Why Won't God Heal Amputees

Why Won't God Heal Amputees (WWGHA) is a website that challenges the notions that prayer-answering Gods exist. The site consists of an online book and a forum in which visitors are invited to discuss topics raised by the book.

Preach to the choir
Religion
Crux of the matter
Speak of the devil
An act of faith
v - t - e

The book was written by computer scientist and author Marshall Brain,[1] who founded the commercial edutainment website HowStuffWorks.[2]

The site was known previously as Why Does God Hate Amputees, but was later changed to the more neutral-sounding, and more expectation/evidence-based, current title.

Does God answer prayers?

Faith healing, normally through prayer, is something accepted by people of various religions. Jesus Christ regularly healed ailments such as leprosy, death and demonic possession (not so common these days). Christ is quoted multiple times on the matter of prayer:

  • "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)
  • "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14)
  • "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18:19)

It's a stretch to assume that any prayers at all are answered, but even that assumption leaves the problem that the majority of prayers are clearly ignored or rejected. The author of the website suggests that praying to God yields the same results as praying to a jug of milk.[3]

Why won't God heal amputees?

This is the core question posed by the website. Accepting, for the sake of argument, that God intervenes to heal people, what kind of grudge does he have against amputees? The general answer to this is to say that God doesn't heal anyone, so amputees are no different. Faith healing only works on disorders that are invisible to the naked eye, or medical complaints that can naturally go into remission. The curing of a cancer is somewhat ambiguous when compared to the regrowth of a limb, and that's probably why Christians (and the faithful of other religions) don't miraculously regrow lost limbs.

The book examines this in greater depth, considering the evidence for the efficacy of prayer, and the numerous and tortured apologetics for God's oddly selective approach to healing.

Forum

The site's forum is relatively tightly moderated; posters are expected to abide by rules and observe the etiquette guide.[4] Generally visitors should avoid proselytizing, and it's polite to respond to questions posed by forum users. Atheists and agnostics are in the majority on the forum, but there are a small number of religious posters who make interesting and coherent posts. Civilised conversations between people of all beliefs happen on the forum. These are supplemented by the regular influx of Christians who know that Jesus is the way, but can't understand why people aren't convinced by threats, rants, and the random quoting of scripture.

Christians considering posting on the forums should be prepared for the fact that many of the forum users are well versed in scripture, doctrine, theology, and that science thing.

The author of WWGHA, Marshall Brain, supports the Forum but doesn't participate in the discussions himself.

As of 2019, the forum is under "permanent maintenance".

How not to introduce yourself

Here are some examples of posts made by naifs, lunatics, and probably the occasional Poe:

The modern-day Jonah. Shame about the lack of evidence

I watched your video. Well done! Other than the Bible, history has documented at least 2 other cases where a man was swallowed by a whale and lived. One of the guys was a whaler. He fell overboard while attempting to spear a whale. 3 days later his shipmates finally caught back up with the same whale they missed. When they split the belly open they found the sailer alive (barely), His skin and hair pigment was completly bleeched out by the whales stomach acid. He did live though.

So you can remove that one from your video since I know your only concerned about facts and not just mere story telling just to prove a point.[5]

The persuasive argument of blind faith

just be faithful to God and he will here your prayers...payers are not just such things...you have to work hard to achieve your goal and God will be just at your side helping you...if you just pray and pray and you dont workyou cannot? achieve your goal..you + the prayer toHim will really work...you and God should be a team acomplishing things..through hardship and happiness be awaken all of you..have faith and respect to God...pray and workhard and success would be guranteed w/ d help ofGOD[6]

Laughing while 'ur' burning in hell

ill be laughing my ass off when ur burning in helll.also since its so clear u dont believe in higher power would it really hurt to go to a church and get baptized.and just pray every now in then.that seems very little to compared if god was real and u burned in hell.im not saying go to church every day or something but would it really hurt.even if hes not real to u its like a person who u can talk in private whenever u want about anything.[7]

Bonus points for suggesting that God won't notice (or care?) that he'd be faking devotion.

gollark: Scheme just APPARENTLY dislikes my mmaped map somewhat?
gollark: BEE, `MAP_SHARED` didn't help.
gollark: No, that could be done much more easily.
gollark: Ah, MAP_SHARED is needed.
gollark: I have good* reasons for this

References
  1. See the Wikipedia article on Marshall Brain.
  2. See the Wikipedia article on HowStuffWorks.
  3. Ask the holy milk jug and it shall be given, so long as all you ask for is a refreshing drink
  4. Forum news, rules and FAQ.
  5. Letters to WWGHA: The modern-day Jonah. Shame about the lack of evidence
  6. Letters to WWGHA: The persuasive argument of blind faith
  7. Letters to WWGHA: Laughing while 'ur' burning in hell
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.