# How did faith healers in ancient days do what they do **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 9, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447 "2013-09-09T22:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/21 "2013-09-10T14:58:15Z")
I just gave you a very short discourse in faith healing. I never expected people who follow James Randi to agree with anything I said. Someone asked how and I replied. Reiki and acupuncture are being used in some hospitals now. Both are primarily energy systems. If you want to ask questions I will try to answer them. I have participated in energy healing circles many times. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/22 "2013-09-10T15:07:11Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I just gave you a very short discourse in faith healing. I never expected people who follow James Randi to agree with anything I said. Someone asked how and I replied. Reiki and acupuncture are being used in some hospitals now. Both are primarily energy systems. If you want to ask questions I will try to answer them. I have participated in energy healing circles many times. Prove faith healing works. Find cases. 1.Amputee grows back limb 2. Burn victim is unscarred. 3. Large tumor disappears overnight.( As in x-ray at night, x-ray the next morning) Legitimate medical journals such as _The Lancet_. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/23 "2013-09-10T15:08:09Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I just gave you a very short discourse in faith healing. I never expected people who follow James Randi to agree with anything I said. Someone asked how and I replied. Reiki and acupuncture are being used in some hospitals now. Both are primarily energy systems. If you want to ask questions I will try to answer them. I have participated in energy healing circles many times. I’ve already asked a question that I would like an answer to: Can you Name one modern day “faith healer” that “gets the job done”? I am not interested in your expansive claims and unsubstantiated tales-I just want the name of _one_ faith healer that “gets the job done”. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/24 "2013-09-10T15:18:14Z")
The OP is about how faith healing is accomplished and you are going off topic immediately with your questions. I don’t think you have any interest in the subject. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/25 "2013-09-10T15:21:31Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > The OP is about how faith healing is accomplished and you are going off topic immediately with your questions. I don’t think you have any interest in the subject. So - exactly HOW is faith healing accomplished? Do you have any reports of effectiveness per technique, etc? anything in a peer reviewed medical journal with regard to effecacy rates of faith healing vs “just waiitng it out”? what about mortality rates for those that demand only faith healing? ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/26 "2013-09-10T15:22:14Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > The OP is about how faith healing is accomplished and you are going off topic immediately with your questions. I don’t think you have any interest in the subject. So you can’t prove it, then? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/27 "2013-09-10T15:22:21Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > The OP is about how faith healing is accomplished and you are going off topic immediately with your questions. I don’t think you have any interest in the subject. _You_ made a claim, and if your claim is off topic the fault much more yours than mine. Either back it up or take it back. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/28 "2013-09-10T15:31:34Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I have participated in energy healing circles many times. So you can detect human energy fields? Let’s see you pass Emily Rosa’s simple test, then you can talk. Until then, if you claim to heal anything, your claim is worthless and fraudulent. So to answer the OP, today’s faith healers work exactly the same way, on the gullible. Sometimes even the faith healers are the gullible ones. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/29 "2013-09-10T15:33:06Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > So to answer the OP, today’s faith healers work exactly the same way, on the gullible. Sometimes even the faith healers are the gullible ones. I suspect the vast majority are well aware of what they’re not doing. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/30 "2013-09-10T15:36:47Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I suspect the vast majority are well aware of what they’re not doing. Thats the thing about ‘faith’ - it requires believing even when the evidence is not there - so there are atleast two classes of ‘faith healers’ - a) outright charlatans - those that know its pure bunk but are preying on the weak minds/faith of those being healed to make a buck - b) the true believer - like some of the fringe church groups that actually think it does something, and that it was ‘gods will’ when the child dies by prayer (you hear about them in the news when the courts finally intervene on behalf of the child or when its too late). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/31 "2013-09-10T16:01:46Z")
