death and just disappear too.

When it comes to the crunch, the guy's as weak as cat's urine.   

Cat urine is far from weak and has actually been found to control the mind of their owner to some extent.

Cat urine is far from weak and has actually been found to control the mind of their owner to some extent.

I guess on second thoughts, I'd have to agree—particularly as the former owner of a tom cat.

Maybe sceptimatic owns a herd(?) of tom cats LOL.