The Role of Faith in Healing

This week there was a news story about how the famed British physicist, Stephen Hawking, concluded that the laws of physics are such that God is not necessary for the universe to have been formed. Spontaneous creation is possible, he says, without the intervention of a divine being. I say, fair enough, but then, how have the physical laws of the universe come about? If the universe “just exists” in infinite time, does life’s struggles have no meaning? I find that hard to believe. As a victim of ALS, Hawking must surely have doubts too.

For thirty years my wife and I have discussed and argued over the topic of God and religion. I’m not sure we have ever fully agreed on anything, except that everyone should be free to believe whatever their hearts tell them to believe. When it came to religion we struggled with what we should teach our children. For example, if, as taught by Christianity, no one can enter the kingdom of heaven except through our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ, does that mean Yoko’s loving parents (who were faithful Buddhists) are to be left outside the pearly gates for all eternity? Neither Yoko nor I believe God would be so arbitrary or cruel.

Yoko and I agree that no one can claim to have a definitive answer when it comes to the hereafter, if there is such a thing. So why argue over it? What you believe is a matter of faith – whether you are an atheist, Buddhist, Hindi, Christian, Muslim or Jew. Ultimately we concluded that our children should think for themselves and discover on their own what it is they believe.
I believe that faith comes from within and is held within our heart. True faith can’t be taught or learned. It is something we feel and know intuitively. It is literally our sixth sense.
I believe faith and spirituality has a real physical effect on our health and well-being. Invariably when people are sick or feeling hopeless, they turn to God. “We’ll keep you in our prayers” is the refrain of the faithful.

From my experience people with deep religious faith exhibit a certain calm and acceptance when faced with the diagnosis of a devastating disease. Faith may actually help them to recover. Studies have shown that people who attend church regularly are less likely to suffer from hypertension, exhibit lower death rates after certain kinds of surgery, and recover more quickly from serious illness.

The explanation is not necessarily attributable to an intervening God. People who attend church regularly have more social support than non-churchgoers, generally have healthier lifestyles, and are better able to cope with stress, which weakens the immune system. Simply believing that God heals (whether God plays an active role or not) may contribute to the healing process.
We become more serious about God when we’re sick because a serious illness forces us to consider our mortality. We have a sudden realization that death eventually comes to all of us. We want to believe that life has meaning and our “end” marks the beginning of our life everlasting.

My cancer diagnosis certainly made me more aware of my own beliefs and faith. I found myself praying more often and asking for people’s prayers. I’m not that unusual. A study of 200 elderly people in Kansas City showed that 91 percent said their initial response to a new medical problem is prayer. Prayer is frequently used as coping mechanism for dealing with serious disease.

Spirituality and healing has become more accepted in the medical community, which has traditionally not embraced the idea that faith plays a role in healing. Today more than a third of America’s 125 medical schools offer “faith in healing” curricula. Despite Hawking’s conclusions, we should thank God science is delving into the interplay between faith and medicine.