The Use of Medicine and Doctors

A Christian Perspective

http://www.net-burst.net/dove/doctors.htm


Chuck Swindoll points out that when we need the assistance of trained people, such as a mechanic or a plumber, we have no hesitation in calling them, so why should we have a different attitude to doctors? Then there are those who have no hesitation in calling a doctor, but would feel they had let the Lord down if they consulted a psychologist.In biblical times there was not the wide range of medicines available to us today and yet the Bible is not devoid of positive reference to the use of medicine. For their medicinal qualities, the good Samaritan used both wine (an antiseptic) and oil (Luke 10:34). Paul urged Timothy to use wine to help a stomach condition (1 Timothy 5:23). Again, this is using medicine. Interestingly, Paul refers to “Luke, the beloved physician” (Colossians 4:14). He does not say, “beloved Luke, who used to be a physician before he discovered the power of Christ.”
Surprisingly, Proverbs 31:6-7 refers to using alcohol as an anti-depressant. Obviously, with alcohol, as well as most medicines, one must be extremely cautious. I have avoided it all my life. I know a woman who became an alcoholic because she had severe panic attacks, and alcohol was very effective is treating this condition. No other medication worked. (There have since been medical advances that have been found to work with her.)
I know of someone else addicted to caffeine, pot, and nicotine. He has a serious medical condition and no prescribed medication is effective with him. He is a biochemist and knows that these three substances have a positive chemical effect upon his condition. It is hypocritical for Christians to condemn his behavior, while maintaining an uncritical attitude to the taking of other dangerous, addictive chemicals that happen to come with a medical prescription. Doctors not only make serious blunders at times, they often prescribe drugs worse than drugs that Christians typically oppose.
Christians would be horrified to think of anyone becoming an alcoholic or using marijuana, but substitute a prescribed drug that could have even worse effects in terms of addiction and side effects and health risks, and many Christians see no problem.
Then there are those justifiably suspicious of western medicines who blindly assume that a supposed cure is safe, just because it is ‘natural.’ The range of natural poisons is enormous, and by no means have all the slow-acting poisons been identified.
A missionary’s monthly allowance failed to reach her. For quite a while all she had to eat was oats. To make matters worse, she was sick. Where was God? When she later returned to her home country she mentioned this to a doctor, who happened to also know about the serious stomach condition she had had at that time. The doctor informed her that not only was oats the ideal diet for such a condition, a normal diet could have killed her. Clearly, the Lord had amazingly protected her, but why did he use such a convoluted means?
I once heard of an astounding miracle that caused a sick person to receive medical attention. For the Lord to have healed supernaturally almost would have been less miraculous. Why he chose western medicine, I have no idea, but, like the missionary forced to eat oats, it is typical of God, in that the Almighty refused to act in a way that our puny minds find predictable. Our exciting Lord is forever taking us by surprise. Never limit him. He is just as capable of using western medicine, as he is of using traditional medicines, as he is of bypassing human intermediaries.

