My mother is a very caring and compassionate person. For years she worked as an EMT, then a nurse. She has wide knowledge and keen insights on medical issues. Family and friends often look to her for advice and assistance.
As her Christianity became more extreme, she shifted career tracks and worked in large-scale ministries. She became an expert on prayer, including "prayer walking" and is respected and sought out for these purposes. To this day, she believe she has been part of many miracles. She does not charge money or seek praise, and she is quick to insist that she doesn't heal anyone; God does.
She has prayed for chronic conditions, fast recoveries, cancer remissions, positive prognoses, even fertility. Obviously, she does not medically document, do follow-up examinations, or formally present evidence for her claims. Still, she remains convinced that God has proven himself time and time again.
Thankfully, in the face of serious illness or emergency, she will give sound medical advice. She doesn't try to pray wounds shut or for missing limbs or damaged organs to return to normal. She seems to plug prayer into any situation where there's nothing else she can do. However, when I ask her why God won't heal amputees, she claims to genuinely think that he can and does, but that it happens in remote villages in third world countries, where the faith is "stronger" - and where proper documentation is conveniently unavailable.
I don't think I can get through to her. She has seen medical fact demonstrate itself countless times, seen it be the difference between life and death - yet she has chosen to devote herself instead to vague claims and comforting beliefs. All I can do is talk about it openly and hope that people would rather live in the real world than in hers.
Monday, February 13, 2012
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