Why is Faith Healing Legal? why is Benny Hinn allowed to profit this way?

[mopaul]

and pat robertson and jerry falwell and robert tilton, oral roberts, and jimmy swaggart and the millions of others on radio and t.v.?

why is this legal? have you ever seen a benny hinn show? it's sickening, promising to heal the sorriest people in the world knowing it's a trick and raking in millions a year.

selling something for nothing, to the most wretched among us. what would the Lord have said about all this shit?

[tanyev]

1. Why didn't Benny Hinn heal Terry Schiavo?????

[trumad]

2. Mo... when I'm blue and kind of blah...

I read your posts and check out your cartoons, and walla! I feel better.

You should go into the healing business.

[mopaul]

5. now you owe me

healin' ain't free, there's a hefty fuckin' fee.

[trumad]

6. Now you're a Poet...

All bow down to the mighty MoPaul.

[tanyev]

12. What is that picture?

Virgin Mary urinals?

[trumad]

14. Looks that way.

[bryant69]

3. He's promising something and delivering that something

I don't think it's all that great myself, but not sure what can be done about it.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[immoderate]

4. Benny Hinn has the support of the Nehru jacket lobby.

They are just too powerful.

--IMM

[trumad]

8. Snarf.. Very funny..LOL

[TlalocW]

7. The sad part is

These assholes are accessories to murder. There have been mass "healings" where audience members threw their medication up on stage to show their faith in their being healed. Things like insulin, etc. were found. The woman who inspired Hinn (who he never met) was a faith healer, and she had a woman run back and forth on stage to show she had been healed, and she later died from the damage it did to her unhealed back.

To call these people pigshit is no where near harsh enough.

TLalocW

[SalmonChantedEvening]

9. Hey Benny!

Heal that combover and we'll talk.

Carpetbaggers, the lot of 'em.

:grr:

[ClintonTyree]

10. No one......

who preaches the teachings of Jeebus, or the perversions thereof, can be guilty of bilking their flock. They're providing false hopes based on false dogma, what could be more christian? :shrug:
These sheep allow themselves to be fleeced. Religion is so convoluted it's impossible to bring charges against the good shepherds ( :puke: )
The entire premise of tithing, created centuries ago, was designed to transfer wealth from individuals to the church. And hey, it works! Many people are convinced they can buy their way into "heaven" O8) by giving their money to the church, the church meaning the "shepherd" of said church.
The gullible and weak willed will always be separated from their money. P. T. Barnum said it best, "There's a sucker born every minute".

[leftofthedial]

11. the whole thing is a con job

it is disgustingly unethical and should be outlawed.

[noonwitch]

13. Televangelsists are con artists

I do believe in faith-healing. Our church practices it, although not in lieu of modern medicine, more as a supplement. Our prayer groups and prayer partners will lay hands on someone and we have reiki practitioners available. When I have participated in a group laying hands on someone who asks for healing, I can feel a tingly sensation pass through my hands into the person I'm touching, and I can feel the same sensation enter my body from above. I was a skeptic the first time I participated, but I got a sort of spiritual charge from it that I could feel on a physical level.

Even if it is a purely psychological thing, it can and does work.

[trumad]

15. That same tingle happens to me

when I lay my hands on my wifes breasts.

[Bouncy Ball]

18. SNARF

[immoderate]

16. How faith healing works.

Usually, when people resort to faith healing, they have exhausted the conventional resources. At this point, one of two things can happen to them:

1. They will get better (spontaneous remission.)
   
2. They will die.

If #1 happens, the faith gets the credit. If #2 happens, nobody complains and yells "fraud!"
Now combine that with the righteousness our culture gives to the trappings of religion, and you have the perfect scam.

I must give credit here to James Randi, who wrote an excellent book on this subject.

