By Herb ~
Whenever people find out that I'm an atheist, they usually come up with a miraculous anecdote to try to convince me of the reality of Christianity. They often take the form of miraculous cancer cures. I heard one such anecdote today from a coworker.
He said his aunt had cancer. Radiation treatment was given to her. After so much time, it was determined that an operation was needed. A cat scan showed a black spot in her muscle tissue. After operating, it was found that there was bone deterioration near where the black spot had shown up on the cat scan, but there was no tumor, not even any scar tissue where a tumor had been. The coworker attributed this as a miracle cure brought about by the family's prayers. Of course, as in most of these cancer miracle cure anecdotes, the doctor was puzzled.
I'm not a medical expert by any means, but I believe that maybe the radiation treatments had cured the patient. I believe that all patients have varying degrees of healing abilities. This may have been the case with this patient which explains why she didn't have any scar tissue where the tumor had been. As far as the doctor's surprise? It could have been a rare case which he had not personally experienced before, but it didn't mean that it was a miracle.
A recurring theme in these miracle stories is that medical treatment almost always takes place. How often do we hear of cures that took place when no medical intervention took place? Also, if the patient and the family had enough faith, why didn't they just pray to God and not go to the doctor?
I would also wager that people in other religious traditions also have miracle healing anecdotes. How would a Christian explain those?
Anybody else have any natural explanation for what may have been the case in the above anecdote?
He said his aunt had cancer. Radiation treatment was given to her. After so much time, it was determined that an operation was needed. A cat scan showed a black spot in her muscle tissue. After operating, it was found that there was bone deterioration near where the black spot had shown up on the cat scan, but there was no tumor, not even any scar tissue where a tumor had been. The coworker attributed this as a miracle cure brought about by the family's prayers. Of course, as in most of these cancer miracle cure anecdotes, the doctor was puzzled.
I'm not a medical expert by any means, but I believe that maybe the radiation treatments had cured the patient. I believe that all patients have varying degrees of healing abilities. This may have been the case with this patient which explains why she didn't have any scar tissue where the tumor had been. As far as the doctor's surprise? It could have been a rare case which he had not personally experienced before, but it didn't mean that it was a miracle.
A recurring theme in these miracle stories is that medical treatment almost always takes place. How often do we hear of cures that took place when no medical intervention took place? Also, if the patient and the family had enough faith, why didn't they just pray to God and not go to the doctor?
I would also wager that people in other religious traditions also have miracle healing anecdotes. How would a Christian explain those?
Anybody else have any natural explanation for what may have been the case in the above anecdote?
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