Praying for healing for Cancer and refusing medication
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
United States
January 6, 2012 9:53pm CST
I lost a good friend a few years back. She went up to the alter at church asking for healing for breast cancer. She was at a stage IV breast cancer. That's as bad as it gets.
Okay this person went up and people laid hands on her and she claimed her healing. She claimed her healing so much that she stopped all medications and treatments because she said she was healed.
Of course, she died a few months later. I have seen more than one person believe in their faith so much that they quit taking their medication and claim their healing, and of course they aren't healed. They believe it to the end.
I have a friend now with esophageal cancer and stomach cancer. She will have to have her esophagus and part of her stomach removed. She has to be fed with a tube feed. She has also asked for healing and believes that she has been healed, but she is continuing with her medication. She is getting weaker and weaker by the day. There has even been talk that if she has surgery she might not make it through the surgery.
Now... I ask... if you ask for healing, and you claim your healing, is it right to stop all treatment because you believe that you have been healed? Even when your beliefs were unfounded and you died?
My friend believes she will beat this, she prays and we pray with her also for healing. But does she lessen her faith by taking the medicines? It's like saying I'm healed, but I'm not really and I need the medicine.
Why do we accept on faith that we are healed, but then still reach out for man's ability to heal us? I believe it is because we know that prayer alone isn't going to cure a person's cancer.
I've had friends die because they were misguided into stopping medical care because they felt God would heal them... and then a friend who uses more common sense and uses medical help to help her possibly rid her of cancer.
I believe in God, and I believe that God gave doctors the gifts to heal. I believe docs do all they can, but it is up to us and our immune system that God gave us whether we pull through or not. However, some feel it is all God and no man... and some feel it is a little of both.
I have a friend who refuses to have her ganglion cyst on her wrist removed. She has been asking God to remove it now for years. She also has a frozen shoulder. Surgery would free it. (I had the same thing and had surgery to get the shoulder moving again)... she refuses to let doctors do what they can to help her because she said that is God's job to heal her and no one else's... so....
I'm asking why doe people believe in certain ways. Some ways seem to contradict their beliefs and others live totally by their beliefs.
your thoughts? 
2 people like this
12 responses
@ReViewMeMedia (3785)
• United States
7 Jan 12
As a Bible believing Christian, I say this, read the Bible, pray, but listen to your doctors and follow what they say, He did make them smart after all. If you ignore what your doctor says because God will fix it, and God does miraculously heal people, but God wants us to be wise, not stupid.
2 people like this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
God wants us to be wise, not stupid.
I totally agree with you there. I believe that God (the supernatural) works together with (the natural) to heal. I also believe that God created us with an amazing immune system to help us cure diseases within ourselves. What we can’t fight on our own, we need a little help from our doctors, and it never hurts to pray. I find it very helpful to pray, but I don’t rely on prayer alone. It would be foolish for me to when I have a devastating disease that will kill me without medical intervention.
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
7 Jan 12
Hi PointlessQuestion... this is a good topic you posted here. I believe that doctors are god's instrument of healing. God gave these doctors the skill and knowledge to heal us. I believe also that God can heal but i think that God can only heal us if we help ourselves and allow others to heal us. I am not saying that God's healing hands are unreliable and that doctors pose as a back-up plan. I believe we should put it all together to really get healed.
2 people like this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I’m put in mind of Romans 8:28
King James Version (KJV)
28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Even with non-believers, like my brother… there were people praying for him… I was for sure. My brother has been healed of diabetes through weight loss and he has been healed of prostate cancer through medical intervention. He, himself, is an atheist. I believe God still has a hand in healing, but he doesn’t do it the way he did when Jesus walked the earth performing miracles and signs to make people believe.
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
10 Jan 12
Hi PointlessQuestions, Pleading with God to healing us of Cancer or any other disease makes little sense. It conjures up a vision of an old man sitting on a cloud somewhere and saying, "come on now, beg me just a few more times and I might relent, maybe if you get a few more to pray with you". What does help however, is a right understanding of God, and the part that we ourselves play in all healing. God is not going to feed the hungry in the world, that's why we are here. Blessings.
1 person likes this
@MaryLynn321 (2680)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I think some people need to believe these things as it helps them get through these treatments, surgeries, etc. Right now that is all they have is their prayers, treatments and hopes.
I think some just want to believe the are cured, others believe so strongly that they actually believe they are cured. Others don't feel they need the treatments anymore, maybe deep inside they know what is going to happen and have come to peace with it.
Others will go for treatments after treatments for years.
Each one of us is different, I guess that is why we all respond differently to these situations.
I remember when my sister was going through her treatments. She went to groups where they talked and tried to help each other out. I would have never pictured her going to those support groups. But, I know it helped her and I am glad she had these people and their support.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
It is very helpful to have support groups to help you through difficult situations. I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about people who listen to preachers and get so brain washed that they forget their own common sense.
