An ASA spokesman said, "We are not here to stop religious or faith-based organisations from promoting what they believe in. But if they are making absolute claims about curing serious conditions then we have to see that evidence to back it up."
The man bringing the complain, Dennis Penaluna, was apparently shocked and outraged over the leaflet, "I couldn't believe the overarching, ridiculous, unfounded claims they were making. They can't be substantiated, it's a dangerous nonsense. People who are ill or vulnerable can be easily persuaded. They will grasp at anything."
Jumping to the church's defence, Canon Ed Pruin, who advises people in the Church of England diocese of Nottingham and Southwell on healing, said he agreed the leaflet was "Less than helpful, but I absolutely do believe that God can heal. I have no doubts. I think that one of the ways God heals is through medical science and the care of healthcare professionals. But I don't think that he is always in the curing business."
Canon Pruin is also a member of the Healing and Wholeness committee which has advised the church to amend the leaflet so that 'healing on the streets' is changed to 'care on the streets'.
Pick up your bed and walk, you are 'cared' for doesn't quite have the same ring, does it?
The overarching question is this: Can God heal and if the answer is 'Yes', does He heal?
I encountered a few people yesterday and having been told of their ailments, I prayed for them that God would indeed touch their bodies and bring them healing. Some of my colleagues tell me that healing is always there, but not generally physically, it's about healing mental and emotional stuff and therefore, even when the symptoms (and cause) persist, the person is healed.
Should we expect more?
Should we claim God (Jesus) can heal or should we just 'Care'?
Perhaps we should alll become secularists and live in the vacuum of self and be happy in ourselves and then again, perhaps not! After all, the ASA turned down my complaint about mobile phone betting because it made gambling 'fun and exciting' and that's what the advert' was all about!
Whoo Hoo!
5 comments:
Yes God does heal.
From the human perspective God makes a number of choices beyond our understanding. These choices include who, when and how he's going to act. Sometimes its blindingly obvious that it was "beyond human ability" when he acts, other times its not so clear and we have to act on faith that God was in on the act.
Numerous instances, at least in the US (and don't go into "Crazy Americans! Couldn't happen over here!" mode, because it could happen and surely does) where practitioners at the money-grabbing, snake-oil selling end of the religious spectrum have convinced individuals on medical regimens for the treatment of cancer and other life-ending conditions, that they are cured and have no need of treatment. It's a fine line and a slippery slope.
To pray for healing, which you do, is one thing; to promise or imply an assurance of healing, quite another.
"...colleagues tell me that healing is always there, but not generally physically, it's about healing mental and emotional stuff and therefore, even when the symptoms (and cause) persist, the person is healed.
Should we expect more?"
If experience teaches you that you should not expect more, that ought to be made very clear to people responding to such an advert. Would you be honest enough to say that they will very likely discover that the kind of healing which they receive is of a sort they will simply not recognise as any kind of healing at all?
And is the kind of healing that is visible only to the eye of faith what the miracle stories in the gospels are about?
If God can create us, then God can heal. We learn from experience and scripture that God heals in His way. Sometimes that does result in physical cures, but even Lazarus had to die again in the end. Should we expect a physical cure after every healing prayer? Certainly not, but we will still hope that God's healing will be given to each and everyone for whom we pray. Should we advertise that a healing service will cure cancer? Probably not, and such an advert might be better worded.
this isnt the only example. I wrote about a church in Medway that had been reported to the ASA for a similar leaflet: http://pickingapplesofgold.blogspot.com/2011/06/misadvertising-of-healing.html
not sure where I stand really. We have a 'healing on the streets' team that goes out to the local town and offers to pray for peoples healing. is that wrong too in the ASAs eyes?
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