Faith Healing

 Double blind trials.

A double blind trial for a drug or treatment, is where the real drug is given to half the people in the study and a fake sugar pill is given to the other half.  This is because some people get healed when given the sugar pill.  They have faith they will be healed and they are healed.

Why are double blind trials necessary to prove a drug or treatment works?

Why is it that the medical community does not in general believe faith can heal, but require statistics that a treatment works better than faith alone before it is approved?

How many people suffer in a trial by not receiving a real treatment?

Should trials compare among viable treatments instead of fake treatments?

Can faith that God will heal be as strong as faith that a sugar pill can heal?

Most proven treatments do not statically heal all patients so how much better are they than faith alone?

How much does a medical treatment cost versus a faith treatment?

Can doctors heal all patients?

Can faith heal all illnesses?

Do doctors help people even with their limited knowledge? 

The footnote

 In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

In most of the Christianity does the Holy Spirit seam to be a footnote to the trinity?

So just what is the Holy Spirit?

Could it be related to a spirit of holiness?

²⁸ “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”, Mark 3:28-29

Why is blasphemes against the Holy Spirit so bad?

What is a blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?

Are the other names for the Holy Spirit useful?

• Teacher
• Helper
• Comforter
• Guide

Is the Holy Spirit what we receive when we accept Christ gift of forgiveness?

Does receiving the Holy Spirit move us from self centered control?

Does striving for wealth, possessions, power, or pleasure bring peace or love?

Is a spirit of peace and love really heaven?

Does obedience give peace?

Is hell a lack of peace and love?

Is hell really addiction to wealth, possessions, power, or pleasure?

“In the beginning, man’s spirit was the dominant force in the world. When he sinned, his mind became dominant. Sin dethroned the spirit and crowned the intellect. But grace is restoring the spirit to its place of dominion. When man comes to realize this, he will live in the realm of the supernatural without effort.” John G. Lake, The Power of the Name

Blame

What is the cause of systemic poverty?

Why is systemic poverty called systemic racism?

Why do people seam to blame others for their situation?

Does a lack of hope for a prosperous future promote :

• violence?
• crime?
• drug use?
• sexual immorality?
• hatred?
• jealousy?
• protest?

Does fear of the future promote any of the above?

Does a feeling of not being heard promote violence?

Does blaming someone else for your situation relieve your responsibilities?

Why is hatred so easy to share?

Can blaming someone else motivate you to work to succeed?

Can all difficulties be overcome with trust in God?

Does faith in God give hope?

Is it easy to escape from poverty?

Is it harder to escape from poverty if you blame someone else for it?

Love or Hate

Is it love or is it hate?

• Does all criticism seem like hate to the recipient?
• Is all criticism give in hate?
• Can criticism be given in love and received as hate?
• Can criticism be received constructively?
• Is punishment a type of criticism?
• Can punishment encourage people to stop harmful actions?
• What are harmful actions?
• Are they harmful to the person doing them?
• Are they harmful to society?
• Can punishment be given in love?
• Can punishment be given in anger?

And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. Mark 9:43

• So what is a sin and why is it so bad?
• Does a sin distance you from God?
• Does a sin distance you from other people?
• Can not doing something be a sin?
• Is sin relative or absolute?
  So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.  James 4:17
• Can sinful actions be listed as in Galatians 5:19-21?
  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• If someone sins are they a bad person?
  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.  James 2:10
  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  Romans 3:23

How do you separate training to discourage sin from hate?

Is encouraging people to not become addicted to "the works of the flesh", love or hate?

Is punishment for sinful actions, love or hate?

Value

 What makes a person valuable?

Do people judge others so that they can say they are more valuable than others?

Do any of these make a person more valuable?

• Past crimes
• Stealing
• Killing
• Wealth
• Hardships endured
• Skin color
• Sexual preferences 
• Great works
• Love of others
• Love of money
• Beliefs like ours
• Opinions like ours
• Love of God
• Great faith
• Height
• Strength
• Speed
• Service to others
• Legalistic views
• Loved by God
• Old age
• Experience
• Birth
• Self importance
• High positions
• Memories
• Ancestry
• Nationality
• Member of a group
• Job
• Grace
• Martyrdom

Can the value of a person be linked to any of the following characteristics

• Integrity
• Courageousness
• Sense of Humor
• Intelligence, Education and Common Sense
• Emotionally Open
• Kindness
• Self-Confidence
• Discipline
• Generosity
• Self-Awareness
• Humility
• The ability to learn
• Responsibility
• Resilience
• Compassion for others
• Respect for others
• Big vision
• Inspiring others
• Self improvement
• Music talent 
• Art talent
• Math talent
• Dance talent
• Sports talent

Do all people have something valuable to add to our human existence?

On a scale from 0 to perfection is anybody anywhere near perfection?

On a scale from 0 to perfection is anybody an absolute zero?

Does being loved by God give us value?

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

The 10th

 You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17)

A more modern equivalent phrase could be Keeping up with the Jones' .

Why did God save this commandment to be the last one?

Is this commandment a cause of evil actions?

Is this commandment based on internal thought more than actions?

Can you covet and be satisfied with what you posses?

Are you happy if you are not satisfied with what you posses?

Is it a sin to be wealthy?

Is it a sin to be greedy?

Should someone who works hard obtain more possessions?

Can working hard all of the time improve your satisfaction with life?

Can coveting create hatred for those with more possessions than us?

When do you have enough?

How do you judge if you have enough to be satisfied?

Can a focus on God reduce reliance on possessions?

Can a focus on serving others reduce desire for possessions?

Do more possessions make you a better person?

Do possessions make you happier?

Can sharing possessions allow people to posses less for themselves?

Hell

Does Hell exist?

A popular song from the sixties may describe hell vary well with the phrase "Imagine there is no religion, nothing to live or die for."  With no purpose in life the only things that mater would be pleasure and power.  Both these goals are unachievable, so life becomes a struggle for pleasure and power.  With a focus on pleasure and power, true love does not thrive.

Does God condemn people to eternal hell or do they choose eternal hell themselves.  Are the following choices choosing hell?

•  Addiction to drugs
• Addiction to alcohol
• Addiction to sex
• Revenge
• Hatred
• Materialism
• Killing
• Self importance
• Laziness
• Workaholic
• Hedonism
• Politics
• Forcing your opinions on others
• Forcing your world view on others
• Racism

Can submission to God and love of others overcome the hollowness of pleasure and power?

Time

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58

And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:5b

We think of time as a universal constant.  Time in our limited world and experience progresses only in one direction.  

We used to think of time as a universal constant and uniformly moving dimension.  Then came the Theory of Relativity where time could move at different rates depending on your speed or nearness to mass.  The theory has matched some observations about energy, motion and matter.

Now, we have string theory where there may exist more than three space dimensions.  String theory matches more observations and experiments and unifies the fundamental forces.  Why do the forces need to be unified?

• But where did time and space begin?
• Did time and space begin or were they always the same?
• Did God create time and space?
• Does time and space exist in heaven?
• Does our personality exist in time and space?
• Are our thoughts part of time and space?

• Where does the universe end?
• Where does space end?
• What comes after space ends?
• We calculate large space distances by the brightness of certain stellar events.  Does dark matter make galaxies look further away?
• Does light continue forever?  If light and the universe continue forever why is the sky not bright all of the time?

• If there is no time in heaven what about self determination?
• Are our decisions predetermined?
• Can God see the results of our decisions before we make them?
• Can God see the future?

If I could save time in a bottle what would I do?