Thread: Is It Wrong For A Christian to NOT Go To A Doctor ?

Doctors, technology, etc. I believe falls under "what works".

light bulbs
automobiles
gas stoves
aspirin
fire
sewage treatment

Be ye religious if you so desire but I'll enjoy and give thanks for these things.

God can heal us anyway He chooses, the important thing is that He does just that. I don't believe by putting Him into any particular construct including "faith only" is wise nor His will. Drink a little wine you religious scoundrels, it'll probably fix your many ills

Believing in divine healing while not being in the Word-of-Faith tradition, I personally believe that I should use every avenue available to me when I'm sick. But to each his own. I would never say that a person is wrong who declines to do as I do.

Also, I like going in for periodic checks; it's a good way to uncover problems in their early stages -- some of which can be resolved with simple lifestyle changes and/or supplements.

Originally Posted by LionHeart

Should we just believe and pray, or should we pray and seek medical help when necessary ?Although the faith teachers told us that they walked in divine health we find that most if not all of them were treated by doctors and took medicine for treatable conditions. So when one says they trust only in God I ask them if they have ANY condition that could be possibly be treated with medicine ?Most cannot answer and maintain their proud confession of walking in divine health. Everyone is human and doctors are a real blessing to us if we pray and know when to go to one. If someone says to me they walk in some kind of special faith that prevents all sickness from touching them I immediately turn them off as a liar. No one is immune in this life from sickness or disease.Many spiritual things can be done to lessen and even eliminate sickness but it is still a fact of life.

Faith building is a process...one can't wait until they have serious issues and just decide to have faith...If I don't choose to trust Him for a headache healing I am not likely going to trust Him for cancer..

Just a random thought here..if modern medicine were such a great gift from God why are so many medications actually harmful?

So if we are praying for healing does God say, 'No, go to the doctor'? Or 'Go to the doctor, he will heal you'? Just thinking outloud...

Hobarth Freeman was of the ilk that belived ALL doctors and medicne are of the devil. That kind of error cost many children and adults their lives. Medicine should be used with prayer.

Originally Posted by Quest

Faith building is a process...one can't wait until they have serious issues and just decide to have faith...

Very, very, very, very, important point. And a facet of this I addressed in my earlier long post.

Originally Posted by Quest

Just a random thought here..if modern medicine were such a great gift from God why are so many medications actually harmful?

That is also a very legitimate question. I think about that one myself too. We have many that are addicted to prescription drugs, drugs that are actually harmful, etc, etc, etc. Does God give us 'grace' for those just because we are Christians? I'm sure you have many Christiand addicted to prescription drugs. And FT also pointed out in a post I believe about the Greek word for witchcraft being pharmakia which we get pharmacy from. The 'sorcerers' used drugs in their practice of the dark arts, and that is where the association comes from. That has to be considered and maturely discussed also.

For instance, I had read an article not too long ago about chemo therapy I believe it was, and it might have included radiation treatment too, and the very low percentage that are 'healed' from it. And I think the person pointed out that chemo and the radiation were as harmful to your body as the cancer is. So these things have to be maturely and intelligently discussed.

Drugs were used by the idol worshippers to enter an altered state of mind or to simply get high as part of the worship of a deity. They were also used in potions that may or may not have had any actual effect beyond being held as magical. So pharmakeia doesn't relate to medication as such but rather to every kind of drug use in relation to idol worship or magic. It relates better to the modern practice of using drugs to get high, whether that is in relation to concrete idolatry or simply the idolization of the high or altered state of mind itself. And to the addiction and bondage that the drug creates, making it an idol in and of itself.

I don't believe ALL modern medicine is from God, a large body of medical "science" is in all likelihood fraudulent. Profit motive has corrupted medical science but many wilfully remain ignorant of the dangers.

But these discussions will always tend to the extremes with some intimating that if you go to a doc, you have placed your faith in science not God (FT style). You have whackos on both ends of the debate but there is plenty of room for prayerful consideration of all remedies. Trusting God to bring a result is still trusting God. Some folks get waay religious about this stuff.

>witchcraft being pharmakia

Not relevant here, that is a massive stretch. Again, the extremes come out of the wood work.