Article March 12, 1904 Issue

The preacher rightly argues in his sermon that our duty...

Clarence A. Buskirk

Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal

The preacher rightly argues in his sermon that our duty to pray to God for assistance does not excuse us from using the means and methods for curing sickness which God intends us to use and has placed within our reach for us to use. But when the preacher argues that we should assist our prayers with drugs, we answer that he is guilty of a non sequitur, unless it be taken for granted that God intends us to use drugs to assist our prayer. Upon what authority does the preacher take this for granted? He wholly fails to state in his sermon. If we take Christ's teaching and example as our guide in the matter, surely we are taking the best guide from the standpoint of the Christian believer. Do Christ Jesus' teachings and example show us that God wishes to aid the efficacy of our prayers to Him for assistance, with drugs and material methods? No. They show that Jesus depended solely upon spiritual methods. Sometimes his using the mud—and—spittle on the blind man's eyes has been instanced to the contrary. But this is a puerility, else he would have used it on the other blind men whose sight was restored through his ministry, and the apostles would have used it, and the medical profession would now be using it. The Bible teaches us that God is the "Great Physician," and that it is "in Him we live, and move, and have our being;" and the Bible nowhere teaches us that our prayers need to be aided by pills, and that drugs and divine help, if used together, are more trustworthy than the latter alone. Yet the preacher mentions Christian Science slightingly because it teaches absolute dependence upon God's loving kindness. Is a half—dependence upon God and the efficacy of prayer intended to be urged by the preacher?

Shall we leave the teaching and example of Jesus out of the inquiry, and try to ascertain God's intention in respect to the use of drugs from authority or experience solely human? Even if the preacher bases his opinion of the necessity for drug medication upon his reading and observations apart from the Bible, he will soon find that the medical profession itself is largely at sea in the matter. Did God intend forty years ago that the doctor's lancet should assist prayer in sickness? Does the preacher believe that only a score of years ago the doctors added to the efficacy of prayer by denying water to fever patients and by administering potent drugs in typhoid cases? If so, he differs from the doctors of to—day, as well as from Christian Scientists. If God intends the drug doctors to be His allies, why does He permit them to change their methods so often, as well as their drugs? Are these mistakes a part of the Divine intention that men shall use drugs to help the tinerapeutical efforts of the Great Physician to whom omnipotence and omniscience belong?

Clarence A. Buskirk.
Indianapolis (Ind.) Journal.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The preacher rightly argues in his sermon that our duty...

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access