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

Originally Posted by Colonel

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.

Right. But the drugs of today used in medicine are used by some for the same purpose. And people taking them for 'legitimate' reasons get hooked on them just like those taking them for recreational reason. The point is there is a danger to taking drugs, whether for recreation for medically. And just because one takes them for 'legit' reasons doesn't protect them from the danger of them.

I walked in divine health between the last 2 doctors visits

Originally Posted by fuego

Right. But the drugs of today used in medicine are used by some for the same purpose. And people taking them for 'legitimate' reasons get hooked on them just like those taking them for recreational reason. The point is there is a danger to taking drugs, whether for recreation for medically. And just because one takes them for 'legit' reasons doesn't protect them from the danger of them.

Like njtom mentioned, taking a specific supplement may be effective medicine to some people. The supplement may have a very specific positive effect, have no side effects, be non-addictive at the physical and emotional levels, not bring about an altered state of mind (compared to what is normal) and not bring about revelry by producing a high. A lot of modern medicinal drugs fail one or more of the above. Then there are doctors who seek to control their patients, including according to an atheistic, evolutionistic mindset. Or perhaps according to a different paradigm, religious or otherwise. Milking them for their money is often part of the control, the remedy may be far less effective than the cost involved. There's a whole lot that still goes on that people call medicine that can be compared to pharmakeia and what that word involved originally.

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

I walked in divine health between the last 2 doctors visits

A lot of people confuse God with fate (= whatever happened)

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Those who are sick have a need of a physician, that is what Jesus said. If physician is supposed to refer to God and God's power exclusively then he would have said so. That statement is in three of the gospels.

Then there are bad physicians :

Mark 5:26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.

And beloved physicians :

Col 4:14 Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.

One elderly man I knew had not seen a doctor for 50 years or had any illnesses. In his mid 70's he felt a bit strange and because he was old he thought he was getting the flu so went to the doctor.
He assumed due to his age that his good health was coming to an end but when he saw the doctor he was told there was nothing wrong with him.

God gently rebuked him and told him 'he didn't need to do that' but should of trusted him as he had kept him all those years.
He ended up living to early nineties.

In all my time I have never come across anyone like him who lived with such good health and never needed doctors.

IMO he was given a special gift of faith and lived sick free.
He never boasted or proclaimed it was his great faith that kept him well but basically said it was God who blessed him and he just needed to trust in God to maintain his health.

Some people have extraordinary faith in specific areas. Some may have been given that as a gift from God. But that doesn't mean that that isn't attainable to every believer. But it would be much easier to the individual if the Church was more saturated with the knowledge about these things including the corresponding faith.

Did the man ever go to a dentist ?

Originally Posted by Colonel

Some people have extraordinary faith in specific areas. Some may have been given that as a gift from God. But that doesn't mean that that isn't attainable to every believer. But it would be much easier to the individual if the Church was more saturated with the knowledge about these things including the corresponding faith.

Did the man ever go to a dentist ?

I'm not sure as it didn't come up. I wouldn't be surprised if he was dentist free as well due to the extraordinary divine health he had.

He lived a very simple life, loved God and put him first. He was brought up as an orphan and never married.

In answering the OP ....for this man it was actually wrong to go to a doctor because he was given special faith to walk in divine health.

Obviously this is not the case for most believers. I certainly believe that the promises of God are there for everyone to walk in better health.

Putting God first instead of the great idol of medical science may be a huge problem to modern man. It was easier for people to do that in earlier times when medical science was less capable and less integrated into society as a whole. People trust medical science to take care of them but to the degree that it fails, they then find themselves lacking trust in God. This may be a huge part of the reason why there are more miracles in the underdeveloped parts of the world, not just that they are less atheistic and more used to spiritual phenomena in general.