Doctors, science and faith

[lilyjohn]

I have told myself that I was going to stop posting so many of my thoughts here but two posts have changed my mind. Peg's post about her husband's doctor's remark and Ann's post about dreams along with the replys have started me doing some serious thinking. I just have to share my thoughts. If what I say is too long (like it usually is I know) just read what you feel like then move on.

All we have to do is read the daily posts here to know how much faith everyone here has. I'm sure there are many who have had a strong faith all of their lives. There are others too that have turned to faith for the answers this terrible disease has them searching for.. I believe there is a major difference in religion and faith. Religion is taught. Faith comes from within. How many times have we prayed but really lacked faith that our prayers would be answered? To be honest I will say that I have felt that way in most cases. There are times that I can remember when my prayers were answered. There is at least one time when I felt that my faith had betrayed me by letting me trust then having my life turned upside down with me left bleeding inside.

Doctors are triained in the science of healing or treating a person's body. They spend so much time on learning the things that can be proven with numbers or scientific theory that they have no time to consider the effects of love, hope and above all faith. They have been taught that there is no cure for cancer. They have no proof that they can point to and say here it is in black and white. When they have a new patient they offer what they see is the best medical treatment at the time. They may believe they are doing the best they can for a patient but they really have little if any faith that the patient can be saved. There are no numbers in black and white that say this persons faith pulled them through or the love this person has been blessed with has healed them. So they ignore what to us is obvious. That is why they make remarks like that doctor made to Peg and her husband and like the one that nurse made that cost my Johnny his life.

Could it possibly be that these doctors are going by their personal experience with their patients? Could it be that the reason they have had so little success in healing someone with cancer is because of that lack of faith? Just a few things I believe are worth thinking about. If you told one of these doctors that you were going to a phycic for answers they would laugh at you. They don't even see that they are acting like a phycic themselves. They are trying to tell the future with as little evidence as the ones they would condemn.

Now about dreams and experiences. That too goes back to the basic question of faith. When we are children we believe what we see. We see it and know that we see it. Unfortunately we also believe what we are taught to believe. Often what we are taught is that what we see is impossible. As we get older if we see something that can not be explained we dismiss it or tell ourselves that we imagined it. What a shame that we are not as trusting in ourselves as we were before we were trained to not believe. Christ told us that He died so we can have everlasting life. He told us that that if we believe in Christ that we will NEVER die. Not that we will die and someday have everlasting life. This is the basic teaching of Christianity yet most churches would frown on you if you told them that you see your loved one who is gone. Most believe that a person who seeks to know that their loved one is near are tempting satin to enter their lives. That makes us keep a door closed that would otherwise give us what we need to help find peace.

How many of us have seen a child playing alone and talking as if there is someone by their side? How many have heard a child talking on the phone and laughed at their game? When a child tells you that they are talking to Grandpa or that Grandma was playing a game with them do you believe them or just think what an imagination they have? Did it ever cross your mind that they are just telling it like it is?

I have lost so many loved ones over the years. Never once did I really feel that they were near me. When Johnny died I was left so alone and so lost. I needed to know that he was okay. I also needed to know that I was not alone. I talked to him from the very first day. I begged for answers and one by one I have recieved what I have asked for and what I have needed. Often those things have come to me in ways that never would have entered my mind. They have also came to me in ways that never would have been possible just a few short years ago. I know now that there were times that I felt other loved ones who had died around me. I chose to not believe because I was surrounded by people who would never understand or comprehend the things that I had felt or seen. It was easier to brush them off than feel like I was looked at as different or strange.

When my need was the greatest it had ever been I opened my mind and my heart. I not only found the signs and things that I need to keep me going but I found the faith that I had always sought but never really knew. Christ died to give us life. He also taught us that love is the greatest force their is. I say trust what He told us and what is in your heart. Everything else will fall into place. Maybe someday that doctor that spoke so coldly to Peg and her husband as well as that nurse that took away Johnny's hope will have occasion of their own to learn what they have missed for so long.