I was once reading in Scripture about how the godly King Asa trusted in a political alliance for the security of his country, rather than trusting in the Lord. Although the link is far from obvious, the thought came to me that this king’s misplaced trust – doing what made good, human sense, rather than go out on a limb with God – parallels our tendency to trust medical experts for healing rather than the Lord. To my surprise, I continued reading to discover that just a couple of verses later it says that Asa made this exact mistake! He had diseased feet and trusted his doctors instead of the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:1-12). About a year later, long after I had forgotten all about this, I re-read the passage and exactly the same thing happened – first thinking how Asa trusting a political alliance is like us trusting a doctor and then discovering that Asa actually made the mistake of trusting in doctors. Only then did I remember the previous time I had read that passage. Both times, I felt there is nothing intrinsically wrong with using doctors, but that where we place our faith determines the ceiling of what we can expect. If we place our faith in doctors (and of course the same applies to alternative medicine) we become subject to their errors and limited knowledge. If we place our faith in God, however, even if we were to use a doctor (provided this use is not an indication that we have lost faith in God), we then have every right to expect God to over-ride the doctor’s errors.
Asses’ dung mixed with worms’ blood and applied to the wound was the prescribed treatment for a splinter in ancient Egypt. Not only could this result in infection, but dung, being loaded with tetanus spores, could cause the dreaded disease of lockjaw. Suppose an ancient Egyptian gets a splinter. He thinks, This seems harmless, but I’ve heard that someone almost died from a splinter. I’d better seek the best medical treatment. A vicious cycle begins in which more and more people die or become seriously ill because of splinters, and almost everyone is too scared to risk not being treated to discover that it’s the treatment, not the splinter that is so dangerous. I fear we use the same logic today.
Medical science now has a better understanding of tetanus, but hundreds of conditions remain, about which modern medical practitioners have only partial knowledge and are probably unknowingly making mistakes of a similar magnitude to their ancient Egyptian counterparts. We have only to consider the side effects and serious reactions of some patients to certain medications to realize that regardless of whether we consult a doctor, we need to fervently pray with faith in the Almighty, not with faith in fallible doctors.
Placing our faith in the Lord involves giving him the right to tell us not to use a doctor if the Lord should ever so lead, as well as giving him the right to tell us to use a doctor, even if we would prefer not to use a doctor. In short, this is another area in which we must make Jesus Lord of our lives and give him the right to tell us what to do. Naturally, if we felt led to do something that from a human viewpoint would seem unwise, we would need to be particularly sure of our guidance.
Our miracle working Lord delights in startling us by breaking out of limitations we, in the smallness of our faith, might imagine him confined to. So I cannot say the Lord would never lead someone to never eat again, trusting God to keep him healthy, but one would need extremely clear guidance before attempting such a thing. Otherwise, it would be sinfully testing the Lord. Likewise, to refuse needed medical treatment, trusting God to keep you healthy, is testing God, unless we do so in response to his specific guidance.
If you have an iron deficiency due to an imbalanced diet, that is very close to starving yourself, isn’t it? You are starving your body of essential nutrients, even though you might be filling your stomach with other things. It might not even be iron that you are starving yourself of, but amino acids that enable your body to absorb iron.
Someone who is lethargic could be downright lazy, or he could have a medical condition such as an iron deficiency. Only an expert can with certainty tell the difference between a lazy child and a sick child. Suppose you get it wrong and suppose that someone low in iron is simply bone lazy, when in reality he is trying his utmost and is deeply concerned about his low performance. Quoting Bible verses at this person, telling him to get motivated and stop being lazy, would not only be unhelpful, the effect would be cruel. He needs iron, not a verbal whipping.
Now consider a person who is depressed. It could be that he simply needs a change of attitude. Or it could be that, like a person low in iron, his condition is not a product of his thinking, but due to a chemical imbalance in his body that makes him feel as if a dark cloud fogs his life. Only an expert can accurately discern between someone who simply needs to lift his game and someone with a medical condition. Just as the average person would be a fool to take out a hammer and think he can use it to fix his computer, so it would be foolish to think we could fix something as complex as the human brain by hammering them with our platitudes.
Urging a person with medically induced depression to be positive is no more helpful than urging a person with an iron deficiency to get motivated. The physical deficiency needs to be addressed. And if you refuse to do this and remain under par, aren’t you in danger of testing God? Antidepressants should restore a person’s health, correcting chemical imbalances in the body, just like taking an iron supplement. Unfortunately, the science is still somewhat crude and that is why there can be side effects for some individuals to some treatments. SAM-e is a natural substance produced by the body, which, when combined with folic acid and other B group vitamins (often they come in the same pill) is claimed to be effective in treating clinical depression in many people, without side effects. I am not suggesting you take it. It is just one of a number of options you should seek the Lord about.

A Pastor’s Comments
Pastor Mark Deckard e-mailed me in response to this webpage and raised some interesting points. He said how he has met Christians who reject the medical profession but end up putting their faith in people who are into alternative medicine and happen to be Christian. It is no more spiritual to put one’s faith in supposedly “natural cures” than in proven medical ones. People are free to do this, of course, but let’s not think it any more “Christian” than using traditional medicine, unless in a particular, rare instance someone received clear, divine guidance to do so.
I dare not try to put Almighty God in a box by thinking it impossible for him to lead someone to disregard currently accepted medical wisdom. After all, the Lord of universe knows a bit more than any doctor. Nevertheless, if we feel led to reject medical advice, I think it right to urge extreme caution and ensure we are truly hearing from God and not being swayed by someone with his/her own agenda, nor influenced by our own fears/prejudices.
Mark’s comments are interesting because he is a firm believer in the supernatural. In fact, he told me he has written a book titled, Speak To The Sky: Unleashing Christ’s Authority Over Destructive Weather and believes in the power of God to save entire nations from deadly storms that are headed their way. In his e-mail he wrote:

