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Hope12 · May 23, 2011, 06:08 AM

Hello,

If a person is seriously sick with cancer or some other debilitating illness, can teir faith in God and a positive mind help them to live longer nor even put their illness in remission? Do you personally know of any examples where this has taken place?

Peace,

Hope12

J_9 · May 23, 2011, 06:11 AM

I believe it... although I am not a strong believer, I do believe it was my positive attitude and sense of humor that helped cure my breast cancer.

JudyKayTee · May 23, 2011, 06:24 AM

My concern with this - and I've heard this "argument" - is that if you do have faith and don't go into remission, the disease is fatal, does that mean your faith was insufficient, you weren't a true believer?

Hope12 · May 23, 2011, 08:49 AM

JudyKayTee,

No that is not what I am asking nor am I in anyway suggesting such a thing. That is just a crazy idea. I am asking if Faith and a positive attitude can help in some cases and if you personally know oof any?
Peace,

Hope12

Wondergirl · May 23, 2011, 08:55 AM

Go to your public library and check out (or order through interlibrary loan) Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients by Bernie S. Siegel.

Amazon.com: Love, Medicine and Miracles: Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon's Experience with Exceptional Patients (9780060919832): Bernie S. Siegel: Books

Norman Cousins believed that laughter helped him endure physical illness and even live longer.

Amazon.com: norman cousins: Books

Wondergirl · May 23, 2011, 09:03 AM

This is a difficult question because we have no idea how long patients would live if they didn't have a positive attitude or faith. A patient can't have a bad attitude and die in six months, and then redo the situation by having a good attitude and live for a year.

I personally know patients who probably lived longer simply because of their positive attitude, but have no idea how quickly they would have died otherwise. I know that I was able to get through cancer surgery and radiation with a positive attitude because of my faith.

JudyKayTee · May 23, 2011, 09:08 AM

JudyKayTee, No that is not what I am asking nor am I in anyway suggesting such a thing. That is just a crazy idea. I am asking if Faith and a positive attitude can help in some cases and if you personally know oof any? peace,
Hope12

It's a discussion board so I would expect to get a lot of opinions.

That having been said, yes, I believe a positive attitude can make a difference. There are hundreds of books written on the subject.

Can anyone say that faith alone can cause someone to go into remission? I don't know how you could positively know that.

Wondergirl · May 23, 2011, 09:20 AM

A friend asked me to edit a book that he wants to get published. Interestingly, the book turned out to be a biography about his family, and specifically, his father. In one of the chapters, the father had a very serious illness that could leave permanent problems, but was completely healed by a huge outpouring of prayers.

Here is a report on a specific study --

BBC News | Health | 'Healing power of prayer revealed'

Fr_Chuck · May 23, 2011, 09:44 AM

There was a study, ( sorry could not find a link to it.) that showed that people that had a "faith" and it really did not matter what faith, Budda, Christianity, meditation, had a slightly better over all health.

And if you talk to people who deal with the dying, often they will tell you someone holds on for a bit, trying to wait for someone to get there. Or perhaps they don't want to die with someone in the room and hold on for a bit till they leave the room.

I do believe that of course at times God does heal a person completely, Just as Jesus did in his day, but Jesus also did not cure everyone in every town he went to. Since of course death is just a natural part of life, and each one has to meet it at some point and time.