It is time to rant again...
And this time I am very livid. I feel like taking a flat screen TV and smashing it into the wall. That is how pissed off
I am about this. But before I go on to pass this aggression over to you, let me tell you why I am royally and phenomenally pissed.
I come from Nigeria, a country that is deeply religious. So religious to the point that people have died defending what they believe in. I am not religious, but I go to church and I am an ardent believer in the bible, and I believe in common sense.
Note that I did not say "but", I said "and" I believe in common sense. That is because the bible is not against common sense. In fact, it teaches us to use our brains to think and not just to follow dogma blindly. But I am not about to go down a rabbit hole arguing what the bible teaches and what bible interpretation is.
Bible Weirdness
The bible has been used as an excuse to hold on to weird thoughts and beliefs and refuse help that is desperately needed. One such occurrence is in health and medicine. Nigerians believe a lot of weird things because that is what their pastor or **priest **or spiritual leader told them.
There is the religious belief held by so many Christians in Nigeria that the doctors report is of the devil. It is not explicitly stated, but when you hear testimonies in churches you cannot help but see the doctor who is just doing his job as the villain. You hear things like,
The doctor said I have cancer, but my God said it is a lie
Or some more toxic ones like
The doctor said I have diabetes, but I told him he is a liar. Diabetes is not my portion.
These things leave me wondering---the doctor is only telling you what the test results showed, why are you attacking him? The Doctor tells you, your blood test shows that you have diabetes and you look at him and say "it is not my portion", what do you expect him to do? Agree that diabetes is not your portion and not recommend lifesaving medications?
My BP is not High
I had one such occurrence recently and I was less than happy about it. This woman came into my office and after I had done her blood pressure, I told her that this is what the situation was-- her blood pressure was high. I told her that we needed to do something about it.
I was watching as she kept shaking her head from side to side saying "it is a lie, My BP is not high". And then under her breathe she started to mutter something that looked like a prayer. I have seen people like this before. I remember having to cater to one such case while doing my internship. This man came back to the emergency department with diabetic ketoacidosis because he would not take medications to bring his blood sugar down.
I know you have faith in the healing power of God, but does taking medications neutralize the power of God? Does taking life saving medicine mean that you do not believe in the power of God? Was it the devil that inspired people to develop medications to treat diseases?
This woman looked at me and with every word I said, I saw the animosity, the repulsion she felt towards me as I told her the result of the tests that she agreed to do on her own, without coercion.
Bottom Line
I believe in the power of God to heal. I have seen the power of God heal. But medicine is not opposing the power of God. If anything, it helps keep people alive, long enough for them to receive the power of God. Plus, who said that the pills cannot be a conduit for the power of God? If handkerchiefs and aprons, as well as saliva can be used to communicate God's healing power, who says the power of God cannot be communicated in the pills that the doctor gives you to lower your blood sugar?
Till I rant again...
I hadn't given any thought as to what 'religious' means before, so I would be interested in knowing your definition.
I think the definition of religion is context specific and depends on what is being talked about. When I say that I am not religious, I am referring to the idea of organized rules and regulations that must not be questioned or contravened. Going against the rules of religion involve severe punitive measures sometimes even death, as is seen in many occurrences in history.
Thanks for that clarification - I now see how it is possible to have faith without being religious.
You are welcome
Those people are pretty wild but sadly there are plenty of them. I think medical systems have a motive to keep people sick but at the same time they are also a way to address a critical problem in a short term. We just have to get better at doing preventative maintenance and care so it won’t get to needing the meds.
There is a lot to be said about the power of the brain in making something happen. The challenge certainly is the limits of that - where things just don’t make sense. This person’s situation didn’t make sense.
That is a whole different conversation, maybe one I would cover in another rant. But I am inclined to agree that the sad reality is that people are less likely to take preventive measures seriously until there is a complication that forces them to.