Re-examining
five well-meaning presuppositions on health and disease:
- God grants us health so we need not take personal responsibility for it.
- God heals solely through supernatural means.
- Seeking medical treatment signifies a lack of faith.
- Medical treatment should be rejected as it represents man’s ingenuity––trust in man rather than God.
- Patients do not experience supernatural healing because they lack faith.
Let’s consider each premise in turn.
God grants us health so
we need not take personal responsibility for it.
A blog reader commented: “Without faith it is
impossible to please God. If you’re not walking by faith, you are going to be fearful
and unbelieving. Health and divine healing are a result of walking by faith.”
Some
people think that health and faith comes in one neat package. But the fact that
pastors and missionaries do fall sick—just like anyone—debunks this premise.
While
it is true that we cannot add a
single hour to our life by worrying (Luke 12:25), we still have to take
personal responsibility for our bodies as it is the temple of the Holy Spirit
(1 Corinthians 6:19). http://bit.ly/1lO5Mwp
God heals solely through supernatural means.
God heals solely through supernatural means.
Having faith does not
necessarily mean we have to shun medical treatment. Isaiah ordered a poultice
to be applied to King Hezekiah’s boil (Isaiah 38:21). The apostle Paul told
Timothy to drink some wine for his stomach ailments (1 Timothy 5:23).
If “a
merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22), then the latter has a
definite place in the life of believers. Certain plants (herbs) have healing
properties (Ezekiel 47:12). A notable example is foxglove (digitalis) which has
long been used to improve the pumping ability of a weak heart.
Seeking medical treatment signifies a lack of
faith.
Jesus
certainly does not discount the role of doctors in treating diseases. Otherwise
He would not have said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but
those who are sick” (Luke 5:31).
The
apostle Luke was a doctor who followed Jesus in His healing ministry. Jesus
seems to imply that doctors and practitioners of supernatural healing should
happily coexist. Why can’t both camps work together and learn to respect each
other?
How can we be deemed
as lacking in faith––considered as “second-class” believers––when we seek
medical treatment? Scripture expressly says that medicine, herbs and physicians
all have a role to play in healing.
Medical treatment
should be rejected as it represents man’s ingenuity––trust in man rather than God.
The view that any
product of man’s creativity is evil is indeed seriously flawed. Having created
the world, God gave man the injunction to multiply, subdue and rule the earth
(Genesis 1:28). This ‘cultural mandate’ drives all of man’s productive endeavours––from
scientific to economic; from sustainable development to environmental
conservation. Our creative potential bears the marks of our Creator, who
created each snowflake distinct from the rest.
Countless lives have
been saved since the advent of antibiotics and vaccination. It’s baffling why
some hyper-spiritual ‘faith healers’ wholeheartedly embrace the benefits of
modern inventions but reject modern medicine. Logically, they should stop
travelling in cars and airplanes, and stop enjoying the benefits of mobile
technology.
Some ‘faith healers’
view modern medicine as evil as the serpent has long been a symbol of the
medical fraternity. Clearly they have forgotten the account when God told Moses
to make a bronze serpent. Those bitten by snakes would not die if they looked
at the serpent set on a pole (Numbers 21:8-9).
Patients do not experience supernatural healing because they lack faith.
Have faith and then healing
will inevitably ensue? Not necessarily so. There are certainly more factors to
be considered than just harping on the fact that God heals in every instance
where there is faith.
The other factors to
be considered include: God’s sovereignty, the fall of man (sin) and consequent
disease and degeneration, inevitable death that confronts each of us.
I am not for a moment doubting that God can heal. Or
that the prayer of faith can heal:
“Is anyone among you
sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them
with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the
sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will
be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).
But when reality confronts
us in the real world––that some are still not healed despite being prayed for––what
are we to do? There are so many cases of non-healing which does not gel with
theology that says “God will heal always”. For example, have you seen a Down’s
syndrome child being healed completely back to normal?
If God heals always
when people get prayed for sicknesses, then we will not have to die and will
hypothetically live forever. Then how are we going to expire? We have to die,
in most cases, of some illness (eg. heart attack, stroke, or cancer) if we
don’t die of accidents. Are there any modern-day Enochs you know of who get translated
to heaven without dying?
Those who seek
miraculous healing do so because they trust God, however little or great their
faith may be (Mark 9:24). They also respect the ‘faith healer’ for his or her
successful track record. Why load them with the additional burden of false
guilt––especially when they’re already in emotional turmoil over serious or terminal
illnesses?
However, in cases
where sin hinders healing, the foregoing does not apply. The sick must confess
their sins and repent as a prerequisite for healing to occur.
RELATED POSTS
LONGEVITY: REWARD FOR FAITHFULNESS?
WHEN GOD DOES NOT HEAL
God
does not answer all our whys this side of eternity when we’re confronted with
non-healing––even when all the prerequisites have been
fulfilled for spiritual healing.
DON'T TRY TO FIGURE IT
OUT
HEALING VERSUS SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
MEDICINE AND
SUPERNATURAL HEALING
WHEN SICKNESS STRIKES
A biblical view of sickness and healing
http://bit.ly/1ozc0UA
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