A long-time friend from Ipoh met up with us for a drink... We went through a lot of spiritual adventures together.
Warfare in the heavenlies... Pray down revival in Pasir Pinji... hehehe...
Anyway she asks our opinion of Kenneth Haggin and local followers of his teachings (whose names I shall not mention) who taught the sick that by Jesus' death on the cross they are already healed, all they need to do now is to claim it by faith and a display of faith (in many testimonies) involves giving up medicine...
In these VCDs circulating around, sick people were taken off medication and got miraculous healings... 'authenticating' the message of these famous preachers.
I shook my heads... heheh, weighing the words carefully so that i won't 'touch the Lord's anointed'.
Firstly I tried to explain that even a man of John Wimber's stature, known for power evangelism, was frank enuff to admit that only a fraction of his prayers were answered in spectacular miraculous healings... maybe less than 5%.
So while i do not deny the possible truths in those testimonies, they constitute the exception not the rule. There is a real danger of setting the wrong expectation to people who are struggling with sickness and ends up with bitter disappointment.
Secondly, I think the theology has the weakness of an 'over-realised eschatology'... apa tu? Yes, the kingdom has broken into our world with the coming of the King... his death and resurrection... so we can have a foretaste of the age to come. But the fullness of the Kingdom is not yet... it awaits the return of the King!
There is this already-not yet tension that we need to hold onto.
Yes, Jesus' death on the cross purchased every single blessing that we receive from God - justification, redemption, forgiveness, healing, eternal life etc. But the problem is, not all these blessings are fully realised here and now! We still struggle with sin even though the cross has purchased the legal ground for our ultimate freedom from sin.
Otherwise, we'd get heaven on earth without the King's return.
Lastly, taking medicine is not a sign of no-faith. In fact, Paul asked Timothy to have some wine for some stomach problems he had. It could be the means God has ordained to heal the sick person. So if there's benefit in taking the medicine, I think we should take advantage of it.
Warfare in the heavenlies... Pray down revival in Pasir Pinji... hehehe...
Anyway she asks our opinion of Kenneth Haggin and local followers of his teachings (whose names I shall not mention) who taught the sick that by Jesus' death on the cross they are already healed, all they need to do now is to claim it by faith and a display of faith (in many testimonies) involves giving up medicine...
In these VCDs circulating around, sick people were taken off medication and got miraculous healings... 'authenticating' the message of these famous preachers.
I shook my heads... heheh, weighing the words carefully so that i won't 'touch the Lord's anointed'.
Firstly I tried to explain that even a man of John Wimber's stature, known for power evangelism, was frank enuff to admit that only a fraction of his prayers were answered in spectacular miraculous healings... maybe less than 5%.
So while i do not deny the possible truths in those testimonies, they constitute the exception not the rule. There is a real danger of setting the wrong expectation to people who are struggling with sickness and ends up with bitter disappointment.
Secondly, I think the theology has the weakness of an 'over-realised eschatology'... apa tu? Yes, the kingdom has broken into our world with the coming of the King... his death and resurrection... so we can have a foretaste of the age to come. But the fullness of the Kingdom is not yet... it awaits the return of the King!
There is this already-not yet tension that we need to hold onto.
Yes, Jesus' death on the cross purchased every single blessing that we receive from God - justification, redemption, forgiveness, healing, eternal life etc. But the problem is, not all these blessings are fully realised here and now! We still struggle with sin even though the cross has purchased the legal ground for our ultimate freedom from sin.
Otherwise, we'd get heaven on earth without the King's return.
Lastly, taking medicine is not a sign of no-faith. In fact, Paul asked Timothy to have some wine for some stomach problems he had. It could be the means God has ordained to heal the sick person. So if there's benefit in taking the medicine, I think we should take advantage of it.
Comments
because of the vow every doctor have to make prior to practising the profession, i think its a pledge of allegiance to a certain greek god. Thus the conclusion that we should not visit doctors.
Have you heard of this practice(avoiding doctors)? What are your views?
http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/hippooath.html
Doctors who take the oath do so out of tradition, not bcos they really believe in those gods. I see some good stuffs in there as well i.e.
I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion.
That, in effect, means the doctor swore against euthanasia and aborton on-demand. Heheh!
My take is, if there's benefit in getting a doctor's advice or medication, we should do so lar... unless if it's chronic, with lil' chance of recovery, i think we have a choice not to go for treatment... (which is not the same as taking poison) and let nature take its course or pray for a miracle.. wat do u think?
As Christians, we don’t avoid modern healthcare, but redeem it and reclaim it from greed driven falsehood to truth loving benevolence that is focused on that good-Samaritan like care and nurturing. Medical theory has been split into 2 camps, one build on evolutionary theory that believes that technology will be able to solve all human ailments and perhaps one day grant immortality while the other is driven by creationism and believes that to achieve health and optimum environment, one must go back to the way it was designed, the way it ought to be in the first place.
Thus as Christians, we want our healthcare professionals to help us undo the damage caused by our human activities (such as pollution, genetic manipulation of foods, etc) by restoring to our bodies the conditions and nutrition’s and principles of the way God has designed it to be.
Nowhere in the world has this become more obvious than in the USA, where people pop pills to counter their bad diets and lifestyles. The consequence of this lifestyle is now surfacing, with obesity as the number one national killer (sorry Osama) and major brands of drugs being recalled by the FDA almost weekly.
Now a valid question is then, “what did folks do before all this technology was available”.
I think the answer is that :
1. they lived closer to the way it ought to be
2. the entire delicate environment was closer then to what it should be than what our greedy abuse has turned it to, thus there were less ailments to die of then
3. there was an accepted higher mortality rate then (for example, before the modern surgery technology was available the caesarian section birth would risk the death of the mother) and we don’t accept such high mortality rates today, and rightly so with all our technology
Please read “A Surgeon's View of Divine Healing” By Paul Brand with Philip Yancey posted on 07/10/2003 at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/127/43.0.html.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_today.html
Whats missing from the modern version?
1. The first sentence that would normally disturb us... "Swearing by Apollo..and all the gods and godesses..."
2. The part about abortion is removed... as expected :P
3. The consequence of not upholding the oath. The classic version makes no joke of violating the oath.
Just wondering if it is a compulsory practice to take the oath in local medical schools/institutions? Like...no vow... no certificate for you?