Posted: July 27, 2000 at 21:37:38: by CantankerousOne
: : : : I don't recall reading in the Bible where an angel ever healed : : : : anyone, and if we assume that Gandalf is a sort of angelic : : : : being, then it fits in with Tolkien's religious views.: : : Angels heal in the Bible. Among other references, there is a story in the New Testament about a pool where the invalid and ill people would go. Every hour an angel stirred the pool and whomever reached it first would be healed. Hey When I am wrong I like to show it in a big way. I never said I stayed awake through all those bible studies. : : There is no such story in the protestant bible. There is no story of angels healing anywhere. Growing up as a preachers son and bible study every Sunday and Wednesday night. I would have heard of something like that. : The story is in John 5:1-7. However, it is not found in most ancient manuscripts and is considered a spurious or fanciful addition by many Bible scholars. Whether it is spurious or not, it doesn't say that the angel did the healing, but merely disturbed the waters. The reference I checked indicates that people of the time thought the water itself had some healing virtue. The first person to enter after the disturbance was healed of whatever malady from which they suffered. Incidently the pool was the Pool of Bethesda, which means "House of Mercy" and is also the name given to the hospital that the President of the U.S. uses.
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