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HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
I.
II.
III.
Sanctification through Sickness
Divine Determinism
Faith Formula
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
IV.
Secular World View
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Theologian Don Cupitt
In the present century modern man has come
into a new kind of understanding of himself
and his place in the universe which has made
obsolete all previous world views…so we have
come by now to a completely secular view of
the world and our place in it.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Secularism is that system of thought that
denies the existence or significance of
anything religious. God is removed from the
modern view of reality so the world is not
understood to be a closed system, governed
by the cause and effect of natural laws. These
laws are discovered by scientifically observing
the empirical world.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
David Hume
A miracle is a violation of the laws of nature…
a firm and unalterable experience has
established these laws, the proof against a
miracle, from the very nature of the fact, is as
entire as any argument from experience can
possibly be imagined.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Malachi Martin
Almost one hundred years ago, Western culture in
Europe and the US underwent its one an only
radical religious change since the 4th
century…that change, apparent among Europeans
and Americans by the 1800s, was an utterly new
thing: unbelief in God as an acceptable option.
This is not to say that none of us believe in God
anymore, but rather that He has become
nonessential to the way we live our lives. We
Western Christians may be theists in our heads,
but we tend to act like secularists in our daily
activities.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
CS Lewis once pointed out that for many
moderns seeing is not believing.
This is the first thing to get clear in talking
about miracles. Whatever experiences we may
have, we shall not regard them as miraculous if
we already hold a philosophy which excludes
the supernatural.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Medical science and Christian faith fight a
common enemy with different means; therefore
the polarization between science and faith is
false. The real tension is not between church
and science but between a secular world view
and a view of reality which allows for the
activity of the living God. Too many times the
church is all too often aligned with the world’s
skepticism about the possibility of God’s
acting in the world.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
2 Timothy 3:5
Holding to a form of godliness (religion),
although they have denied its power…
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
1 Corinthians 4:20
For the kingdom of God does not consist in
words, but in power.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Romans 12:2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind…
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
Leslie Weatherhead
Man should part forever with the idea that
sickness or disease is the inscrutable will of
God, that He sends it in order to discipline
man, and that resignation is the attitude
required of us. God created the body to be the
perfect instrument of the Spirit. It cannot be
His will that it should function imperfectly.
HINDRANCES TO HEALING IV
In summing up thus far, we have
encountered the various theological
hindrances to a healing ministry.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Embracing sickness as a sanctifying
blessing.
Passively accepting sickness as a decree
of God.
Substituting presumption for genuine faith.
Secular world view that contradicts the
activity of God.