God Doesn't Heal

It's a pretty straightforward title, one that hopefully sets the tone for my third entry.

Ever since moving to England on my own, I can't be really picky with the avenues I choose to meet new people. I've gone a few times to the university for a 'creative writing club' I am a part of, and when I can, I head out on a Sunday morning to church.

Earlier in the month, upon my arrival in England, I found one church. It was nice, located a quick ten minute walk from where I'm staying. It was in a high school. I followed the signs near the school, directing me to the front doors and towards a gymnasium.

It was crowded and noisy. People knew each other, and were suffice to let me, the stranger, sit on his own at the back. The only person who approached me was a typical 'youth leader type', and if you've gone to a protestant church before, you know exactly who I'm talking about.

Charismatic, stylish, and overtly friendly.

It wasn't such a bad experience, the singing was great, and the service was a nice distraction.

I decided to come back for seconds.

Halfway through my second service, a woman came to the front to deliver a story that was on her heart.

"I have two friends," she began in a practiced voice, "and one of them was complaining about back problems. Before I could think about it, I asked if I could pray for one of them," slight laughter from a crowd knowing how embarrassing it is to bring up prayer, without likely lifting up a word themselves.

She then went to on to explain that God was telling her to check if her friend's legs were the same length. More laughter from the crowd, as I suspect many of them are familiar with that 'kind of healing'.

Did I mention they were Pentecostals? If you know what that is, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.

'Differences in leg length' is nothing new. It used to be an old magicians trick back in the 1950s. You see, the 'patient' is sat down in a chair, while the preacher/minister/pastor/faith-healer/magician/liar/deluded-person prays for the 'patient', and the 'disparity' disappears as one leg grows or shrinks to match the other.

What really happens is merely illusion and trickery.

However, I find it hard to believe that any trickery was involved in the story. Instead, I suspect it was just her seeing what she wanted and expected to see. I mean, just by stretching, or leaning, or moving, your legs can appear different lengths. Also, the amount of change was 'one centimeter.'

When she had said her last word, a man from the back shouted 'hallelujah' and the rest of the congregation broke out into wild applause.

What made that story worse, was the story she had shared before it.

She had a neighbor who, instead of having back problems, had cancer. She prayed for her neighbor, and a year later, she was healed! Unfortunately, she gave credit to God, and not to the doctors and nurses who used modern medicine to send the cancer into remission.

And this, I should add, is coming from a Christian. I am a believer, a skeptical one at times, but I suppose that is another story entirely.

See, I could give God credit too if the healing was miraculous. The story would also have been better if she didn't go and share a story about God miraculously growing and shrinking legs beforehand. I suppose, in her mind, God just doesn't have time for cancer. Or, it was to be 'healed' in his time.

What a load of rubbish.

Maybe it's my 'all or nothing' kind of thinking, but I would think a God who healed legs, can also heal cancer, blindness, STD's, learning disabilities, mental illnesses, and amputees.

And, to add insult to injury, the pastor exclaimed: "After the service, we will have a time of healing!" Oh, wait. No, he didn't say that. Instead, he said this: "After the service, we will have a time for God to heal sore backs related to differences in leg length." I kid you not.

I nearly stormed out of the church.

How could no one else see the problems with this?

Maybe, the few readers that are out there, can share with me how this is a good thing.