I've Seen The End Of You in God, With Skin On
- Nov. 11, 2019, 6:54 a.m.
- |
- Public
I am reviewing a book called “I’ve Seen The End of You” by W. Lee Warren. Warren is a Neurosurgeon who writes about his struggle with his faith and with his knowledge that patients with gramblast cancer NEVER survive. He makes a compelling argument. Why pray for someone to be healed when you already know that gramblast cancer is always fatal?
Without giving away too much of the books ending, let me just say I have the same questions. Is it wrong to pray for something we know God is not going to do? Sure we have all seen or read about the coma patient that woke up several years later, but those instances are very rare. But when you know the gramblast cancer is going to kill your patient or your loved one, is it a waste of time to pray for God to heal them when in the history of the disease He never has? The cancer is aggressive, ruthless, and death by it is terrible.
Our faith teaches us that God is the great physician, and He can heal every disease. But when He doesn’t we suddenly question our faith. Is our life so predetermined by God that we have no say over how it plays out? Are the choices we make already known by God and if so why make them?
Psalm 139:16 reads, “you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me
were written in your book before I was one day old.”
If my days were planned before I was born, do I really have a say in how they play out?
crystal butterfly ⋅ November 11, 2019
I heard a speaker once talk about praying for healing and asked when you do that do you want earthly healing which is temporary, or do you want complete healing by God which means the complete healing you get when He takes you to heaven. I generally pray for God's will and for the strength, comfort and acceptance of what His will may be. Whether we understand it or not.
Douglas Kinney crystal butterfly ⋅ November 12, 2019
Ah very good grasshopper, you have learned a great lesson. When we pray for healing are we willing to accept the possibility God may not heal them here? In most cases that is not what we want. But to your point temporary as opposed to complete makes a difference.
woman in the moon ⋅ November 11, 2019
What can we pray for legitimately and or with the hope of having the prayer answered?
Can I pray my husband doesn't leave me for another woman? Just generally or after he's picked one out?
Can I pray I don't have a car accident?
Can I pray that my children will be safe and healthy and happy? And what do safe and healthy and happy really mean?
Can I pray that I will meet my friends and family in heaven? My pets?
Can I pray for my party to win an election?
Can I pray that I won't go bankrupt or that I can always pay my bills?
Can I pray that I will become wealthy and be respected and get college degrees?
Can I pray that I will have a normal weight? Pretty skin? Successful hair coloring?
I don't mean to be flippant. I know some people pray for those things. I also know that some people are very 'lucky' in life and others aren't. Is it pure luck or are there other factors?
I pray sometimes. I pray when I am scared - of anything. I pray when I am grateful - for anything. I pray when life impresses me with its glory.
Anyway, thanks for being here.
Douglas Kinney woman in the moon ⋅ November 12, 2019
You ask the same questions I sometimes ask. And do I get mad and blame God? You bet!! And that is the road I am on. Looking for the answer to the tough questions.
Here is my question to you, When you pray for those things and your husband leaves you for another woman, or you lose your job and have to file bankruptcy, or worse yet a child dies suddenly, How do you handle that? Do you say, The Lord gives and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord, or do you tell Him in no uncertain terms, How much you dislike what he did and He is not fair or just. A just loving God wouldn't do that to you? (Just some food for thought.) And trust me I have been there, and actually I am there now in one sense.
woman in the moon Douglas Kinney ⋅ November 13, 2019
If God is in any kind of control of our lives - how can he let so many awful and unfair things happen? I know about free will and I've made my own peace with a creator who just 'lets things happen' but I think asking him to interfere with randomness or certain pain is not likely to get results.
When people give God credit for healing or other good fortune, I try not to think about it.
Thanks for the discussion. I hope we please God with our words.
Douglas Kinney woman in the moon ⋅ November 14, 2019
How is the view from the moon today? Here is something I don't think many people would agree with or have even considered. When God created the world He set certain laws into motion. Most would call them Laws of Nature. Those Laws do not change. Such as the weather patterns, seasons, and how those flu germs mutate.
How can he let so many awful and unfair things happen? Deep Theological question and you may not like the answer I give but it's the best I can give. What we few as awful and unfair may not be. But I think your question is more How can God allow those things to happen to good people. The basic answer is original sin. God did not erase the evil that in a mans heart, even after the flood. (which personally I think was a mistake, but then He didn't ask me.)
As to God healing people, I have seen and experience those miracles without man's intervention so I believe He does heal. But many times as someone pointed out to me this week, sometimes it is temporal in this life, and eternal, in the next.
And you are most welcome for the discussion.