I think no other venue
reveals one’s deepest beliefs than a medical crisis.
About two years ago I had a heart valve replaced with a valve from a cow
(thanks, Bessie, but I still eat steak).
I spend a week in the ICU wing of the hospital. While residing there I overheard reactions
from several families of patients in neighboring rooms to developing crises. When things went well, the family often
praised God and thanked Jesus. When
things ended tragically, the family often cursed the Doctor and blamed the
hospital. This dichotomy didn’t seem rational to
me.
There has been a
dramatic decrease in mortality due to appendicitis in the last hundred
years. To my knowledge there has not
been a surge of God’s power in that time but there has been a tremendous
increase in medical science.
If faced with a life or
death situation with a loved one, would you rely on prayer and your faith alone or on medical
science? If you opt for medical science
what does that say about your religion?
Can God alone affect a cure? If
not, is he/she not omnipotent? If God
works through the Doctor’s efforts, why was appendicitis a hundred years ago –
even though good Doctors were trying their best – so much more lethal than now?
How will a cure for the Ebola
virus be found? Will it be medical scientists in the laboratory or 10,000
people praying at the National Cathedral that find a cure? If it were your child with Ebola which team - one or the other - would you root for?
I recovered fine from my
valve replacement and never uttered a prayer, never asked anyone to pray for
me, and give the Doctors – not God – the credit.
© 2014 Lester C. Welch
Last January my husband had a cardiac arrest. Just after the paramedics took him to the hospital, a minister appeared and asked me if I believe in prayer. What could I say? Three of us held hands while he prayed.
ReplyDeleteThen I got in my car and went to the hospital, where I knew the doctors would do a fine job. They did.
I totally agree with you. But then why do I feel like such a putz when everyone around starts talking prayer and God's will. Everyone on Facebook seems to be praying for children and dogs and cats and world peace...you name it. I usually just keep quiet and go along pretending to "pray" when I really want to say what you have said so well in this post. It is all so illogical to me...like a fairy tale.
ReplyDeleteI am a coward in the midst of sure minded Christians. I wonder how many others are just going along to get along?
I am not into religion in the traditional sense and I appreciate my doctors, but I don't think that spirituality and science are mutually exclusive. I think a lot of people think that there is something out there that they can't quite grasp and that is beyond science , so they either ignore it and claim to be an atheist or follow a religious path that they don't really believe, or they do a bit of searching.. maybe a little meditation or prayer. It might not fix a heart attack (although the mind-body connection is very interesting) , but it can change people and therefore change their lives. Anyway, l don't do a lot of Facebook, but people who are praying for children and dogs and cats and world peace can't be all bad. Just a little over-zealous! I am a bit bothered, though, by people who preach to me and who claim to have all the answers, especially on a subject where all one really knows is what one personally experiences. My credo is "anything's possible".
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