> [@BrianJ](#): > > This. > > Considering they thought back then that demons caused illness, just going through the motions of ‘exorsizing’ a demon and waiting til the person got better would be convincing. Hell, the faith healers probably thought it really worked as well for all we know. **Very** probably. Why would they be the only people around who did not believe in demons or magic? As L. Sprague de Camp notes in [_Spirits, Stars and Spells: The Profits and Perils of Magic,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirits,_Stars,_and_Spells) wizards usually do believe in their own powers. Which does not place them above stage-magic trickery – because they also know their powers do not **always** work, and the common folk just would not understand that, and sometimes they need a backup plan to keep the people impressed. They also have psychological methods – e.g., an African witch-doctor might cast a spell on all the men of the village to help them win a battle or have a successful hunt, and then decree, “Let no man go in unto his wife for ten days!” If the battle/hunt fails . . . well, it’s easier to believe (it is even easier for the witch-doctor himself to believe) that some horny dude disobeyed that injunction and spoiled the spell, than to believe spells do not work, which would shatter everybody’s cultural world-view. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/32 "2013-09-10T16:03:00Z")
If I told you the sun comes up in the morning you would probably say prove it. I would say just observe it. So you keep asking me to prove faith healing and I say just observe it. The method Emily Rosa uses to measure energy is flawed in many ways. Yes I can feel the energy of life sometimes called Ki. You cannot judge faith healing until you know how and what it is. Faith healing is done by people and anything done by people is not 100% ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/33 "2013-09-10T16:04:59Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > Faith healing is done by people and anything done by people is not 100% More like 0%. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/34 "2013-09-10T16:12:31Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > If I told you the sun comes up in the morning you would probably say prove it. I would say just observe it. So you keep asking me to prove faith healing and I say just observe it. > > The method Emily Rosa uses to measure energy is flawed in many ways. > > Yes I can feel the energy of life sometimes called Ki. > > You cannot judge faith healing until you know how and what it is. > > Faith healing is done by people and anything done by people is not 100% Talk about dismissing something without even trying to understand it-Emily Rosa doesn’t use _any_ method to measure energy. [Read this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Rosa), then point out the supposed flaws in her experiment. By the way, can you name just _one_ of your modern day faith healers that can “get the job done”? ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/35 "2013-09-10T16:22:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Talk about dismissing something without even trying to understand it-Emily Rosa doesn’t use _any_ method to measure energy. [Read this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Rosa), then point out the supposed flaws in her experiment. > By the way, can you name just _one_ of your modern day faith healers that can “get the job done”? That is freaking _awesome._ Can’t even fool a nine year old. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/36 "2013-09-10T16:25:23Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > That is freaking _awesome._ Can’t even fool a nine year old. 😃 It just ticks me off that **lekatt** , who is always going on about being open minded, obviously dismissed her without knowing anything at all about her. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/37 "2013-09-10T17:27:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It just ticks me off that **lekatt** , who is always going on about being open minded, obviously dismissed her without knowing anything at all about her. I have read all about her. She was trying to measure HEF (Human Energy Field) which is not used for healing. It is the Life Force Energy that is used for healing. It is the force flowing through your body not the field that maintains your body. There is a difference. One is the aura the other is a tool for you to use. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/38 "2013-09-10T17:30:23Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I have read all about her. She was trying to measure HEF (Human Energy Field) which is not used for healing. It is the Life Force Energy that is used for healing. It is the force flowing through your body not the field that maintains your body. There is a difference. One is the aura the other is a tool for you to use. Wrong, wrong, wrong! It’s the Quantum Vibration Frequency Force Energy Field! I can feel it right now! Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/39 "2013-09-10T17:34:20Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I have read all about her. She was trying to measure HEF (Human Energy Field) which is not used for healing. It is the Life Force Energy that is used for healing. It is the force flowing through your body not the field that maintains your body. There is a difference. One is the aura the other is a tool for you to use. 1. How is this “Life Force Energy” detected? 2. Name one person who uses the “Life Force Energy” successfully. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447/40 "2013-09-10T17:34:59Z")
> [@lekatt](#): > > I have read all about her. She was trying to measure HEF (Human Energy Field) which is not used for healing. It is the Life Force Energy that is used for healing. It is the force flowing through your body not the field that maintains your body. There is a difference. One is the aura the other is a tool for you to use. So midichlorians were involved. Seriously, do you just make this shit up as you go? Why won’t you offer any proof? If it did anything, it would leave evidence behind that can be seen. Ftom the Wiki article Czarcasm linked to. > [@](#): > > In 1996, Rosa saw a video of Therapeutic Touch (TT) practitioners claiming they could feel a “Human Energy Field” (HEF) emanating from a human body and could use their hands to **manipulate the HEF in order to diagnose and treat disease.** So the “authorities” in the field say you’re wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-faith-healers-in-ancient-days-do-what-they-do/668447.md?page=3)