When you prayed did it ever work?

[Drich]

@Drich
1) Why should I believe your brand of denomination, the "Biblical Theist" denomination, over the other 30 000+?

1) I do not represent a denominational brand on this website. I am simply looking for biblically based answers to my (and your questions) There is absolutely no churchly denominational influence in anything I have said to you or anyone else.
2) That said do not take my word for it look it up yourself, or ask me for the book chapter and verse. Nothing I say/answer with comes from piece mealing several one liners together. I take my answer from entire chapters and whole blocks of contextual scripture. I am happy to share everything, but have been reminded many times not to preach/share/leave large blocks of text unless asked or I am to leave links.

Why do you hold the right interpretation as to why healing never occurred during my trip as opposed to the next Christian?

Take your experience, analyze the result and compare it to what the bible says, discard everything else no matter what you grew up with. Then answer your own question. You do not need me to explain it to you. Ask God for basic discernment on this matter I am sure everything that ha happened to you is leading up to this point, and He will open your eyes on this to see for yourself if you simply ask. Just do so earnestly.

2) I see what you were saying about "toxic faith". My question, or rather observation, is that you're (on a whim) discarding my entire church of ~1000 people as having this improper faith.

Actually no I have not discarded your whole church. You gave one example of a failed faith (your own) I spoke to your failed faith not the faith of everyone else in your church. If you go back I even openly accepted that God could have legitimate used your "heavy hitter/healer" in the past, but not on this trip for something as 'trivial' as answering your prayer to be used by Him. God would not or rather has not scripturally used a man to 'magically' heal in His name, if this man were not faithful.

Would you actually be willing to say their relationships with God are, for the most part, "toxic"?

I have no idea, unless they spent as much time as you have describing what and why they believe what they believe. I have talked about the reason for so many 'denominations' in the past in my own thread. http://atheistforums.org/thread-12406.html All of it still holds true.

In essence the reason we have so many denominations is because we are not all built the same. Each 'denomination' speaks to a certain personality type. You need a faith that speaks to X your old church spoke to the Zs. The Z's being those slated for the exhibition of spiritual gifts. You may have been slated for a gift like mine. Where you simply observe, record and conclude, or God may have had something more intended for you. But, because you were in a church that prized exhibitional gifts and because you did not have anyway of manifesting this sort of gift, that faith became toxic to you. So rather than addressing your brand of faith, you concluded their was no God. In part because that particular brand of faith forces people to manifest gifts that may not be slated for them to have. Leaving those people one of two options. To falsely manifest a gift, or to give up (usually on God.) In that faith their isn't a provision made other than social shunning for those who have not manifest such a gift in one way or another.

This is the problem with 99% of all of Christian religion. We assume that because 'we' are right in our specific brand of faith all others are wrong. This is simple pride. This pride allows many to fall through the cracks. For in truth NONE of us has it 'right.' What makes us acceptable in our religious efforts is atonement. For it is the same atonement that forgives us of our sins when we willfully disobey that forgives our foolishness when we are trying to worship God with all of our being.

That makes ALL Religion a double edged sword. It draws us in and protects us with it's tradition and procedures when we are young in the faith, but as we mature it can also cut us down and leave us dead in our faith. Our only hope/saving grace is that we learn early on is to worship and serve God. Not to worship and preserve our religious practices above God Himself.


Just FYI I met another healer today and He didnot even consider Himself to be one with a actual gift. A woman in the church simply did not wake up one morning, and after many tests they found that she had a baseball size tumor in her head, and that she had a massive stroke killing off much of the good brain cells.. The family was told to say their good byes and this person was asked to pray for her and the family. He simply did his part and went home. He came back the next day to be there when she was taken off of life support to find during the night she regained consciousnesses. They did more tests and could not find any evidence of a stroke and the tumor shrank to an operable size. She is doing fine now and attends the church regularly.

I say that to say that this man like the lady who healed me do not see themselves as 'healers.' They are simply being faithful to the role God has set before them. If the are to pray the pray, if they are to serve they serve if they are to fill a need by doing X they do it. If anything should miraculously happen it is not because they have a gift they can wield like a Wizard when ever they wish. They simply consider themselves to be vessels that God can use to accomplish what He wants done.