Physician heal thyself
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I heard about this story last night. It's the case of a physician who denied medical care to a child with an ear infection.
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f290458b-dd7d-4a20-ac99-525e48365b08
The doctor tries to maintain a Christian Environment so that his patients will be comfortable. He has posted in his office that "Appearance and behavior standards apply." I imagine that means he doesn't allow swearing or abusive language in his waiting room. He also doesn't allow gum chewing, tattoos, or body piercings. The little girl was denied service because her mother has visible tattoos.
The doctor has a legal right, and the support of the AMA in refusing non-vital service to a patient at his discretion. He also has a scriptural basis for part of his policy. Leviticus 19:28 prohibits the Israelites from tattooing themselves (I don't know of a scriptural reference for the gum chewing.) He may well be a nice man, a skilled physician, and a pillar of his church. Knowing as little as I do, I'm not going to try to judge his life.
But when I read about his action my first thought was, "WHAT IS HE THINKING?"
One of the most revolutionary parts of Jesus' ministry was that he ignored the cultural prejudices of his culture. He went and had dinner at the homes of people who were considered ritually unclean. We are never specifically told about his ministry among the tattooed, but he didn't back away from prostitutes and tax collectors.
He regularly healed lepers, and people afflicted with paralysis, seizures, and other diseases. The common wisdom of the time was that these diseases were a punishment from God for the sins the sick people or their parents had committed. Jesus rejected this way of thinking and touched, healed, accepted, and loved a huge variety of people he wasn't supposed to have anything to do with.
I don't personally care for tattoos and piercing, but it's not given to me to make that sort of choice for other people. It is only given to me to care for and care about all people who God places in my path. I believe that following that call is the only way to create a genuinely Christian environment.
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=f290458b-dd7d-4a20-ac99-525e48365b08
The doctor tries to maintain a Christian Environment so that his patients will be comfortable. He has posted in his office that "Appearance and behavior standards apply." I imagine that means he doesn't allow swearing or abusive language in his waiting room. He also doesn't allow gum chewing, tattoos, or body piercings. The little girl was denied service because her mother has visible tattoos.
The doctor has a legal right, and the support of the AMA in refusing non-vital service to a patient at his discretion. He also has a scriptural basis for part of his policy. Leviticus 19:28 prohibits the Israelites from tattooing themselves (I don't know of a scriptural reference for the gum chewing.) He may well be a nice man, a skilled physician, and a pillar of his church. Knowing as little as I do, I'm not going to try to judge his life.
But when I read about his action my first thought was, "WHAT IS HE THINKING?"
One of the most revolutionary parts of Jesus' ministry was that he ignored the cultural prejudices of his culture. He went and had dinner at the homes of people who were considered ritually unclean. We are never specifically told about his ministry among the tattooed, but he didn't back away from prostitutes and tax collectors.
He regularly healed lepers, and people afflicted with paralysis, seizures, and other diseases. The common wisdom of the time was that these diseases were a punishment from God for the sins the sick people or their parents had committed. Jesus rejected this way of thinking and touched, healed, accepted, and loved a huge variety of people he wasn't supposed to have anything to do with.
I don't personally care for tattoos and piercing, but it's not given to me to make that sort of choice for other people. It is only given to me to care for and care about all people who God places in my path. I believe that following that call is the only way to create a genuinely Christian environment.
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