Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyboosh
I think this case raises questions about the efficacy of prayer just and how far believers are willing to believe before they decide not to leave something in the hands of their god.
Does it undermine the credibility of prayer as something that can actually invoke a divine response for a believer to say 'I'll pray for personal guidance, for a good result in tomorrow's poker game, but I think I'll take my kid to the doctors rather than pray to my god for that, just in case'. Just in case what? God ignores you? Pray doesn't work? There is no god?
If there is a god, and prayer really achieves something, how do believers decide where their threshold of belief ends and reliance on medical services takes over?
I think that this just boils down to how the legal system in our various countries view Responsibility.
1-- I'm not so sure this says anything about the efficacy of prayer. When you consider how many people adhere to this kind of faith-and-prayer program, and how rarely we hear about this, it might say more about how much we overvalue contemporary medical practice.
For example, I have read of two cases in the news over the last year. Almost everybody knows somebody who has died from medical malpractice. Almost no one knows someone who has died because they chose to pray instead of seeking medical treatment.
Also, I would say, there are far more people who choose to not to go to doctors based on a non-faith-based fear of the medical establishment. I know of family and friends who haven't been to a doctor in years, even a decade or two.
2-- I've checked these people out. The Bible contains hundreds and hundreds of medical-related instructions. If you read their literature, you will find that they don't trust medicine, in general. There is some scriptural justification proffered, sure. But I feel that their religious faith just serves to complement their fear of science. I'm not even sure this is a religious issue.
3-- We are clearly commanded not to "test" God. Jesus could have thrown Himself off the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels would save Him. The angels are there to catch Him
should He stumble, and not commit a suicidal act. Quite honestly, there is no sound biblical justification for these beliefs. Crazy is going to crazy.
4-- In one case, a child had pneumonia, and died. I'm sure they will be convicted. But honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. There was no malicious intent, and ultimately, we will be convicting them for "stupid," more so than intent to harm. This is not a case of beating a child until he dies, because ultimately, it was pneumonia that killed the 7 month old. If they had treated the infant, he may have died anyway. Pneumonia is serious and deadly to infants and the elderly, especially. If your religion forbids you from seeking medical care for you or your children, then is it a violation of religious liberties to criminalize follow-through on this belief?
I don't feel comfortable jailing these people and taking away their kids (I think the people that do have more issues than these people, and are more dangerous). But I don't feel comfortable doing nothing, either. I think they should be exiled. Revoke citizenship, and send them all off elsewhere, making them someone else's problem.