Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. For these people, it doesn’t. They should quit while… well, they should quit.
Well there’s this case, he got time.
I sometimes wonder what Jesus would say if he were allowed to see where his church has gone. Old Lodgeskins’ various sighs inevitably come to mind. And now I’m imagining Jesus waking up in the crypt and mournfully asking, “Am I still in this world? I was afraid of that.”
Oh for the lava…NOBODY knows what the hell Jesus said! The “gospels” themselves are the closest you get, and nobody’s really sure who wrote them or how accurate their transcriptons were of stories told by guys who lived about a century after The Big Guy died. It’s hard enough to get a solid verbatim quote of Abe Lincoln or Mark Twain and we were paying close attention to them in their lifetimes. I’d be willing to bet Jesus said a lot of really cool and useful shit that never made it into print. Stuff like, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you’ll find you get what you need.”
But anyone who thinks the Gospels are unreliable is not likely to believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
My question is not why rational people think that couple is crazy. My question is, why do Christians think that couple is crazy.
Because, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, maybe a good number of Christians are capable of critical thought and consider the ancient texts to contain a fair bit of metaphor, alteration, mistranslation, etc. of generally wise and-peace-mongering advice? (see April R above for further clarification)
They’re preparing for that. Fecundity outpaces stupidity.
Unless by “a good number” you mean a very small percentage, you are claiming that mainstream Christians consider the Bible to be comparable to a self-help book by Dr. Phil.
That is not what they believe. Mainstream Christians believe, based on what they read in the Bible, that Jesus is the Son of God, and even April believes that he will answer prayers that pass some sort of fitness criteria.
So these Christians “capable of critical thought” see that the promises he made that can be tested are false, but they go on believing the promises that cannot be tested. In particular, they go on believing that faith in Jesus (except all the promises he made about healing) will give them eternal life, and that those passages are not metaphorical, and have not been mistranslated in every Bible version ever published, like the ones I cited have.
What is critical about that thinking?
Well, he’s missing his sideburns and she appears to have cut her hair, so there’s always that.
yyyeeaaahhhhh…I ain’t one, but I’m not ready to believe the majority of Christians believe they get to do magic if they just believe in it strongly enough. I’ve had people tell me to take medicine for thinking that way. I’ve said my piece, I should just go now.
Good idea! I am going to follow your lead…right after this comment 
Just as an attempt to try and inject some clarification into this conversation: I sincerely believe in the power of the laying on of hands in aiding in healing, but I also understand that faith is more than just sitting still and hoping for the best. When God says he will heal by faith, He is saying in my humble belief, that engaging in the laying on of hands is just one tool in the vast tool box of gifts He has given us and is to be used in conjunction with actually doing something about your problems. Sometimes He doesn’t heal in the way we would like, and people pass away form illness or injury, but in a way that is a release from long suffering. I was having early labor symptoms a month back. I got a blessing by the laying on of hands, but I also prayed about what else I needed to do. I continue to go to my OB, I have put myself on travel restrictions at work(I don’t want to be on a client call 3 hours from home and go into labor) and I have stopped taking a medication that the Doctor prescribed but when I told her I couldn’t take it since it was making me feel worse she agreed with me. When I prayed about these choices I felt what I believe to be confirmation from God that these were good choices. I am doing great at 34 weeks and the early contractions have subsided and everything looks good as of right now. That is what the power of faith means. You do all you can do to help yourself first then rely on the power of God to take you past the point you can yourself. You do not rely solely on laying on of hands or prayer, God never said, again in my humble belief, that prayer and the laying on of hands is the only path to healing. He said it was one of many ways, otherwise why would he give the gift of being able to heal to some very gifted medical practitioners and then not want them to exercise that gift?
/end incredibly long explanation 
I think he’d be pretty confused at how many different kinds of Jews there are.
I was taught that all prayers were answered. However, I had to remember that “no” was an answer. I was also taught that we did not get everything we wanted, but everything our souls truly desired. So basically, if I didn’t get what I prayed for, it was because I was praying for something I only thought I wanted, since obviously I would have gotten it if I REALLY wanted it. And people wonder why I’m skeptical of religion.
As in James 2:17?
For most mainstream Christians, the works part would be the operative.
But empirically, you were probably better off relying on prayer rather than consulting a physician (not a surgeon, mind you) until when? 1850? 1870? 1900?
Well, that’s about four years after it should have happened.
So you teach your kids that, but not about Santa and the Tooth Fairy? Oooookay…
yep
Because most Christians don’t believe that the Bible is the literal truth and is really a bunch of stories that are meant to be taken for what they are, a stone age book trying to describe God.
When they talk about healing it is about spiritual healing.
Yes I knwo the fundamentals get all the press particularly in the USA but venture to Europe or Australia and you find a very different form of Christian.
I’m sure the Schaibles felt the same way.
That’s what’s so dangerous about religion. You can rationalize really bad decisions as God’s will.
Absolutely. Like April R joining this board. 
Or the Schlables (whatever) thinking they’re qualified to have children.
That case in 2009 enraged me. It is entirely first degree murder, two counts for those “parents”.