Prayer and Faith vs. Doctors and Medicine
by Rich Deem<\/p>\n
Introduction
Healing Miracles?
The scenario has happened many times before. Some Christian (or Jehovah’s Witness) decides that prayer is the way that his child should be healed, so he forsakes medical treatment and the child dies. It made me upset when I was an atheist and still does now that I am a Christian.
Rich Deem<\/p>\n
A recent news story told about "extremely religious" parents who allowed their 11 year old daughter to die of a treatable form of diabetes by seeking healing through prayer instead of seeking medical treatment.1 This situation is obviously a tragedy for the family, who are left with grief and remorse. In this day, should Christians always seek medical treatment or just pray or do both?<\/p>\n
Purpose of healing miracles
Do miracles happen today? Some Christians say "no," although I was personally healed of an "incurable" disease in 1985.2 However, as in the accounts in the Bible, miracles have a specific purpose that usually involves bringing a person to faith in Jesus Christ. My case was no exception, since I was an agnostic deist at the time I was healed. This is not to say that healing miracles don’t happen for Christians. However, miracles are rare and are done with the purpose of displaying God’s power. So, even though I consider myself a spiritual Christian, I would never assume that I had the power to heal anybody through prayer. God miraculously fed His chosen people manna during their 40-year wandering through the desert.3 However, today we are expected to feed ourselves.4 God has blessed us with the technology to treat many disease and we should take advantage of those gifts.<\/p>\n
God chooses doctors
I believe that God calls people into different vocations so that their strengths can be used to care for others5 and bring glory to Him.6 God calls people to be doctors as in this example, told by Bruce Hennigan, M.D.:<\/p>\n
"When I was a senior in high school, I had no idea what to do with my life. I was truly confused and lost. My high school counselor was frantic because I was losing opportunities for scholarships. In February of my senior year, my pastor preached a sermon in which he said that God can call people into jobs and professions that were not necessarily related to the church. This idea that God had a "purpose" for my life was novel in 1973. But, it impressed me and I knelt and prayed that God would reveal to me the purpose and future for my life. I totally surrendered to whatever God wanted me to do. I can only describe the following event as truly supernatural and miraculous. I had the incredible certainty that I was supposed to be a doctor. This was never on my list of professions and not only was I certain this is what God wanted me to do, I had incredible peace from my decision. In the months that followed, God worked in ways I could never attribute to man to get me into a special "six year" program that guaranteed me entrance into medical school (only 10 people in the nation were accepted each year) and to supply a way to pay for my entire education through the end of medical school. I can now tell patients that God called me to be a physician and gave me the tools to complete my education. So, if I am called by God to be a doctor, then isn’t it possible that I may be the answer to their prayer? My point is that God and God alone equips us with the intellect and the thirst to explore science that leads to medical breakthroughs. If God does this, then by extension, doctors, nurses, and all health care personnel are God’s answers to these prayers."6<\/p>\n
Conclusion
Christians should not rely solely upon prayer to treat diseases that are reliably treated through modern medicine. This doesn’t mean that we don’t pray for the sick. When Christian parents let a child die from a disorder that is readily treatable by modern medicine, it says to the world that we are stupid and uncaring. However, since God calls certain individuals to serve others through medicine, aren’t those people really an answer to our prayers? So when your child gets sick, use your faith to seek medical professionals whom God has provided for their healing. And, yes, pray for your child and also for the doctors that God would provide them wisdom and discernment in your child’s treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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