God vs. Doctors
So, I jumped in the car on Friday and headed to G-vegas. From there my family jumped in another car and drove the 6 (it should have taken 5) hours to Raleigh. All of my dad’s side resides up there and my grandmother is very sick. So, in the turmoil of playing with tons of cousins I watched my grandmother show up.
Let me set up background for you. My grandmother is awesome. They live on a farm and raise tabacco and cotton. There is no t.v. and you go get your eggs out of the back yard. Its very cool. Anyway, my grandparents are also pastors and have been their lives. They love the Lord very much and they display that love by serving others. However, while they are Christians it is a backwoods, hell-fire and brimstone, kind of a thing. My grandpa doesn’t really believe in doctors. He believes that God is The Healer (which he is) and that if you really need to be healed—God will do that.
So, my grandmother needs hip replacement. She has always been a very spunky person, working her fingers to the bone in the ground and in the kitchen. Not this weekend. Grandma had to use a walker and was in so much pain. It was very sad to see. And, they haven’t decided anything about the surgery yet. Grandpa is fasting and praying that God will heal her if she is to be healed. He doesn’t think that God works through doctors. I think that he feels like he is turning his back on God if he uses modern medicine. Why is it God or doctors and not both? I think the Lord is holy enough to use whatever means he sees fit.
To me it’s simple. She needs surgery—one that’s pretty normal. However, they just don’t see it like me and there is no talking to them. God can heal her but he has also given us all these resources to use. My family is praying that God will tell them what is best and that my grandparents will listen.
posted by mizwez @ 5:07 AM
3 Comments:
I had no idea about your grandmother! I will keep her, and your whole family in my prayers! I agree with you with why can't they both heal in thier own ways, but you just have to put it all in the hands of God. He will always do what is right.(Even if it is not what you want.) God bless!!!
Praying for you rachel. i love you. gah i love you. and i miss you like woah. let's hang out this week. and giggle. and eat ice cream. and watch a sad movie. and cry. and talk about boys. and laugh at them. and drive to the mountains just cause we can. and cuddle!!... ok enough. i miss you girl. can you tell??!?!?!
Hey babe, I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother's pain and your family's struggles with this. It can be very hard to rationalize the modern science and technology of medicine with faith, but I think that the two go together hand-in-hand rather than being an all-or-none, one-or-the-other issue. The role of religion in medicine something that everyone struggles with to some extent, and something we have spent a decent amount of time discussing in my Intro to Clinical Medicine class and small group this year. My view on it is this- God ultimately is the one who does the healing. I agree with your grandfather on that. The precise, intricately planned and detailed workings of the human body could not have come to exist without a higher power. However, God also chose to set the world up so that, while His hand is involved in everything and dictates it all, it is not His hand that is actually carrying out the actions. Instead, He works through people that He has given special abilities to. For example, rather than blessing us all with the intrinsic knowledge and ability to read, write, do math, etc from birth, He chose to bless some people with the ability to explain it to others and teach them, including giving them an amazing amount of patience (which He didn't give to all of us :) It may be a lot of technology and science and a human surgeon's hands performing the surgery, but it is controlled by God sitting up there in His "Command Center." He blessed that surgeon with a special gift of wonderful technical skills and the ability to repair defects, and therefore it is really God curing the patient. The surgeon is just the mediator of that power, or as we would say in biochem, the second messenger in the signal amplification pathway (for the record, I do NOT think God created biochem, I think Satan put biochem on earth to torture medical students, or maybe it really is from God and is just a test to make sure we're good enough to work for Him). Essentially I understand your grandfather's hesitancy and fear in putting his wife's life and health in a fellow man's hands and his belief that God can cure. But I think the situation is like the story that always gets emailed around about the guy stranded in the ocean who begs God for help and God promises to help. The guy, relieved, then refuses a ship and a plane and all (I don't remember the exact details) and dies. When he gets to heaven, he blames God for not fulfilling His promise of saving him, and God replies that He gave the guy 4 opportunities to be saved and it's not His fault that the guy didn't accept them. God is offering help through doctors, and it's then up to your grandparents to trust God's choice of these people as his second messengers. I hope your grandparents can rationalize their faith in God with a little faith in medicine, because I think that the two are intimately connected. I will certainly pray for them. In addition, you might look into Christian physicians and discussing that option with your grandfather. There are many doctors out there who actively incorporate religion and Christianity into their practice, and he might feel more comfortable with one of them. Check out the national Christian Medical and Dental Association website- they have a Christian physician locator that searches by medical specialty and location (http://www.cmdahome.org/index.cgi?BISKIT=2574095327&CONTEXT=cat&cat=100008). I love you chica and I miss y'all! Only two more days and one final (neuroanatomy, which I don't think is my real speciality from God) remaining in the hardest year of my life! I'll call you when I return to Gvegas and awaken from what I anticipate to be the longest nap of my life (I'm not planning on getting out of bed for a week, haha). Good luck to your kids with exams.
Post a Comment
<< Home