How many are Christian?

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Well, Mr. Wizard, That's how I felt about Christians "healing" back when I was a Humanist.

As a result, when I have the time, I
#1 - make sure people understand that statistical inference doesn't give the same "proof" as the original scientific method. It allows you to believe beyond a "reasonable" doubt.
#2 - compensate for the power of suggestion with two means. First, I don't accept anyone as healed until after three days have passed -- enough time for suggestion to be overcome with reality. Second, I keep note of people I pray for who don't know that anyone prayed for them.

At the organization I did the most prayer for healing through, they did a control study on praying for arthritis at an arthritis clinic. They prayed for people and two doctors checked them out for how much improvement they had. All were improved; some were healed. A year later, they looked up the same people and the two doctors checked them out again. The improvements remained. Of course, that's not saying they didn't all drop dead the next day, we just don't know!

Hurray, christian magic is proven! How can anyone not be a cristian now, with this hard evidence to -prove- the effectiveness of prayer to the right g-d?

Faith healing exists in almost every religion on earth from wiccanism to paganism to eastern religions, hindu, so on and so forth. Almost every 'professional' faith healer can produce 'results.' Except when it comes to things that are measurable. So far there have been no official and unbiased experiments done to successfully prove the effectiveness or lack thereof of 'prayer' to the correct g-d in the correct way.

What's to say that protestant christian prayer has power while other types of faith healing doesn't? Afterall, christianity in its current form has existed for less than 100 years. It was the cult of christianity which eventually became the roman catholic church which eventually became the aeglican church which became puritism which became protestantism which became (guessing) baptist which eventually became southern baptist/evangelistic baptist or some such so on and so forth and you would be -amazed- in the differences between each protestant group and the way things have been done for the last two thousand years.

So you're telling me that your church has stumbled upon something that actually has the power to cause a provable physical change in subjects in these last one hundred years, and in these last one hundred years you have not yet had it proven to scientists and skeptics therefore converting hundreds of thousands of non-believers with the proof they've so long been seeking?

I duno. Sounds like someone's pulling your leg my friend.

All you have to do is walk outside and say that you can prove scientifically that prayer can cause physical change and you'll have all the funding and media attention you want. Well? You have a responsibility to your religion and your world to do it, if what you say is true.

From a psychological standpoint, faith healing can cause a "placebo effect". So I am sure that the people who believe they are faith healed from the pain of arthritis probably do experience a reduction in pain. In that regard, faith healing can be beneficial. However, I would not expect to see an improvement in the condition of their joints on a CT scan.

I'm convinced that faith healing taps more than just a placebo effect. I'm equally certain that it does not require a belief in any one particular god. Many different belief systems incorporate magic and healing - it seems unlikely that the Christian god is the only one which is valid.

Asking "who here is christian" is like asking "who here has all the knowledge of how the earth started"

Was reared strict roman catholic.
Now a sometimes Taoist.

I get sick of certain Christians promoting this faith-healing rubbish, or end-times rubbish or... well, let's just say I'm sick of Evangelical/Pentecostal/Charismatic rubbish. It's gives the rest of us a bad name. And whoever mentioned Joseph Stalin being baptised in an Orthodox church, you should realise that the Russian Orthodox Church were oppressed under the communists.

I used to be Christian because I thought I used believe in God because I went primary school which was a church school.

Now I'm an agnostic (person who dose not know if God exists), still celebrates like a Christian.

I'm atheist. I don't understand how people are religious.

My parents belong to a Dutch Calvinist church (Christian Reformed). I was a Calvinist until about the age of 15. Then I went from a confused Calvinist, to liberal Christian / Deist, to agnostic/apatheist. Right now I just tell myself that if a creator does exist, he probably won’t be so small minded as to demand my worship. I’m also comfortable with the idea that I may be nothing but worm food when I die.

Officially, I'm signed in at the church as a Catholic. I'm a nihilistic atheist, though.

I am Lutheran, but not really practicing.

I feel that people focus way too much on God's wrath, and not enough on his mercy--even in the Lutheran community (one of the more liberal denominations).

I feel that no matter what kinds of mistakes I make, I can ask God for forgiveness at any time. Besides, in the Bible, Heaven is mentioned more frequently than Hell is.

Tim