Objection: Pain Is Part of the Healing Process, Not Something That Is Necessarily Bad

Believe it or not, this is one of the OLDEST objections to divine healing!  One could say that a scar causes pain as it is healing, so therefore pain is good.  But it’s only “good” compared to your scar getting worse.

Through many centuries, the church world lamentably promoted the idea that pain is a natural part of life that is somehow good for you and part of God’s plan.  In fact, some clerics in bygone years used to rail against the use of painkillers and anesthetics during surgery because they prevented the pain that they were sure that God wanted the patient to have.  They even assured the public that recovery would take longer if there was no pain because pain was part of the recovery process.  They also railed against painkillers for women in labor because they felt that the woman must feel the full impact of the fall, which includes pain in labor.  (Of course, it was male doctors doing the railing.)

Fortunately, it would be hard to impossible to find either a doctor or a cleric today who would advocate withholding painkillers so that people can experience the full brunt of the surgical pain that God “wants” them to have.  Besides, this objection flunks The SAME Test.  Jesus never, ever told someone that his pain was good for him and that he should KEEP his pain.  So you can be sure that Jesus would never withhold healing from someone for that reason today.  Jesus HEALED the sick, but there is no evidence that He ever caused PAIN when He did it.  Instead, He SPARED people any pain that might otherwise have been part of the recovery process.

And Isaiah points out that He bore (as our Substitute) not only our sicknesses but also our pains as well (Isaiah 53:4).  Therefore, it is NEVER necessary for a Christian to have to be in pain due to it being part of any healing process.