I have no intentions of turning this into a faith blog. I already have one of those. But when faith and politics collide, well, it is important to discuss it. And discuss it we shall.
Okay, it is nothing new that there are people in this world who will co-opt the Gospel for their own agenda, regardless of how wrong it is.
But the My Turn in the Burlington Free Press this morning, by the Rev. Debbie Ingram, crossed the line – big time.
To sum it up, “Jesus reminds us that healing all persons is the ultimate goal.” In order to do that, we need “to fund existing [government health insurance] programs and expand them further.”
This is not only a load of complete and utter horse crap, but an unbelievable blasphemy, as well.
Yes, Jesus does remind us that healing all “persons” is the ultimate goal, but that healing comes through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not through faith in the government.
How ironic that Reverend Debbie made reference to the story in which “a woman merely touches the hem of [Jesus'] robe and he is aware of her suffering and eager to alleviate it.”
Let us look at that woman’s story in Mark 5:25-34 (NIV).
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
Notice that the woman “had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors” and “instead of getting better she grew worse.”
This woman did not need Medicaid, or some other government health insurance program. She had been to a doctor. She was still sick. She needed Jesus!
And it was not that she needed him to heal her. She needed to have faith in him to be healed.
As Jesus said to her upon her healing (v34), “Your faith has healed you.”
I would think that a woman of the cloth would know the Bible better than to think that the message Jesus was trying to send was one of access to government health care programs.
The message was one of faith. Faith in the Lord. Not faith in earthly kingdoms, as she would have it.
The healing of the sick is a metaphor. When a Pharisee asked why Jesus ate with sinners, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
I am not saying that sick were not literally healed by Him, but that the sickness we all have is a spiritual sickness, not a physical one.
That sickness will not be healed by bowing at the altar of socialized medicine and putting our faith in the government. It will not be cured by the best doctors in the world. It can only be healed by the One who made us.
If you think that government health insurance programs are the best way to provide health care, then let’s debate and discuss that on its merits.
Just leave your poor interpretation of the Bible out of it.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:17 am
What Rev. Ingram says is just the sort of claptrap that is typical of the Religious Left (the Unitarians, Episcopalians, other progressive Christians). They emphasize social justice over scriptural understanding and tradition. They also think humanitarianism is a decent substitute for genuine Christian humanism. This is one of the many reasons that mainline Protestantism is dying and conservative evangelicals are flourishing.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Oh, where to begin…
Yes, Jesus does remind us that healing all “persons” is the ultimate goal, but that healing comes through our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not through faith in the government.
Problem is, that faith healing really doesn’t work, unless you’re a bit loony. Lots o’ people think that prayer healed them, but there’s zero proof tht it did.
The healing of the sick is a metaphor.
Ok, so THAT’S a metaphor, but half the other b.s. you point out to in the Bible as proof isn’t? Or is only the stuff that goes against what you believe “metaphor” and the stuff that reinforces your beliefs “literal”. Intellectual consistency? Pfft! Who need that as long as Ann Coulter still has a publisher?
N.P….social justice-bad thing… blindly following myths and tradition.. good thing… how’s that “think” tank coming?
September 18th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Just leave your poor interpretation of the Bible out of it.
Fair enough, if you want to leave it out of all other areas of public policy.
September 19th, 2007 at 7:26 am
“Fair enough, if you want to leave it out of all other areas of public policy.”
C’mon, JD, you know darn well that I don’t think the Bible should be used as a sole justification for any law.
September 19th, 2007 at 7:28 am
“Ok, so THAT’S a metaphor, but half the other b.s. you point out to in the Bible as proof isn’t?”
I said, “I am not saying that sick were not literally healed by Him”
It is literal, but it is a metaphor for the healing that we all need, which is not physical.
Anyway, the point is that Jesus did not come here to get us to put our faith in government, but Him alone.
September 19th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
I don’t consider Christianity a myth. And social justice is a bad thing when it overshadows Christ’s teachings.
As for the “think tank”, you should know by now that the Lyceum Society is not a think tank but a forum for the intellectual Right in Vermont. And it is coming along nicely, thank you very much.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:35 am
What “intellectuals” are interested into linking to The Concerned Women for America?
Christianity does fit the classic definition of a myth, bro.
March 27th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
charity,
i have to commend you on your zeal for bible truth even if that means contradicting the common belief.
I never read these things, but i was searching for information on global warming for school and i happened to read your first entry.
people rarely read more than a few random verses in the bible and to confuse things even more, they inject their own rligeo-political teachings. I have taken the same viewpoint as you on the matter (from what i understand).
you know, we do not see miracles or healing today, but God advises us not to trust in earthling man to handle our problems. We can view one such scripture at Psalms 146:3,4″(3)Do not put your trust in nobles, Nor in the son of earthing man, to whom no salvation belongs.(4) His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; In that day his thoughts do perish.”
However, God promises us that he will deal with our problems in his appointed time, but we have one requirement that we can see at Proverbs 3:5,6 (you could look that up in your own bible) If we do this, God will justly reward those who have faith in him -Revelation 21:1-4. and Isaiah 33:24
So, in a sense, having faith in God can result in our heeling, but not by the system of earthling man, or in this present-day life, but by God’s Kingdom. Although we appreciate the good intentions of our governments, they will never truly solve our current problems, even God told us that! sorry for rambling on, but i appreciate your time… thanks for the interesting info. on that show you watched also.