Tanzanian landscape with baobab trees
The phrase, “Just have faith in God and He will heal you,” sounds comforting to some, but to others, it can feel loaded. Is it a genuine encouragement, a guilt trip for the sick, or a simplistic formula for divine intervention? During a seminar for Christian university students in Tanzania, this very statement sparked a profound lesson in cross-cultural understanding and the nuances of faith in different contexts.
While discussing how to support those suffering, I cautioned against using the phrase, “Just have faith in God and He will heal you.” From my perspective, it seemed theologically problematic, suggesting a transactional God withholding healing until sufficient faith is demonstrated. It also appeared emotionally insensitive, implying that a lack of healing was a personal failing due to insufficient faith. In my view, telling someone to “just have faith” felt like blaming the victim of their own suffering.
However, the Tanzanian students reacted strongly against my suggestion. To my astonishment, they didn’t perceive the statement as manipulative or insensitive at all. In fact, they expressed that they would welcome such words. This divergence in understanding highlighted a significant cultural gap.
Later, a Tanzanian friend and cultural mentor offered invaluable insight. She explained, “If they don’t go to God for healing, they will go to the witchdoctor.” Her words illuminated the cultural backdrop: in their worldview, healing is readily accessible, but the crucial decision lies in choosing the source – God or the witchdoctor. This perspective shifted the entire meaning of the seemingly simple phrase.
My attempt to discourage saying “Just have faith in God and He will heal you” was misconstrued. It wasn’t that the students disagreed with my concern about manipulative theology. Instead, my statement inadvertently sounded like I was dismissing God as a source of healing altogether. It felt to them as if I was saying, in essence, “The only option left is to consult the witchdoctor.”
For these students, “Just have faith in God and He will heal you” wasn’t a shallow cliché or a magical incantation. It was, instead, a powerful declaration of Christian resilience. Implicitly, the statement conveyed a much deeper message: “Even when the allure of seeking help from the witchdoctor is strong, persevere in your faith in God and trust in His healing power.” Suddenly, what I interpreted as spiritual immaturity revealed itself as a sophisticated spiritual strategy – a weapon against succumbing to alternative, potentially harmful, spiritual practices.
This experience was deeply humbling. It underscored that the same words can carry vastly different connotations depending on the cultural lens through which they are heard. In some Western contexts, “Just have faith in God and He will heal you” can indeed be a damaging and simplistic statement, a form of theological malpractice that needs to be challenged. However, within this specific Tanzanian culture, the very same phrase served as a potent call to discipleship, a reaffirmation of choosing faith over what they might perceive as darker alternatives – alternatives perhaps embodied by the figure of the “witchdoctor.” I needed to listen to their interpretation, to understand the statement as they did.
Life in a cross-cultural context demands relinquishing many familiar comforts and assumptions. This experience, however, brought home the crucial need to shed cultural superiority. It challenged the ingrained notion that my perspective is inherently correct, or that my theological framework universally applies. It’s about embracing the belief that those within a culture may possess a keener understanding of God’s work within their own world, and that profound learning often flows from them to us. It’s about recognizing that sometimes, what sounds like “just have faith” in one culture might resonate as a vital spiritual directive, guarding against other options – options that, in their context, might even sound like “I Told The Witch Doctor.”
