Miracles ...
Last night, Marie decided that she would start training Samuel to sleep on his own without crying in the middle of the night. She had endured weeks of his night and early morning wakings and was physically exhausted. We prayed to God for a good night's rest and Marie prepared to get up in the wee hours. Miraculously, Samuel did not wake and slept all the way till 7am.
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How can some one so cute cry so loudly at night?
And yet, is he not a blessing too? |
That's a miracle to me - because it's inexplicable and because I believe God in His tenderness does give exhausted mothers a good night's sleep. Do you believe in miracles?
I've written and re-written this blog so many times I've already lost count. It just did not seem to come out right. At times it seemed too disjointed or I sounded proud or too childish. In the end, I realised the issue is that I was trying to write with authority when I was (and still am) merely a beginner or student in this topic.
Back to School!
The background to this blog was that recently, by a fortuitous intersection of my own desire to learn more about healthcare systems, my organisation's generous sponsorship; and most importantly, my wife's kind support of my pursuits (when we have an eight-month-old at home), I received an opportunity to spend time in Dartmouth College in the U.S.
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| Lovely Blue Summer Skies |
I have just spent two weeks in this area (3 hours outside of Boston) attending lectures in beautiful summer weather. My classmates were engaged and enthusiastic. The lecturers delivered top notch lectures. We discussed the challenges of the healthcare systems - the increasingly limited resources and the expanding needs of the population; especially one that is ageing rapidly
Health & Wealth Theology & Healthcare Systems Thinking
During my time in the U.S., a pastor back home was charged in court for the misuse of church funds. As he was a strong proponent of the 'Prosperity Gospel*' or previously known as the 'Health and Wealth' Theology, this raised a great uproar in the media and the internet.
*Wikipedia has a good write-up on this topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_gospel
This is a concise definition from the write-up "Prosperity theology teaches that Christians are entitled to well-being and, because physical and spiritual realities are seen as one inseparable reality, this is interpreted as physical health and economic prosperity."
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| Light up like a lighthouse! |
Having just spent much time thinking systematically and scientifically about the challenges of the healthcare system, what struck me was that that the 'Health and Wealth' theology offered a very attractive value proposition to the problem of rapidly increasing healthcare costs in many countries. Prayer could cure sickness, relieve pain and create health in populations at almost no cost and prayer requires no expensive equipment nor expansive healthcare buildings. Unfortunately, as far as I know, there has yet to be any documentation of a population or community where health has been achieved to the degree where the needs for healthcare; and therefore spending on healthcare, becomes negligible. Such a population or community would light up like a light house in a sea of high cost healthcare. So it appears that while miraculous healing does occur, it does not happen with enough consistency nor pervasiveness to make a measurable change in the healthcare pattern of communities.
Personally, I do not expect that this will ever happen. The intent of miracles, I believe, is to point people who observe them to God. It is an illustration of who He is and what He can do. As we they say "A picture worth a thousand words". This is of great value when we cannot see Him with our eyes in this present life on earth.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Miracles are not intended as a regular means to meet one's every daily physical needs. Jesus said as much in John 6 when he miraculously created bread to feed five thousand. He did this to illustrate that He was the 'Bread of Life'. Yet the people who filled their stomachs with His bread pursued the created bread rather than Him. He reminded them:“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me,not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life,which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” John 6: 26 - 27.
Obesity - the New Epidemic!
In my droll moments, I wonder if the 'Health and Wealth' theology people know that obesity has become one of the main causes of ill health. It has reached epidemic proportions these days. It is no longer considered a mere description of one's excessive body weight but is a disease in its own right. I have yet to see anyone in church stand up to say 'Praise God! I was obese and I asked God to take away my weight. He's caused me to lose 4 inches, 20 kilos instantly and my pants have fallen to the ground!'. Are diseases then divided into those that are due to our own poor food choices and sedentary lifestyles which require our own effort to overcome; and those that we are not responsible for and therefore deserving of God to wave away instantly?
"The latest National Health Survey shows the obesity rate has increased from 6.9 per cent in 2004 to 10.8 per cent this year." http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1091906/1/.html
Prevention Trumps Cure ... every time
For example, the healthcare community now considers outdated the focus on cure; rather the aim is now to prevent illness and disease by helping people live a healthy life. It appears that 'Health and Wealth' proponents are ignoring these other less dramatic aspects of Biblical living for the more dramatic scene of instant cures with laying of hands and praying.