My own daughter was told at a tent meeting (she went with my pastor friend and his wife) that God said she needed to throw away her medicine. It started out that the preacher (foaming at the mouth because he was blustering so much) that God said there was someone here with bipolar disorder and for that person to stand up and come forward. Of course, my daughter did. He then put his hand on her head and said God said to throw away your medications that you are healed. She did what he said. She was okay for a few days until her levels dropped and her mood swings took over. She ended up in the hospital for cutting her arms to pieces with razor blades!
Another preacher tried to tell her to throw away her medications, that she was healed. She is a friend of mine and also a pastor. I think the world of her, but my daughter has nothing to do with her because of the fact that she said that crap to her. Having been through that once with the tent revival, she wasn’t going through it again. I am still friends with this minister, but I will not entertain any of her fanatic ways.
I feel that people who listen to others and throw their medications away, and stop treatment because some preacher has convinced them they are healed, are really misguided. They need to use their own common sense. Any decision they make for their health should be made on their own thoughts and feelings and not because they have been brain washed.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (98877)
• India
7 Jan 12
While stopping medications on basis of faith is actually mistaking the word, we must also look at other possibility. Would they've survived as long as they did, had it been otherwise? I mean, it is not something that healing touch does. It is something that our brain does. By having faith, she has almost asked god - hey there, I haven't sinned so much, so you are not going to punish me more, isn't it? And believed in justice of god. Had they felt that god's been unfair, and been in despair most of the time, they would have felt the suffering more, and made family suffer as well. In any event, medical science does not promise cure for cancers, as of now, does it? So to me, faith gave her hope, and that hope helped to generate some good chemicals in her body, which kept her alive for longer.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
You do have a point. I believe that God created us with much of what we need to survive. He gave us an immune system, and brain chemicals to survive this world full of viruses, bacteria and even ourselves and our unhealthy habits.
I believe in medical science, and I also believe in faith. I believe they work together. I also believe that people can be healed without faith. For instance, I mentioned in another post that my brother is a non-believer. He is no longer diabetic because he chose to live a healthier lifestyle. He lost about 150 pounds and is no longer on diabetic medications and no longer has ulcers on his legs that won’t heal. He is completely healed from type 2 diabetes… he is also healed of prostate cancer. I did pray for him and let him know it… and he chastised me for it because he doesn’t believe in prayer or God. He is cancer free and has been for about 18 years now. He was medically treated with radioactive beads that were inserted into him. He didn’t pray. He helped himself and he used medical treatment that was available to him.
@francesca5 (1344)
•
7 Jan 12
this is a difficult question, pointlessquestions, you might have to change your name.
recently i remember walking past a small group on the high street, of people from the local church offering to heal people.
but the problem, i thought to myself, was what if those people then went home and carried on doing exactly the same things that got them ill in the first place.
i don't want to suggest that people cause their own illnesses, and some illnesses are just bad luck, but we can do things to take care of our own health, like exercise, eat well, and look after our emotional health.
i went through a period, when i was married, of feeling very depressed, and i asked god to help me sort things out, and he did, but i didn't just wake up the next day feeling better, i had to find ways to sort out the problems that made me feel bad in the first place, and that was a very long process, and i believe that god helped me find the solutions, that helped me solve the problems, but i had to do an awful lot of work to get there.
so i suppose what i think is that if we ask god to heal us we then have a responsibility to make changes in our own lives to remove the things in our lives that may make us prone to poor health, which doesn't mean i think that people cause their own ill health, but that we can look at ways to help our body be healthy.
and maybe they forget that bit, and part of removing the obstacles to being healthy is co operating with the doctor.
1 person likes this
@francesca5 (1344)
•
7 Jan 12
well thank you for the best response, i thought it a very interesting question.
i wonder if may be sometimes people have too passive a relationship with god, and think he is the all powerful one, without seeing that he can only help them if they help themselves.
i'm pleased to hear your health got better once you stopped smoking, and hopefully the longer you give up the better it will get. it may be worth talking to god and seeing if there's anything else he thinks you could do, he's very demanding i find, but if i work with him he will help me.
best wishes.
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
7 Jan 12
You know my friend I think this is one all of us who have attended one church or another, and believe in God, and are considered a Praying person have been told many times. God heals, so you need to have Faith and let him heal. Some say quit taking so many meds, and let god move. I have heard of people doing this myself and many times it does not always work that way. I know when I took depression meds there were many who were saying I was doubting god.
