# Believers in faith healing: why doesn't God restore amputated limbs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741 "2008-12-04T20:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/81 "2008-12-05T19:42:03Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > But it’s comforting to know that this miracle can be worked at any time. You must be under 50 years old. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/82 "2008-12-05T19:56:32Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Perhaps the question needs to be refined just a bit to clarify why we are skeptical of any miracles: **Why doesn’t God restore amputated limbs as commonly as other “miracles” such as curing chronic pain syndromes?** He does cure chronic pain as often as restoring limbs. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/83 "2008-12-06T03:55:47Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > He does cure chronic pain as often as restoring limbs. 😃 I used to always argue why ‘miracles’ were always performed in obscure places or the distant past. I actually heard a bishop tell is congregation not to argue god with reason but with fire (by which he meant passion btw). What kind of dysfunctional universe do we live in where logic and reason are not coin of the realm? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/84 "2008-12-06T03:59:33Z")
> [@G0sp3l](#): > > What kind of dysfunctional universe do we live in where logic and reason are not coin of the realm? The universe functions just fine, it’s the people who insist on blowing out the candle that some of us try to light against the dark that are the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/85 "2008-12-06T04:33:25Z")
I gotta figure some miracle cures of cancer and such are actually the result of the cancer being misdiagnosed in the first place, so when somebody checks later and the “cancer” is gone, hallelujah! A missing finger, though, that’s hard to screw up. All you need is the ability to count to nine, and then (post-miracle) ten. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/86 "2008-12-06T05:02:56Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I gotta figure some miracle cures of cancer and such are actually the result of the cancer being misdiagnosed in the first place, so when somebody checks later and the “cancer” is gone, hallelujah! This is also a prime mechanism for the miraculous success of alternative medical “cures”. > [@kanicbird](#): > > How and when He chooses to awaken us is up to Him. And sometimes He fools around and omits the “awaken” part. As [this couple](http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29556929.html) found out. Oops! Can’t take too much for granted, ya know. This prayer-and-limb-regeneration thing signifies one thing: [flatworms](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rfink/Videopages/video3.htm) are the holiest creatures on the earth. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/87 "2008-12-06T15:48:18Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Why would god who is in charge of everything change his mind. he had some noodley reason to take someones limb away. Now you want him to put it back. Not likely. This is an argument against faith healing in general, not amputee-healing. Actually it is an argument against God intervening in his universe in any way. According to the Bible though, God changes his mind pretty regularly. I believe you might have heard of this Jesus person who God sent to change everything? Floods, lepers, loaves and fishes, etc. Apparently, God likes to shake things up now and then. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/88 "2008-12-06T16:33:08Z")
God grows appendages back for lizards. Lizards are gods chosen specie. Miracles seem to be wrapped up in probabilities. If you have enough incidents ,some weird shit happens. Some people just get rid of cancer. It happens. It has always happened. But when someone says god chose me I think they are looney. Why did god chose them to have in the first place. It is after the fact religious analysis which is trying to force a weird event into some kind of religious explanation. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/89 "2008-12-06T16:55:08Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > According to the Bible though, God changes his mind pretty regularly. I believe you might have heard of this Jesus person who God sent to change everything? Floods, lepers, loaves and fishes, etc. Apparently, God likes to shake things up now and then. Um, didn’t god know all about this stuff before it happened? An omniscient being can’t change it’s mind. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/90 "2008-12-06T17:32:31Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > If a visible healing occured would you believe then? Probably not. First, even is such an event could be attributed only to some unknown transnatural force, it doesn’t tell us anything about that force. It sheds absolutely no light on the correctness of, say, the Five Points of Calvinism, or Dispensational Theology, or Allah’s prophet, Mohammed, or yin and yang, etc. Second, as others have pointed out, there are critters that can, with no outside help, regenerate limbs they have misplaced. If this ever happened with a human, I’d look for a series of odd genetic mutations that led up to that unique event before I’d hit the sawdust trail. I sometimes wonder if one reason overly-religeous folks oppose stem-cell research is the possibility that mere mortals may someday be able to do things that God Himself cannot do. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/91 "2008-12-06T18:02:14Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Um, didn’t god know all about this stuff before it happened? An omniscient being can’t change it’s mind. So why did he build a planet full of people only to destroy them all later in a flood? Why did he decide to scrap the Old Covenant with the Jews in favor of the New Covenant with Jesus and all that? Why even turn water into wine? God made that water, presumably that’s what he intended it to be. **Gonzo** ’s argument was that if God did it right the first time, he wouldn’t have to come back and “fix” it later. I’m saying, whether he knew about it before hand or not, God does come back and fix stuff all the time. He can heal lepers and raise Lazarus from the dead. What is stopping him from healing amputees _isn’t_ his unwillingness to change things he directly or indirectly caused in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/92 "2008-12-06T18:20:03Z")