The 'Health and Wealth' theology is but one aspect of the whole Bible. Over the centuries of church history, God had highlighted certain key messages from the Bible. The danger is to focus on the one message to the exclusion of all other messages. Yes, I think the Bible does teach us elements of 'Health and Wealth' theology but this message is not all that it teaches.
There is an Afterlife, folks ...
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Understandable, the preoccupation with this present life
- many beautiful spots here on earth |
The other problem I have with this theology is its preoccupation with resolution of problems in this present, physical world. The Bible clearly teaches us that there is a spiritual world and a spiritual afterlife; and that many of God's plans, promises and actions find their fulfillment in this other realm. It is therefore simplistic to insist that God answers and gives resolutions to every need only in this physical realm.
I am glad to learn that some clear-headed proponents of 'Health and Wealth' theology have admitted that not all disease prayed for are healed. To me, there is nothing wrong with this. I have always wondered how Christians will ever get to heaven if we believe that we are all maintained in perfect health perpetually here on earth. Clearly all of us experience our physical bodies age and functions deteriorate. We will ultimately die here on earth. The good news is that this is but a gate way to an infinitely better place.
Even blessings come in many sizes ...
The part of the 'Health and Wealth' theology that I am most nervous about is the part that preaches that God's blessing is evident when we as Christians are healthy, wealthy and happy; that what distinguishes Christians from the World is a group of homogeneously trouble free and well-to-do individuals.
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| Motley crew? |
This picture is again not what I can find in the Bible. The Bible describes instead a whole motley crew with a checkered past - some were poor, some were kings, some were prostitutes, others were widows, heroes and cowards. A few had a trouble-free life, many were imprisoned, many aggrieved, while others were angered and of course, many also rejoiced. What distinguished this group was not their uniformity. What distinguished them was the God they clung to and their faith in Him - a faith that the Bible described as "the assurance of things hoped for, the convictions of things not seen."
One of the reasons, I believe, that the media coverage and public response to the pastor was so loud and unforgiving was because he obviously lived an affluent lifestyle that few average citizens could afford. To claim that this is a sure sign of God's blessing does not sit well and does not explain why only certain individuals are 'chosen' to receive such wealth. Is it a case of what George Orwell describes in his book 'Animal Farm' that 'All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others"?
Job is in the Bible ...
Look at Job, probably the best case study of a suffering Christian in the Bible. Our natural instinct would be for God to rush instantly to his aid in his moment of acute suffering. Yet, almost inexplicably, God engaged in a long, protracted debate with him with words that cut him like a knife.
The reason is this - God's first and foremost concern was for Job to gain a deeper, richer understanding of Himself. In the end when Job finally did gain a deeper insight of God, his response was this:
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42: 4-6
Job's attitude and posture was one of humble submission and repentance before God; and God reinstated Job's family and fortunes, without him asking for it. The Job story makes us uncomfortable because we would rather believe that God just wants to generically bless us all with health, wealth and happiness. We don't want to know what Job's story is telling us - that we all need to know God more and this often takes place in situations outside of our comfort and ease. It is in these 'discomfort' zones that we experience more acutely God's love for us. I am not a masochist - I certainly will not ask for suffering but when it does come, they are opportunities for my faith in God to be strengthened.
Great Conversations with God
I still believe the simple Sunday School teaching that when we ask God for things - He has 3 responses - "Yes, No and Wait". Where this teaching does not go far enough is to remind us to press in further to ask God "Why?" to His responses. I think that would start many wonderful conversations with Him and gain us a greater depth of knowing and being known by God.
In Colossians, it is made clear that knowing God is the treasure and riches that God has promised; and that is what we should pursue:
"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27
"...attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2: 2b-3
and if we focused too much on the our material and physical wealth here on earth, we may have gone off tangent -
"If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Colossians 3:1-2
God blesses us in many ways - we limit Him when we define how we want to be blessed.
In Conclusion,
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Ice Cream on a hot summer day -
God's creations & blessings! |
So I end my long discourse but not my journey as a student of this topic. I asked 'From my own response to this topic, what did I learn about myself?' I learnt that the danger for me was to become like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The story tells of a Father who lavished His love on his sons, even the younger one who ran away from home and wasted his money. But the elder brother would not celebrate the return of his repentant brother but merely stood aside in anger.
While I argued against a simplistic understanding of God's blessing and healing, the danger for me is to limit God to being distant and unloving, dispassionately watching us suffer and struggle. That too is a wrong image of God.
'Who is this God who can love perfectly and who is so eager to love us?' That is what I should strive to discover. Ultimately I think this pursuit of God (and not what we can get from Him) is what the 'Health and Wealth' Theology should be teaching us all.
