[Lachlan09]

Back in Scotland in November 1959, I was a six-year old weakling ! I had no energy or strength and found it hard some days to walk to school and back and my big brother Hamish sometimes had to give me a piggy-back.

Then one particular day, I felt sicker than usual and didn’t go to school. I had a sore, burning abdomen and my mum promised me an ice-cream to cool myself down. Just then, I was suddenly doubled up in terrible pain. I was crying and I couldn’t straighten up at all. We didn’t have a phone back then but she found a way to raise the alarm and soon an ambulance arrived. I was still bent double like a cooked shrimp. I remember I was asking my mum about my ice-cream even as I was put in the ambulance. I was rushed to Bruntsfield Hospital in Edinburgh and I was a bundle of tears and wailing as my mum was led away by the nursing staff, before they got me ready for emergency surgery. I had burst my appendix and poison was already spreading. They gave me a blood transfusion and took out my burst appendix. According to my mum later, the doctors told her that when they operated, I had about 30 minutes to spare before I was dead. I underwent more transfusions etc and was put in children’s intensive care. Meanwhile, my mum took taxis or buses to visit me as much as possible.

One morning, my mum was just leaving the house when a man came down our garden path. He was polite and introduced himself. He was a Jehovah’s Witness and was spreading the word in our neighbourhood, complete with Watchtower magazines. My mum apologized but said she was on her way to hospital to see her son who was seriously ill and was undergoing a series of blood transfusions. The man was shocked and he stated that blood transfusions were against God’s law and that JW’s could never permit that. He then went on to say that months before, his wife was in hospital and the doctors wanted to give her a blood transfusion, but they needed his permission first. He told my mum that he refused to give his permission on religious grounds. My mum asked him “What happened ?”. The man replied “My wife died”.

I feel sorry for that man’s loss and that his beliefs led to his fateful decision. It can’t have been easy.

I know that faith is at the root of all religion, particularly the demonstration of faith, but I must ask, does God really want us to sacrifice our loved ones on the basis of how some text might be interpreted in the Bible ? How can any Christian faith believe that He demands a human sacrifice ?

Please discuss, what would you do for your faith ?

[thelowlyfisherman]

My dad had cancer starting about 6 years ago. After undergoing Kemo and then radiation, he decided he was done. He is a believer and just put himself in Jesus hands. The cancer spread to his liver and he passed away 4 years ago.
I begged him to take anything they offered him, but, he had made his peace and was actually looking forward to going home.
The last time I saw him, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "We're not going to tiptoe around this, son. I'm going home soon. Play me something sweet."
While I was playing, the suffering seemed to leave him, but, only briefly.
Dad, was a tough guy all his life. John Wayne. You know the type.
I just remember watching him sitting in the yard obviously in severe pain, praying, at peace.
If I have to go through that, I pray that I have that kind of strength. I think he did it the right way.
I would love to be able to see him. To ask him questions that only he knows the answer to.
Dad was a believer and he's home waiting for me and my family. My grandparents are there, too. Soon enough, everyone that I love will be there.
I'm not in a hurry, mind you. All the same, some times the thought makes me just plain giddy. Finally to be with Jesus. No pain, no suffering, no politics, no sin.
When faith can kill? Is that what we were talking about?
All this time I was under the impression that it was sin and disobedience that killed.
Dad is a believer and dad is alive. One of these days I pull out the eulogy I gave, and post it.

[Amadeus]

Perhaps, the question is, just how important is this natural life we have in this corruptible veil of flesh? When it is our loved ones who are failing in the battle against the grave, it may be difficult or even impossible to relate to what God has in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We can only see what is right our eyes, our losses, our deaths, our loneliness.

If we are for Him and He is for us, the throwing of dirt on our faces is not the end. Do we not really believe that?

Originally Posted by Amadeus

Perhaps, the question is, just how important is this natural life we have in this corruptible veil of flesh? When it is our loved ones who are failing in the battle against the grave, it may be difficult or even impossible to relate to what God has in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We can only see what is right our eyes, our losses, our deaths, our loneliness.

If we are for Him and He is for us, the throwing of dirt on our faces is not the end. Do we not really believe that?

Help me to believe, Lord. Cast out fear!

[thelowlyfisherman]

Originally Posted by Amadeus

Perhaps, the question is, just how important is this natural life we have in this corruptible veil of flesh? When it is our loved ones who are failing in the battle against the grave, it may be difficult or even impossible to relate to what God has in store for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. We can only see what is right our eyes, our losses, our deaths, our loneliness.

If we are for Him and He is for us, the throwing of dirt on our faces is not the end. Do we not really believe that?

Unless a seed falls to the ground and is covered with dirt, it cannot grow into a new creation.

For this person to hold back medical help to me is like holding back the extended hand of the healer. Are Doctor's an extension of God's hand, and if not, then who's? Is it really faith to deny the "form" that healing may come through? We are physical too and in a physical world, so why do we refuse physical healing? We have too much faith to believe God might work through man?

[Amadeus]

Originally Posted by preachergirl

For this person to hold back medical help to me is like holding back the extended hand of the healer. Are Doctor's an extension of God's hand, and if not, then who's? Is it really faith to deny the "form" that healing may come through? We are physical too and in a physical world, so why do we refuse physical healing? We have too much faith to believe God might work through man?

I would hesitate to say a person not obtaining the medical help is always in error. Sometimes they are in error for not using what is available, but sometimes they are in error for not trusting in God. In any case, all healing is of God. Whether His healing is direct where we might call it a miracle, or it is indirect through the hands of medical professionals, it is Him that accomplishes it!

This is why we need to be able to hear what God is saying at a particular time for a particular situation!

I was in agreement John...there's something about Balance again...to say that we should "always" rely on the physical Physician or that we should never rely on him, is an imbalance, that keeps us off to the left or right.

[Amadeus]

Originally Posted by preachergirl

I was in agreement John...there's something about Balance again...to say that we should "always" rely on the physical Physician or that we should never rely on him, is an imbalance, that keeps us off to the left or right.

Amen, Kim! Amen!

[thelowlyfisherman]

Dad is healed. I guarentee you.