HEALING BY FAITH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21314, 15 October 1932, Page 13

HEALING BY FAITH

AN ANCIENT PRACTICE SOME ERRONEOUS IDEAS FANATICISM AND FRAUD "EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY" BY SCRUTATOR Every dog has his day. If that sounds cynical it is at least, based on a close observance of life. It is also true that there is nothing new under the sun. Both proverbs are useful in modifying the natural pride of man in the -wonders of his own age. Such reflections were engendered by the sight of crowds of people gazing with fervent attention at the miraculous cures alleged to be effected by a faith-healer at present operating in Auckland. How many of those present realised that what they were looking at was but the recrudescence of a practice older than medicine itself, and which has again and again had its day, and ceased to be from the time of Solon—centuries beforeChrist ? The particular interest of the crowd was fixed on the claim that what was happening before their eyes was only a repetition of the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. His was the sacred name invoked. Scripture texts, torn from their context and twisted to suit the healer's theme, aided the delusion that here was a revival of the essential apostolic ministry of the Christian Church. The New Testament records cases of specific healing by Christ and subsequently by some of the apostles which seem to give sanction to the claims of modern faith-healers. Without impugning' the authenticity of the sacred narrative, it cannot be too clearly stated that these claims cannot be substantiated either by histoiy, by scripture, or by present experience In Ancient Greece and Rome. Healing by faith was a feature of pagan antiquity. There was a shrine of Asklipios, the father of the medical profession, at Epidauros, in Greece. The inscriptions on the monuments there have been collected and edited by Dr. Caton, of Liverpool. In the 4th Century, 8.C.such diseases as blindness, lameness, sterility, baldness, suppuration, tuberculosis, paralysis, and gout were cured by the power of God joined to the iaith of the sufferer. It appears that a course of dieting and religious ceremony was customary to prepare the patients for the night on which they should sleep in the temple. "On that night the God came to them, they said, in that mood or state where they lay. Some declared they saw him. He came .and told them what to do; on waking they did it and were healed; or he touched them then and there and cured them as they lay." (T. R. Glover: The Jesus of History, p. 201). Here we have clear evidence of hypnoticsugcestion and "laving-on-of-hands." The practice, was sporadic, but well kiown throughout the Roman Empire. Christianity came to a world which believed in the power of gods and heroes, th« exorcism of evil spirits, and the value of faith in effecting a cure. The name of j "Saviour" was' bestowed on all healing ! gods, Apollo, Asklipios and even Zeus. By the time of Augustus Caesar the ;power of healing was a regular activity of every being claiming divine origin. New Testament Miracles In the light of all this thp Scripture narratives take on a very different complexion. Our Lord (who openly recognised that the casting out of evil spirits was practised among the Jews o:E His day) assumed the right to rebuke and expel demons Himself, to cure disease and'even to raise the dead. He also promised superhuman powers to His, disciples, but it is quite clear that thii purpose of these was to commend their message. It was, frankly, a concession to the common expectation of His ago that anyone claiming divine authority mist be able to effect miracles. But, the obvious reluctance of Jesus to publish the fact of such cures is instructive. He deprecated the emphasis on physical healing and put- the necessity for moral and spiritual renewal foremost. Just as He would not turn stones, into bread, so He would not divert the power of the Gospel from preaching to healing. Relation to Medical Methods There is no need to minimise the fact that Jesus effected cures such as evoked the wonder of the people from time to time. His title, the Great Physician, is the witness to that. But nothing He said or did indicated that He would dispense with regular medical practice. So, too, the Apostles (in lesser:degree) effected special cures from time to time. But no one can read theso narratives and honestly find in them any basis for the clairi that; faith-healing was their mqin interest, or even a big interest. It was purely incidental and strictly subordinate to preaching the Gospel. The cures were indeed looked upon as signs that God wail with them. But . they did not establish, or even suggest, the founding of healing centres. What they did effectually was to establish the Church and it? places of worship. The very real part that faith and suggestion play in curative medicine will be dealt with in a later article. When allied with religious emotion they are admittedly potent in a high degree. But modern faith-healing cults are deluding the public when they pretend that medical aid is unnecessary or worse than useless. Exploiting Ignorance The question arises—if the claims made bv present-day faith-healers that miraculous cures can be made resort to medical aid, why did the science of medicine come into being at all. Faith-healing is so easy, direct, inexpensive, or should be. But the study and practice of medicine is one of the severest forms of labour. With the human tendency to follow the line of least resistance one would think all the odds would be on the .side of the faith-healer as against the medical practitioner. But whereas the latter has gone on from century to century increasing in skill and usefulness, the faith-healer only appears here and there like a flickering will-o'-the-wisp, and is essentially the same to-day as he was in the days of the shrine at Epidouras. His power lies in the hopefulness and the ignorance of his patients, and he only exploits perfectly well-known medical aids, such as suggestion and expectancy, for the furtherance of quackery and fanaticism.