As a pastor, I have prayed for a lot of sick folks and seen many miracles, but also seen medical science work a lot as well.
One woman had cancer and decided she would be healed by God, but sought out a Christian alternative medicine therapist. Traditional medicine was a racket, in her view. I felt a growing concern that she was playing a dangerous game with the devil – the one he tried to get Jesus to play. It goes like this: “Let’s see how much faith you really have. Jump off this cliff.” I quickly realized that she did not want my caution or counsel. She just wanted my support and agreement. To suggest otherwise was offensive to her.
Her cancer grew worse. But she kept paying for the quack treatments and relying on nutritional regimens to chase her cancer out, while claiming that God was going to miraculously heal her and she would show those chemo/radiation fanatics (cancer experts) that their treatment was worse than the disease.
She eventually moved about an hour away to be close to her ducktor (quack, quack). Months later her husband showed up on my doorstep needing counsel. He told me how he had supported his wife and believed her way. Then he confided that they were absolutely broke from this alternative treatment expense that no insurance company would touch. In the meantime, the cancer was invading her entire body. A traditional cancer doctor had told them they were stupid for going on like this. “What should we do?” he asked.
I said, “Go and do what the doctors tell you to do.” So, a year after her initial diagnosis, they submitted to the chemo and radiation. Some time later the word came to me by a mutual friend that she was in complete remission and was totally healed. Two weeks later she was dead. She had simply told everyone a false report in desperate faith. She had let the cancer run for so long all treatments were a dim hope of effect.
I am a total believer in God’s promise of divine healing. But I am also a total believer in the gift of medical science. The two are not in competition.
James said in chapter 1:16, “Do not be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.”
Divine healing is the perfect gift; medical science is the good gift. Every miracle I have seen took place in the midst of receiving medical care. In fact, I have come to believe that a person’s attitude toward doctors can have an impact on whether they experience a miracle of healing. The reason is that trained medical professionals are a form of authority by virtue of their gift and their mission. Remember when the Centurion recognized Jesus’ authority and his servant received healing? Recognition of human authority and respect for that authority puts us in alignment with God. Paul further established this in Romans 13. Needless to say, God did not condition our respect for authority on the authority figures’ faith in God, but on their position of authority.
Just the other day I had an encounter that further reinforced this. A Pastor friend relayed his disdain for doctors and medicine and said the only way he would ever see one is if God spoke to him and told him to. He then said that years earlier he was out in the woods working and suddenly felt a wetness in his pants. Upon checking, he had passed a significant amount of blood. He told the ministers listening how he said, “Okay God, let’s do this thing . . . heal it . . . because I don’t have time for this.” He passed blood for four days and ignored it because he did not need a doctor; he had God’s Word. After the fourth day of bleeding the Lord told him, “Go to the doctor.” He did. But he was very belligerent and disrespectful to them. He acted as though it was beneath him to have to be there. Here was a team of people educated and dedicated to saving lives and he was talking to them like a bunch of chumps who don’t deserve his time. Fortunately, they caught the cancer in time and he survived. When he proudly relayed to the group his attitude and speech towards the doctors and nurses I realized why he did not get his miracle. He was rebellious and bitter and proud.
The people I have seen get miracle healing are always thankful and appreciative and, yes, trusting of doctors, because they know that doctors are one of the good gifts of the Great Physician. I also believe that God’s power begins where our ability ends. When we do everything we can do, we can fully expect God to do what only he can do.

Final Remarks
Let’s rise to the challenge of being Spirit-led, not dominated by some manmade law that says never use medicines or always use doctors, or some such thing. God’s will for us last week, might be different to his will for us this week. Often the Lord deliberately takes us by surprise in his leading because he seeks intimacy with us. He wants us to be constantly trusting and seeking him, not to imagine we have God figured out and end up settling for our own presumptions about his will for us, rather than clinging to God himself.
© Copyright, Grantley Morris, 2002, 2007. All rights reserved.




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From Mystery to Ministry: The Role of Sickness in Your Life
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Suffering: Why does God Allow it?
Insights From a Sufferer of Chronic Pain
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When God Seems Far Away
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