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Lessons From Muhammad Ali On occasion great people possess the powers to impact our lives on a level that we never imagined. These special individuals exude a presence that can be felt by those they come into direct contact with and others that hear their voice. Muhammad Ali is one of the those people who inspires, changes lives and offers wisdom. His fight goes beyond the ring - it's a fight for life, a fight for equality and a fight to make a difference. Read more at http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/Galleries/Float-Like-a-Butterfly-Sting-Like-a-Bee.aspx#9eSatmzrATVUZmRu.99

I think there are two separate issues here and it's helpful to tease them out. Faith can make a difference in our health through purely natural means. Choosing, for faith reasons, to avoid cigarettes and alcohol and too much red meat and the associated fat will definitely have health benefits. Being part of a faith community has the benefits of being a member of a community for health. Having hope is incredibly powerful - the mind itself is incredibly powerful. The placebo effect is a very real natural phenomenon. I don't disagree with any of these effects and benefits (although, for example, the evidence now shows that on balance coffee is beneficial rather than harmful to health, so sometimes faith communities, by their nature, will enshrine incorrect health advice and not be in a position to update their knowledge). But there is a separate and different issue: does God miraculously, supernaturally intervene in our health? Do miracles of healing occur? I think the evidence for that conclusion is mixed and inconclusive. There are claims made in all three possible directions: no effect, benefit and harm. This discussion will be more productive if we're very clear which of these issues - natural health benefits of faith or supernatural healing - we are talking about.

I've always been rather intrigued by God dragging that shady character, Lot, kicking and screaming out of the path of destruction.

Tom, I liked your post very much. I agree - we can't put God in a box. Every time we try to do that, He jumps right out and shows us that we're wrong. Thank you for reminding me of that. God's ultimate will - whatever it is - will be accomplished; and no power in heaven on earth, or below the earth can prevent it!! I hope you're not insulted by this, but sometimes you talk just like a charismatic. I like it!

And let's not forget Paul: 2 Thess 2:1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day (the 2nd coming) will not come unless the falling away comes first (the great apostasy), and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.