--IMM

[Jose Diablo]

17. It's legal because of the same reason Amway sales tactics are legal

With Amway, IF and thats a big if, the process is followed and enough others are brought-in as 'downstreams', then the multi-level marketing scheme will work for the one at the top. The others? Most of the time they drop-out when they cannot themselves bring-in others, but is this because they cannot or is it because they WILL not work the program. It cannot be proved to be a sham.

It's the same with 'faith' healers. It cannot be proved that it won't work because sometimes 'faith' does heal. Not enough times to be proved it does, but it does happen. Why? I don't know. Maybe something within our psych or maybe some 'unknown' power to self-heal that is normally dormant. But it does happen, thus it cannot be proved to be a sham.

Edit: Contextual spelling error.

[ChickMagic]

19. Stupid joke

You do know that Oral Roberts has a twin brother don't you? His name is Anal Roberts.

[Bouncy Ball]

20. Recently, my daughter and I were standing in line at the grocery store.

She's 10. And she saw some picture of a televangelist on the cover of one of those tabloids.

She said to me "Momma, lean down here." So I did and she pushed on my forehead and said really loudly "GET OUT DEMON! YOU ARE HEALED!!!"

Then she started giggling and said "Was that good?"

People around us stared. That kid. I said "Yes, can you do that to bush?"

We both had a good laugh.

See, even a kid knows they're con artists.

[seabeyond]

21. because it is our own individual choice what we believe

what we want to do. not yours.

if you dont want to participate. then dont. that is your option. but.....who are you to tell others what they do are silliness. you know this. because you know? there is nothing in the laying of the hands.

others disagree with you

yet you suggest,....so what.

and there are a zillion of other directions why this should not be illegal. practical reasons. constitutional reasons.

[undergroundpanther]

22. I do healing myself

I don't use Jesus to do it. I do spiritual type healing,extractions exorcisms.

Unlike Benny hills sideshows and hypnosis what I do isn't showy it's quiet and personal.This is done with privacy or with a few loved ones around.No fevered prayers or dramas. I ask them questions about their problems and I LISTEN,After I listen to everything they have to say and I ask questions ,I go inside myself I ask whatever spirit,intuition or unconscious knowledge I have to help me help this person I want to know. Than I see/feel/intuit what to do .Than I do it.I keep my pride and intellectual chatter out of the equation.

People tell me they like the results later which surprises me..They come back recommend their friends, and weirdest of all strangers I never met come up to me out of the blue in public places like a store or a mall asking me for my help in this way. I look like a punk freak. So Ironically it blows my mind when some of the most conservative looking people,like men in business suits,like moms with kids and SUV's come up to me asking for help.I also get punks and Goths and whoever too..I can't figure out how they know I do this stuff.

I don't charge any money for it because what I do costs nothing,If I need to do something more ritual oriented I tailor it as best I can to THEIR spiritual framework with the beings I know in a plug and play fashion.I charge only for supplies they use.If it requires a tea or oil something like that I ask about allergies and all.I ask permission and inform them of everything before I do it.

If a person seems to have a problem beyond something simple..(like a muscle ache,or stress) I always ask if they have seen a doctor or a therapist yet..I ask them to go get it checked out whether my help has helped or not. It's the responsible thing to do.

[mopaul]

23. jesus didn't ask for money or pass the hat either

as an example. for some reason, people feel something is realer if they'd paid money for it. as with some fake psychics i know who go to psychic fairs and give people 'past life readings' and they've told me personally that it's all a sham, but the people line up all day and plop down 40 or 50 bucks for a 3 minute reading, which is just about always the exact same story.

[seabeyond]

25. this is what i am saying

so many have different feels in this. if we do not allow the laying of hands, we allow none. and who is anyone to decide. you do not charge. i know some that do. people willing to pay

this isnt my particular thing. either one. but i do know the healing and energy in hand. having babies and seeing the power in touch.

so if we attack this,.....then the very basis of our animalistic self, in touch and energy is in question

i say bullshit

[Jacobin]

24. There's a sucker born every minute

These people are simply begging to give their money away to a con man.

Why stand in the way?