I have been rereading Theophilus (www.theophilus.org), the cartoon, written and drawn up by Bob West. The first time I read Theophilus, I was at school in Oklahoma, where it helped me shape some of my doctrinal disagreements with the "One True Church." This go around, it has me questioning long time assumptions and asking the question, "Did I throw the baby out with the bathwater?"
Almost all COC peeps come from the same mold when it comes to modern day healings, miracles, and tongue speaking. This is the mold that says these things ceased when the last of the apostles died. A lot of our desire to argue this doctrinal stance was fueled by the many charismatic mega-ministries of the 80's and early 90's when televangelism was in its heyday. It was easy to dismiss modern healings when I saw the cheesy, staged healings that occurred on Benny Hinn programs. But I wonder now, in an effort to dismiss the charlatans, did I rightly dismiss the miraculous act of healing?
Most COC peeps would attest that they believe God still heals people today. However, there is this stigma that goes with the subject, so we are often quick to point that man has no part in this process. In other words, if a cancer patient beats the cancer, it might be because the Doctor helped the patient through the right course of treatment, or it might be because God healed them, but it is definitely not a mixture of the two. Why is this? Is this because we are afraid of the implications, or how it might change our neat, packaged little idea of how "church" is to be "done." If I have a friend with arthritis, and I believe that God has the power to heal them, and I lay my hands on them and pray over them, AND it is God's will that this person be healed, why is it so hard to believe that they WILL be healed?
God most certainly is bigger than the boxes we try to contain Him in. Even within the text of the Bible he works outside of the lines on a regular basis. So, why do I have such a hard time believing?
I invite discussion (as if anyone is actually reading this).