This god has a weird sense of justice. Kids with cancer. Healthy people getting heart attacks.Earthquakes, floods ,tornadoes and all the other events that single out a group for no particular reason. I can not say I have much respect for a god that would do those kind of things. What kind of perverted idea of fun is he having? ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/93 "2008-12-06T18:45:19Z")
I suspect that salamanders and starfish are simply more devout than the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/94 "2008-12-06T18:55:20Z")
[Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines](http://news.yahoo.com/topics/financial-crisis;_ylt=AgKFGw6TNGS.tuSBvIibrPxH2ocA) Explaim why god would do this. It is so silly . Shit happens. It is just if you get enough events there will be weird things. Just accept the probability of the improbable. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/95 "2008-12-06T19:05:04Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > So why did he build a planet full of people only to destroy them all later in a flood? Why did he decide to scrap the Old Covenant with the Jews in favor of the New Covenant with Jesus and all that? Why even turn water into wine? God made that water, presumably that’s what he intended it to be. > > **Gonzo** ’s argument was that if God did it right the first time, he wouldn’t have to come back and “fix” it later. I’m saying, whether he knew about it before hand or not, God does come back and fix stuff all the time. He can heal lepers and raise Lazarus from the dead. What is stopping him from healing amputees _isn’t_ his unwillingness to change things he directly or indirectly caused in the first place. Face it. We’re not the final product of creation. God made man and woman (A) then rested (B), then made man (C) and woman (D) again. God scubs most of the project and starts again with a small inoculum of people and animals (E). Then there’s the new covenant with Jesus, and the final revelation with Mohammed. It seems to me we’re at best in a beta version. Maybe when the final product is shipped we’ll be able to regrow limbs, or perhaps it will come as a patch, and suddenly we’ll all be growing new arms. Refernces: (A) Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (B) Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (C) Genesis 2:7-8 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (D) Genesis 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. (E) Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/96 "2008-12-06T19:08:14Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > So why did he build a planet full of people only to destroy them all later in a flood? Why did he decide to scrap the Old Covenant with the Jews in favor of the New Covenant with Jesus and all that? Why even turn water into wine? God made that water, presumably that’s what he intended it to be. Exactly, it looks a lot like god is _not_ omniscient. He certainly doesn’t behave like it. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/97 "2008-12-06T20:10:39Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Um, didn’t god know all about this stuff before it happened? An omniscient being can’t change it’s mind. And an omnipotent being always can. Too bad for God. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/98 "2008-12-06T20:51:24Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Oh holy crap this is too easy. Keep reading, you know, _[very next paragraph:](http://www.rickross.com/reference/hinn/hinn2.html)_ > > You’re honestly going to Benny Hinn for a verified healing? Wow, you couldn’t have picked a worse example. He’s a well known fake healer. Benny Hinn? My Dad used to watch him for ENTERTAINMENT’s sake! And then he’d pull me in the room and say, “Look at this nutcase!” Dude wasn’t even a decent actor. > [@begbert2](#): > > As much as I like jumping into a religion-spiking discussion, it’s hard to get excited when the complaint is covered by the stock answer “mysterious ways”. I dunno, that’s one of U2’s best songs. > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > It just makes me want to hear a [violin solo](http://www.lovely.com/covers/4529530612.jpg). I think he means “[this cat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_Jenkins_(televangelist))”. The one whose holy water gave you the shits. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/99 "2008-12-06T21:04:00Z")
**Guinastasia** , you made a comment in the other thread about whether your obsessive-compulsive disorder qualifed you as demon-possessed. Just for the hell of it I asked my Pentecostal-Christian brother, and he replied “Yes,” with a raft of Bible verses to back up his opinion. I am going to have a make an note in my living will that, in the event I am ever incapacited and neither my wife, father, nor any of other siblings are available to make medical decisions for me, this brother is NOT allowed to have any say. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741/100 "2008-12-06T21:21:52Z")
Maybe god just has a short attention span. Maybe god and yog-sothoth and cthulhu and baal all foresaw the coming of Sid Meier and they’re at a lan party playing Civilization. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-in-faith-healing-why-doesnt-god-restore-amputated-limbs/475741.md?page=6)