But in the case of Cancer, or I with Diabetes, and being Insulin dependant, we can Pray and ask God for healing, and miracles and signs but there are times we will not be completely healed. Why some are and some are not is surely one to ask when we get to Heaven. But truly maybe the only way we will know we are healed and better is when a Doctor continues to tell us we are, or when God calls us home. But until then we need to do all we can while still holding on to our Faith and belief.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
Hi Tina,
Just think about what might happen if some preacher told you to throw away your insulin (if you are insulin dependent) or to stop going to the wound clinic. You would probably end up losing your leg! I think we need to exercise our faith WHILE doing what we know to do to help ourselves. We can’t just sit back and expect God to do all the healing. God created us with the immune system we have. He created us to have certain gifts in the physical world. For some, that gift is for listening and learning, while others are gifted with the desire to become healers. I believe God uses doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and the like for healing us, and we also have it within us to be healed when everything works together for the good.
My brother is an atheist, he doesn’t believe in prayer, yet he was healed of diabetes type 2. He did it by merely dropping over 150 pounds. His wounds healed. He is still dropping weight. He walks over 5 miles a day now and before he couldn’t even walk in the grocery store. He had to ride one of those little carts. He healed himself by doing what was necessary to be healed. His diabetes reversed itself and he became healthy. There was no miracle to heal him. He had prostate cancer. I was praying for him and told him so… he said ‘you know I don’t believe in that.’ I said ‘I know, but I do believe.’ And so I prayed… my brother saw his doctor and did the treatments necessary and he was cured of prostate cancer.
I feel that belief in God is a good placebo effect in healing. But in serious disease you are going to need true medical intervention. Whether they believe in God or not… I believe that God uses doctors to help heal us.
@bonbon664 (3466)
• Canada
7 Jan 12
I think it's fine if people want to pray if they think it will help them get through difficult health issues, but, if that's all they're doing, it's foolish. I think people who refuse medical treatment because they're going to be magically healed in some fashion are kidding themselves. I think religion is a very powerful placebo effect, and can help people get better, and we know a positive attitude can help the healing process, but, it certainly won't cure you. If I were critically ill, I would put faith in my doctors first.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
"I think people who refuse medical treatment because they're going to be magically healed in some fashion are kidding themselves."
I agree whole heartedly with your statement here.
In the cases that I know about, it has been preachers in the pulpit who preach this stuff and people get brainwashed. My friend, Vicki, refuses to get her shoulder fixed and refuses to get her ganglion cyst removed because she is waiting for God to do his job that ‘he promised to do’ as she says. I reminded her of the person who drowned in the sea because he refused all the help that God sent to him, but he drowned because God didn’t down off his throne and save him himself. It’s just foolish that she suffers as she does for her own ignorance. She told me when I told her about me having the same thing with my shoulder and surgery fixed my problem… she said .. AND I QUOTE “ Doctors are for non-believers!” Can you imagine that? How utterly absurd!
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I think you got the wrong discussion Steph… this isn’t about eating pork.
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I agree, Hatley. I feel that God, in all of His infinite wisdom created this world so that we become self-sufficient. Look at the immune system he gave us to fight off disease! Some work better than others, but I feel it is miraculous how well it works for me. I do believe that God created mankind with many different types of gifts. Some have such high intelligence that they can become doctors and lawyers to help those of us who need help.
I feel it is foolish to throw away common sense to put one’s health on God’s ability to heal on its own. God, I believe, helped man uncover the facts needed to gain medical knowledge. I feel sorry for those who are misled by the man or woman in the pulpit. There are charlatans on TV every week who will say Give me your money and I will send you a prayer cloth to heal you of cancer and disease. I hear it all the time. People are dying while these preachers are living the high life.
1 person likes this
@2004cqui (2812)
• United States
7 Jan 12
This brings to mind Christian Scientists. They believe God givith and God takeith away. There are lots of people who believe this. My mother used to go to "healing" masses in her Catholic church. I never heard of any "healing" going on because of it. I have a deep, personal relationship with God, myself. But God already knows our needs. I pray that God gives me the strength to handle what ever is thrown my way. I never ask him for anything else. All I have to do is turn around and look at the turn of events that happened in my life that had little to nothing to do with how hard I worked to get there! The timing on some of these events are just mind blowing! Our time in these bodies is just a blink in the eye of the time our soul and energy exists. Some would call me crazy for thinking this way but I don't share it with many because I wasn't put here to preach about God, His wisdom, or acts. Just continue to care about these people and try to make their time with us as pleasant as possible. You will have completed your mission on earth. Yeah for you!
1 person likes this
@ravisivan (14079)
• India
7 Jan 12
I believe in God. Otherwise one who was not assured of his next time food years back is now in an excellent financial position. another who was swimming in money years back is not left penniless and lives in a very small accommodation.
Problems make us believe in God. If we face a bigger problem our belief also goes up.
My suggestion will be to take the treatment suggested by doctors and then believe in god. Belief alone cannot cur certain diseases.
May God help all mylotters to solve their problems.
1 person likes this
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
7 Jan 12
I agree. I believe that without the problems we face, we wouldn’t even know we need God. I thank God for the problems I have in life because He always brings me through.
