Christians: Why do you go to the hospital/doctor/take medication when you're sick?

Question

Shouldn't you be happy if the doctor says "sir (or ma'am), you have cancer." This means you'll be with Jesus sooner than you thought. Is it really your right to tamper with "god's plan" for your death by using human medicine? Maybe there is some hypocrisy here? Maybe deep down inside you down swallow your own belief that you'll be in heaven and everything is okay? I dunno. You tell me. Answer the initial question: Why do you go to the hospital/doctor/take medication when you're sick?

Answer 1

For Christians, our final authority for what is right or wrong is the Bible. What does it say about doctors?

Start with Jesus, who said in Mark 9:23, "The sick have need of a physician". So according to Jesus, sick Christians can (and should) use doctor's when sick.

The apostle Paul traveled with a physican by the name of Luke (who wrote one of the four gospels). Paul seem to have no problems with having his own doctor when needed. In fact, he wrote to Timothy, a fellow missionary who was on a mission trip, and told him to stop drinking the water, but to instead use a little wine for his stomach sake because the water was making him sick. So Paul appeared to approve of medicine (which the wine was being used as).

Go back and look at the Law of Moses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Dozens of the laws dealt with sanitation, avoiding contact with germs, mold, and dead things, washing, eating properly, etc. All intended to keep people healthy and alive.

Should those fail, God has also provided for supernatural healing through prayer, anointing with oil, etc.
So when you read the Bible, the answer to the question is obvious. He needs to keep the Christians around as long as possible so they can continue to do this work and will in the world. Once they die, their power on earth is ended.

Answer 2

Well, that's one of those questions I can't explain. For that matter, why would Jesus have asked the Father to "take this cup from me" if he knew the bigger picture already? My answer: I don't know. If death itself brings a "better place", that's fine, but best I can figure, God installed a self-preservation mechanism that is going to conflict with questions like yours.

Answer 3

The song of the "Suffering Servant" in Isaiah 53 is a prophetic passage about the Lord Jesus Christ (actually, it begins at 52:13—there were no chapter and verse divisions in the original scroll). Of all the Old Testament prophecies given about the Messiah, this is the one most quoted in the New Testament, for it is a vivid picture of what Jesus did for us—what He bore for us—on the cross.

Just what did Jesus bear for us? We find part of the answer in verse 4, "Surely He has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains." The NKJV and NASB show these as "griefs" and "sorrows." But the Hebrew word translated "griefs" is choli and literally means "sickness." The Hebrew word rendered "sorrows" is makob and means "pains." We find these same words also in verse 3, where Jesus is described as "a Man of pains [makob] and aquainted with sickness [choli]." These words are primarily talking about physical afflictions —that is, sickness and disease.

That is certainly how Matthew, in the New Testament, understood them. Read his account of what happened after Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law. "When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick." Then Matthew, in trademark fashion, observed how this fulfilled prophecy, and quoted Isaiah 53:4: "He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses" (Matthew 8:16-17).

There are four things we should note here: First, Matthew applied Isaiah 53:4 to literal sicknesses. He did not use sickness and infirmity as a metaphor for sin. These people suffered physical afflictions. Second, Matthew also included those who were demonized. In the Gospel accounts, we find that sickness was often the result of demonic oppression. Third, we see that the result of Jesus bearing their sicknesses and pains was that the demonized were delivered, and the sick and diseased were healed. Fourth, all who came to Jesus, or were brought to Him for healing or deliverance, were healed. No one was turned away.

Jesus also bore our sins for us. We find this at the end of Isaiah 53: "My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities .... He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many" (vv. 11-12). Above that, in verse 6 we read, "and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." The Hebrew word for "iniquity" in verses 6 and 11 is the word avon. It refers, not just to sin itself, but also to its consequences. Not only did Jesus bear our transgressions, He bore the penalty for those transgressions, as well. Both sin and the consequences of sin were laid on Him. The result is that we can now be justified, or made right, before God.

question? Have you yet been justified?

Answer 4

Jesus said" Behold thy doctors" their are also quite a few references instructing to always choose life. No matter how hopeless things look at moment God has plan. You must have faith. By the way that's not an exact quote it's a para phase.

Answer 5

Well, as a Christian you are supposed to live your life to the fullest to glorify God and you firmly believe that all around you people are heading for damnation. You want to do you best to allow God to work through you by you providing an example and also preaching his word.

Ideally you should not be sad when death comes but christians are still human. It is still a trial.

In my case, well its not my faith but that is why your logic is flawed. One can choose to reject or accept a faith but one should do it understanding what one is rejecting.

(Oh, well I probably succeeded to piss of the Christian voters who tend to vote for firm affirmations of faith only and the atheists who are annoyed by the former. That said, i think thats a fiar answer.)

Answer 6

Whoa, slow up there pal. No need to just lie down and die! Yes God has a plan for us.....doesn't mean we have to hurry it along. And I don't know why you think there would be hypocrisy in going to a doctor...Luke, one of the writers of the gospel, was a physician!

Answer 7

Because God did give man the gift of creating medicine to help us live longer. It is human nature to want to live as long as possible.

Answer 8

Maybe we aren't meant to die just yet, and maybe God still has some purpose for us. Although just letting the cancer/illness kill us brings us to Him faster, there is still a chance to glorify Him and maybe even bring an unbeliever in Christ. Remember, God also made those doctors and medications and hospitals. Shouldn't we use what God has given us?

Answer 9

'Cause God made our brains, and provided us with things to make medicine. It's dumb not to take medicine or see a doctor. He gave us the capabilities to work with medicine and things to heal people.

Answer 10

Simple because we are human and when it comes to dying or surviving majority of the people on this earth want to live as long as possible.