SUBJECT:  Doctors and Medical Procedures

QUESTION:  Is it okay to visit a doctor or undergo a medical procedure?  What is the relationship between Faith and the Medical Professions?

ANSWER:

To answer this question, we offer two excerpts from our Full Doctrinal Statement on Healing:

Excerpt 1

Common sense and experience by themselves should make the basic principles of health quickly available to everybody. The old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is absolutely valid. The realization of this should lead to an attitude of genuine care and concern for the health of one's family and oneself. Such a conscious awareness would go a long way toward securing good health. A vital component of a good health program is a balanced diet which includes wholesome, natural foods and which excludes (as much as is practical in our society) processed foods such as sugars and starches, and artificially flavored and preserved foods. The right amounts of exercise, sleep and relaxation are likewise important. Maintaining a positive mental outlook and a peaceful mental attitude by eliminating (or at least attenuating) stress and flares of emotion is being increasingly recognized by modern health specialists as an essential health principle, considering the enormous effects (called "psychosomatic") that the mind exerts on the body. Caution should, of course, be taken to prevent accidents and bodily harm (without becoming obsessive or paranoid in the process.) Finally, a regular program of routine physical examinations by a qualified doctor is also important in recognizing and solving any potential problems before they become serious. ---end---

Excerpt 2

In the doctrinal statement on Healing there are a number of items discussed designed to give the member a proper perspective regarding Faith and Healing and Faith and Medical Procedures.  Following is one of those:

10.  It is entirely within biblical principles and common sense to seek competent medical help and still rely on God for healing at the same time; healing through faith in God and the modern health sciences is not a contradiction or a combination of opposites; indeed, what God can do for man as a special blessing should work together with what man can do technologically for himself.

God has healed; God does heal, God shall heal. There are no limitations on God's ability to heal any and all sickness and bodily defects—supernaturally, miraculously, completely. But does this mean that a Christian has no responsibility to help himself if he becomes ill or injured, other than to trust in God for healing?

Biblical examples and common sense teach us that God is practical and logical, and He expects human beings to do what they can to help themselves. Just as little children depend on their parents, we as Christians must depend on God for certain things. But God also expects us to grow and mature. If we can stand on our own feet, we should. If we can do something for ourselves, we are derelict in our responsibility if we do not. God's Church has taught this for years.

If a person has a badly decayed tooth, he should have it repaired or removed. This in no way usurps God’s power of divine healing. If one has a headache, he can take an aspirin. If one has a broken bone or an open wound, he should have it set or sewn as the case may be. These are physical measures which can and should be made use of. They are not an affront to God as our Healer; nor do they contradict faith.

In fact, to ask God to supernaturally do for us what we can naturally do for ourselves may begin to undermine the vital representational analogy between healing and the forgiveness of sin, conversion and the resurrection from the dead (since no human being can ever do any part of the latter). In Matthew 4:5-7, it was Satan who tempted Jesus by setting Him on the pinnacle of the Temple and challenging Him to throw Himself down so that God would save him. Jesus' answer was that "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (v.7). What is tempting God? Is it trying to entice God into a position where He "must" do something "good" to "save" us? If so, could we ever, however sincerely, be putting ourselves into a position of tempting God, however inadvertently, by asking Him to do for us what we can and should do for ourselves?

Only God can "heal"—if we define "healing" as a miraculous, supernatural removal of an affliction or illness. Physicians are only mortal men and can only work with the laws God designed to function in the human body. Medical science can work to speed, enhance or aid recovery. As such, the roles of God and man do not conflict; in fact, they can complement each other. In the same manner that healing is not a test of righteousness, so also going or not going to a physician is not a test of righteousness. Neither does it show a lack of faith in God's ability to heal nor does it prevent God from performing a miracle.

Faith in God and scientific confidence in man are not in conflict. Faith in God is a matter of the heart between a person and God. It is entirely possible to receive medical help—and even have a positive trust in that technological help—without having this trust or confidence supersede or negate one's faith in God. It is, of course, possible to have no faith in God and an almost superstitious faith in man's scientific knowledge. But, in either case, the technical utilization of modern medical science is not the factor that must decide where one's faith is. Faith is fully determined by the person's attitude in his private relationship with God.

Luke 8:43-48 records the story of "a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any. Note that Jesus in no way unbraided the woman for having gone to the physicians. Furthermore, and even more relevantly, He did not withhold healing from her because of it—even though, as it appears, she came to Him as a last resort. Indeed, Jesus said she did have the faith to be healed (v.48). Thus, this verse serves as an example of one who had gone constantly to physicians and yet did have faith to be healed. Certainly one could not immediately conclude she was weak in faith because she had used the medical services of her time.

There is no reason why the judicious use of physical methods should interfere with either one's faith or the ability and desire of God to heal. Faith says that God can heal; it is not a guarantee that God shall heal in every individual situation. It is surely not a sign of faith to neglect appropriate physical methods which can cure a disease, slow an illness or relieve suffering. It is also not a sign of faith to seek obscure second-class treatment when competent first-class health care is readily available.

The scientific and technological progress of the health sciences has been remarkable, especially over the last few decades, with increasing sophistication and effectiveness of technique, combined with a decreasing incidence of complications and side effects. For such achievements man should give God the credit; for it was God who created the human mind, empowering it with the creative brilliance to constantly attain to new heights of achievement in the physical world.

The Church is not in the health business. Consequently, it is not the Church's responsibility to endorse or condemn any particular treatment or procedure. Each individual has the same responsibility to examine alternative proposals, and seek and evaluate advice from several professional sources before making a decision in a serious health matter.

Faith is demonstrated in various ways. If one can live many long and useful years in God's service through an operation, rather than wasting those years by suffering in agony, how can that be condemned as lack of faith? To have the operation may evidence greater commitment to God, because one believes in the importance of service to His Church. To refuse the operation may only be the unintended neglect of one's Christian responsibility to God and His Work.

James wrote that "faith without works is dead." This applies to all aspects of the Christian life including health maintenance, health care, disease prevention, regular checkups by a qualified doctor, and healing and/or medical procedures in times of illness or injury. One should always consider the long-range implications for oneself and one's family in these areas by seeking experienced professional counsel and by making wise, sound-minded decisions. Christians should avail themselves of the best health care that man can provide and, at the same time, ask God to supernaturally supply what man cannot. This could also include the sick person asking God to bless the skill of the doctor in his diagnosis and treatment (much as God inspired the craftsmen who built the ark of the covenant and the Tabernacle, and, later, the Temple, see Exodus 31:3ff; 35:31, 36:1-2, 1 Kings 7:14).

Faith in God for healing and the sensible, sagacious use of the most modern medical/health procedures do not clash. They can, indeed, work together in harmony. The human personality is a unified whole composed of physical, mental and spiritual elements, and each one must be functioning as effectively as possible for the whole person to be completely healthy. In recent years, as a matter of interest, there has been increasing recognition among large segments of the medical profession that they should focus their attention as much on the maintenance of good health and the prevention of disease as they have on the treatment of disease. One reflection of this is the increasing employment of the term "health sciences" instead of "medical science." Another reflection of this trend is that many doctors have come to appreciate that spiritual factors, especially faith and prayer, can play a significant role in the recovery of patients.

Christians should appreciate both the special blessings of healing that God offers to them and the sophisticated techniques that man has developed to diagnose and cure illness. Healing through faith in God and through scientific medicine should, therefore, never be artificially opposed to one another, but should, rather, symbiotically reinforce one another to bring the greatest benefits to human beings.

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