As a Christian parent, I pray for my children when they are sick or hurt.? In church, we gather around sick friends and pray for divine healing.? So doesn?t it make sense that when I walk into my medical practice each day, I should pray with my patients? And shouldn?t the way I practice medicine give patients every opportunity to get well?
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And yet, some Christian physicians and patients balk at the idea of mixing their spiritual practices with medicine.? Mitchell Krucoff M.D. published his findings on the benefit of ?non-denominational? prayer in the respected American Heart Journal in 2001.? Since prayer costs nothing but time, why not use this non-toxic tool to support healing?
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Your body was designed with a system that has taken you from illness or injury to health without medical treatment countless times. Some call it ?natural healing.?? I believe it?s part of our creator?s design. Acknowledging the power of this brilliant ?self-healing mechanism? is at the center of Christian medicine.?
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Most physicians will tell you that they became doctors to help people.? But after 11 or more years of stressful training, many doctors wonder why they made such a crazy decision.? The system forces doctors to distance themselves from their patients as an act of self-preservation. ?Soon they learn to treat symptoms instead of underlying causes because it requires less mental and emotional effort.? If you have a headache, you get a pill.? What if that headache may be your body?s way to say you need to drink more water?? In that case, giving a pill creates more problems than it solves.??
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Practicing Christian medicine requires a belief that the body was designed to function with a lifetime warranty from God Almighty.? In other words, treatment should be given with proper respect for the genius of the body?s healing system and can include:
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- Prayer and encouragement
- Healthy food and water
- Vitamins, minerals and natural compounds
- Hands-on treatment or exercise
- The safest medications (when natural interventions fail)
- Surgery and other procedures
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Conventional care is a vital part of Christian medicine. In fact, your healing path may lead you directly to medication or surgery.? That informed choice is your responsibility, once you pray and seek advice.
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The physician is a partner in decision-making.? For patients who don?t embrace all of these principles, it?s simple to step back into more orthodox medical practice and provide excellent care.? The key in these situations is to respect the beliefs of each individual and show them Christian kindness. Christian medicine is not a covert platform for evangelism but a healing practice that draws people to God through unconditional love.
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Mainstream medicine primarily focuses on disease and excels at the treatment of trauma and infections.? Focusing on health requires the patient to make important lifestyle decisions about eating, activity and emotion.? Putting the responsibility on the person who has the most to gain or lose just makes sense.? Through precise recommendations and encouragement each patient can have a lower risk of disease.
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Decreasing the need for medical care reduces expenses, hospitalization and treatments that may produce little benefit.? Survey after survey shows oncologists? personal views of chemotherapy conflict radically with their professional recommendations. As many as 75 percent indicate that if they had cancer, they would not undergo the treatments or recommend them for their families. That hardly seems like a Christian attitude. We should treat others as we do ourselves.
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Are Christian doctors who practice modern medicine hypocrites? Absolutely not! There are many brilliant physicians who have been forced to segregate their Christian beliefs from their medical practice. The system exacts severe penalties, from lawsuits to professional alienation, for straying from the traditional path. The remedy is finding a way to provide all the information every patient needs to make good decisions.
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Technology like the Better Body Brighter Mind? System can simplify the task of creating a scientifically sound eating, supplementation and exercise plan.? Taking excellent care of our bodies can help us avoid disease and rediscover what it feels like to be truly healthy.
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Imagine for a moment feeling like you did when you were a child.? Better yet, look at healthy children. Feel their energy, hopefulness and joy.? They don?t know aches, pains or fatigue.? This is the model for becoming well again.? God calls us His children.? I believe that He wants us to live, work and play with a child-like enthusiasm flowing from a healthy body that?s full of life.? Imagine being completely healthy in body, soul and spirit.
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Just the way God wants you to be.
