Comments related to ethics, or how we should live
One of the tenants of the Biblical Christian faith is that God is in control, that nothing happens by chance, that God has our days numbered. God is in control of the day of our death.[1] What effect does this way of thinking have on the approach to palliative care? What effect should it have?
Palliative care refers to the approach to a person who needs care and it is believed that they are approaching the end of their life on this earth.… Read the rest
In my blog posting titled, Alternative Medicine – Placebo Effect, I pointed out that even if a therapy really has not physical way to cause improvement, the therapy, in the hands of a therapist and a patient who believe in what they are doing, will result in reported improvement in one third of people treated. Considering a therapy where this placebo effect is the only basis of helping, is there not something good about using such a therapy? Is it not good enough that people feel better?… Read the rest
Before moving on and looking at what kind of evidence demonstrates that a particular therapy really does something, it is important to consider the supernatural. According to the Bible, some things, including healing, can happen by supernatural means.
By the supernatural, I am referring to things that happen independent of the normal physical laws of nature. Biblically, supernatural happenings are due to the involvement of the spirit world.
Considering the supernatural is important because there are some alternative therapies like “Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, reflexology, Deepa Chopra’s Aryvedic medicine, Larry Dossey’s healing words and many others”1 with non-Christian spiritual beliefs underlying them. … Read the rest
For the harvesting of vital organs from bodies that appear to be alive to be considered acceptable, it becomes important to be able to define a person as dead while their body is still “alive.” Taking of vital organs, necessarily, results in the death of the body. To harvest vital organs before a person is dead is not acceptable within biblical Christianity, since the Bible contains commands against killing. See blog posting Vital Organ Donation – The Most Important Question.… Read the rest