Thursday, March 27, 2008

Girl Dies when Parents Pick Prayer over Physicians

I just read an article about a young Wisconsin girl who died because her parents chose prayer over calling for an ambulance or taking her to the doctor. Click here to read the full article.

I initially saw the report yesterday on the news while I was finishing my workout at the gym. A retired teacher sitting next to me in the locker room commented how sad it was to see something like that report on TV. He said it was the “fundamentalist Christians” who are so dogmatic that allow things like this to happen. He went on to relay a story about a student at his old high school who was suffering from a disease and the school’s hands were tied from trying to help her. The student eventually died from a completely treatable illness.

I didn’t tell him I was a pastor but I did say that I was a Christian and I have a different view of this whole sad situation. I told him that I do believe in divine healing but it is not an “either/or” between prayer and calling the doctor. I will pray as I am calling the doctor and doing everything humanly possible to try to help the person. From the Christian perspective, all healing is divine healing. God created this wonderful body with the ability to repair itself. This was not the result of blind mechanical chance but was put there by a loving God. So all healing comes from God. Some healing is through the normal process that God designed and some is directly from God.

Also, I reminded the teacher, Stu, God does not promise to always heal in this life. In fact, one of the authors of the New Testament was a physician and his profession is never called into question or disparaged. Furthermore, even among the Apostles and early disciples God did not always immediately and directly intervene to bring supernatural healing.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “No longer drink water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” (1 Timothy 5:23) Now, there were very practical reasons for Paul to prescribe this. The water was often less than sanitary and likely to have parasites and other little critters that could cause problems. Wine, with its mild alcohol content, would not have the number and types of parasites and would also act medicinally to help Timothy’s stomach and frequent other sicknesses. Obviously Paul was a believer in God’s ability to answer prayer. He was not speaking against prayer but was also reminding Timothy that there are other practical things you can do to care for yourself.

When Paul himself had a physical problem (caused or magnified by demonic activity) he prayed three times for it to be removed and for himself to be healed but God said no. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) There was a greater purpose in Paul’s suffering. Though this experience Paul learned to rely on God more fully than he had up to that point. Something that immediate relief would not have taught him. Another friend of Paul, Epaphroditus, was sick to the point of death but he survived and Paul greatly rejoiced over his recovery. Through prayer the process of healing took place. Prayer and caring for yourself through medical means are not antithetical. We should always rely upon God but we should also take advantage of all that God has made available to us through medicine.

As I learn more about this story there are a couple other observations that I have. First, this family was in isolation from other Christians and the corrective and guiding influence of a church family. We are all prone to wander in our understanding if we don’t have the corrective influence of others. One of the mottos of the Reformation was that we are “reformed and always reforming.” The point being that we conform ourselves to the Bible but we don’t think we are above error so we are constantly rechecking ourselves in light of that truth. God has given us pastors and teacher to share their insights with us and help us reevaluate our assumptions. Not that any teacher is above error as well but collectively we are more likely to catch our errors early and not allow them to have such a devastating effect.

For the believer we need to understand that God’s promise for true healing is intended for the resurrected life following our death and the Lord’s return. That is when the Bible says we will receive our resurrected and glorified bodies like Jesus’ glorified body. (1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53) There are times that God is pleased to bestow some of those blessings on us early here and now. As an expression of His grace and because of Jesus’ work on the cross we are able to receive God’s goodness in advance as it were and be healed. But we need to understand that this isn’t the norm for this life and it isn’t something that we can demand from God right now. When God does intervene in a direct and miraculous way that healing is outside of His normal operating procedure.

The mistake some make, and this poor family made, was to see something that is promised for the next life and occasionally is given early as an expression of God’s grace and try to make it something that is a given in this life and something that we can demand or expect from God here and now. This is one of the grave errors of the “health and wealth” movement. They make blessings that are for us in the future and try to make them normative now. If God had promised us complete health and healing in this life no Christian would ever get sick, old or die. People would look perpetually in the 20’s or 30’s, injuries would heal themselves and amputees would re-grow limbs.

Healing is but one example of a greater truth. That is the Christian life is only the beginning of God’s blessings to us who believe. The Bible tells us that we have only received a down payment or the first fruits of our salvation. (Ephesians 1:13-14; Romans 8:23) In our knowledge of God we “see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know as fully just as I also have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12) As C.S. Lewis commented that for the believer this life is the beginning of heaven. But we need to understand that we won’t receive all the blessings of our salvation until the time when Christ returns and all things are made new.

As more comes out with this story it will be interesting to find out if they were intentionally opposed to medical treatment or just naively foolish to not get treatment for their daughter by some misguided understanding of what having faith is. I do think they might find themselves accountable for their actions if their negligence in any way directly caused their daughter’s death.

I have mixed feelings about this case. Generally speaking I don’t like government intrusion into private family affairs or into personal religious beliefs. However, it seems wrong to sit by and do nothing while a family exercises their beliefs which cause the harm or death of another person. This is one of those tough cases where one is left to wonder when it is right and appropriate for the authorities to step in and intervene. Personally, if I had been there and known about the situation I don’t think I could have sat by and done nothing. I would have felt compelled to act.

As a Christian this is a reminder to me to be careful that I don’t allow a private conviction or a personal belief slip into my thinking that does not allow for the correcting of God’s word through the ministry of others. We should never be so dogmatic about our convictions that we are not willing to examine them anew in the light of Scripture and plain reason.