If Christians truly believe they are going to heaven, why do they seek medical help to prevent death?

Question

Who wants to be saved from going to paradise? The Amish don't seek medical help for this very reason..it shows a lack of faith.

Answer 1

I dont get it either. Christians should also pwn Extreme Sports, but they dont. Go figure. God allegedly allowed Nicky Hayden to win the Moto GP season last year - surely he would help you land a 350ft. jump, wouldnt he??


Hey Proud - how do you KNOW God wants you to continue living? Maybe He sent that disease to you to take you home, or threw that car out in front of yours to cause that crash so you could go home... So how can you be certain? Why not put your faith in God! If He wants you to survive the car crash, you will!! YAAY!! But no - you go to the doctor. Thats lack of faith.

Answer 2

The only things I've sought medical help for, came back without any real answers. For 2.5 years I've had a problem that prohibits me from doing the work I used to do, but no doctor was able to diagnose it. Because of this, there was no way I could get help to help with my bills and such that were piling up because I couldn't work. Doctors found symptoms of something wrong, but no cause, and without a cause I couldn't get the help I needed for more tests. Why did I go get these tests and such done? Because my employer made me, they were worried it was work related since that is where it first started. I eventually lost my job because the doctors couldn't find the problem but I couldn't do the work either.

As of now, my problem is getting worse, it's caused bleeding and severe pain when I walk for 2 blocks or more at a time. Without any way to find out more about it, I'm pretty much just waiting to die from it now. :) I'm working on finding a school near here to find another line of work, but the one I was going to attend shut down right after I enrolled, so I have to find another. Without transportation (long story on that) it's hard to get anywhere. I'm not afraid of dying, I'm actually looking forward to it, but I'm not going to just sit here and wait either. I've got things I can do still before I go, and I'll do so until the end. I think whatever is wrong will end me, but I have faith in what will happen afterwards from what I have seen and what I have been shown. Your attempt to discredit those who believe is sad though. What good is a tool if it's destroyed and didn't have to be?

Answer 3

First, we are going to heaven, not paradise. A minor point, but paradise is behind us in the Garden of Eden and that way is blocked to us.
Second, medical attention can only at best prolong our lives, it can't "prevent death". Ultimately, we aren't "saved from going to paradise", we're just putting it off awhile.
Third, going to a doctor is an indication that we have faith that God created an orderly world. If a treatment worked on a particular condition in the past, is it not likely that it will also work on a current one if it is similar?

Answer 4

If Christians truly believe they are going to heaven, why do they eat to prevent death?

Jesus himself said "the sick have need of a physician".
Paul traveled with a doctor (Luke - who wrote the gospel with his name and the book of Acts).
Paul advised Timothy to use medicine (a little wine) to settle his stomach when he was will.
The Old Testament has dozens of rules related to sanitation, washing, diet, contact with dead bodies and animals, etc., all designed to promote good health.
The majority of Jesus' miracles were the healing of people who would have died otherwise.
Jesus also rose people from the dead on several occasions. He treated sickness, disease and death as an enemy.
Death was one of the things (along with sin) that he overcame through his own death and resurrection.

The Christian religion supports the idea that life is precious, and we are to live every moment of it that we can. Death is seen as an enemy which we must someday face, but through Christ will defeat. But it is never presented as something we should seek or embrace. Because once our lives are done, we are of no further use to this world. God can not use us any more to help bring his salvation to others.

Maybe because God still has things for them to do in this life.

Answer 5

Maybe because the community won't take care of their children, as would an Amish community. Maybe being ill just doesn't feel good. Maybe love of somebody else is the driving factor. Why does any human being seek medical attention?

Answer 6

Some don't and they die because they should have.

BUT

then, there are others who don't seek medical help and they are, as people's idea of what a miracle is, miraculously healed. Of course this happens to those who are not saints.

Healing is the children's bread. Have you heard of that statement? Healing belongs to us but that does

NOT

mean, that the unsaved

CAN NOT

be healed.

Luke was a physician so God heals both miraculously as well as through medicine or both.

Then faith plays a role as well as if it is a person's time to die or not.

Answer 7

1509 "Heal the sick!" The Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by taking care of the sick as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. She believes in the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. This presence is particularly active through the sacraments, and in an altogether special way through the Eucharist, the bread that gives eternal life and that St. Paul suggests is connected with bodily health.

Over and over Jesus healed the sick ... from the blind to those afflicted with leprosy ... cripples ... Jesus is the Phsician for the body, mind, and soul. Since we believe we're the Body of Christ ... then professionals like Doctors are graced by the Holy Spirit.

Yes heaven is our reward ... but since Adam & Eve we have been granted this life to get knowledge of good and evil and convert this to wisdom. Jesus is God's gift to help us here and now, and lead us back to heaven when we shed our imperfect bodies. We are still on the quest to understand the knowledge of good and evil and form wisdom so when we return to God our curiosity will be quenched.

Answer 8

Most of the time it is because they think there is a purpose here on earth. I don't know if I believe there is a purpose for everyone. And I don't mean that generic "your purpose is to love others" line. I mean a real purpose. And then there are those who have a family they don't want to leave out on a limb. Personally, I don't have any of these problems, so I haven't been to a doctor in 10 years. And when it's my time, it's my time. I won't be looking to prolong it.

Answer 9

Death is the last enemy and therefore we try to avoid it like you do. No one wants to die, we have families and friends we want to live with, just like you. Christians are not expected to avoid doctors, life is precious to us and we try to live as long as we can. Paradise can wait, it lasts for eternity so I am in no rush. We are not Amish.

Answer 10

THe bible(thou shalt not kill, that includes yourself) says you go to hell if you commit suicide, Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas spoke out against suicide so if christians have medical help available they have to use it.Almost every religion has condemned suicide because they value life ,only Islam(suicide bombers) try to justify suicide.
Besides you get eternity in heaven/hell so you should see what earth has to offer first.
By the way most Amish do seek medical help.