Witchcraft = medication

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Oneness Man

Abigail,

I don't define medicine, because you're using it as bait.

I'm not using it as bait, I'm asking you which medicines you would define as in keeping with God's Word????

You stated that you don't believe God is against medicine, so if that is the case, then which medicines or medical practices are, in your view, acceptable within scriptural confines?

Originally Posted by tbpew

Ferd,
I can not recall bringing a FAITH-linkage into my presentation of what I think of as a DILEMNA concerning the overcharged/overwhelming mindset of sythethic chemcials as a life solution for the saint of God. I fully understand that there is always a linkage between God provision of good gifts and our operation in the realm of his Spirit (a.k.a faith).

My present participation in this thread is more based in a concern that we CONCLUDE that ingesting sythethic chemicals for symptom mangement IS GOD's handiwork!

permit an example to hopefully get 'me' out of your mind as being in the "Salem witch-hunting" category.
If I have a neighbor who has become a captive to Heroin and I suspect hiim of being a thief, and my neighborhood has had several B&E's in the last few months:
I can:
Approach No. 1
Erect a high fence around my property and place chains and locks on the gates and I can install surveilance cameras and hire a private security company to patrol my neighborhood.
or:
Approach No. 2
I can seek the Spirit of God to deliver him from his captivity and then avail myself to serve when God established the ocassions/seasons when I have access to him.

So,

Is anything that I did in approach no. 1 sin?
I can not see any of these actions as a transgression of God's Word.

But my approach is limited by the arm of flesh and the resources I have available. Afterall, to do NOTHING would be foolish/unwise. But this approach will FOREVER require maintenance and consume resources of time, money and emotional energy. Following this path should lead me to knock, seek and ask until God provides understanding.

If we are not able to hear from God, we have nothing to establish our faith upon. Our only course is persue what we know or have access to, within the realm of our FIRST birth. The aching saddeness is when we have tried what we know to do, but do not know where God is.

My larger concern is when we don't have a lifestyle that is familiar in seeking God because we believe we have already found him....at the corner pharmacy.

.......

thank you for your addition of LIFESTYLE. You have added a vitally importance aspect concerning how we attend to, or neglect, the stewardship of the chemistry of our own bodies, the habitation of God.

Amen Brother!!!! Nicely said.

[tbpew]

Originally Posted by tbpew

so mzbratti,
are you similarly confident when the administration of supplemental chemistry into your blood stream is necessary on a continual basis? Is such a condition a God-supplied remedy even though it is blatantly NOT curative?

Are you willing to comment (using your generally pragmatic approach to things), concerning the child of God altering their body's chemistry by the continual (chronic) ingesting of drugs?

Is this God's purposed blessing for all of us lucky-ducks living in 2008?

Are your liver and kidneys up for the task of processing 'God's blessing" out of your blood stream?

Why do your liver and kidneys want to remove what God has supplied as a remedy?

IMO, these are an example of questions that need to at least be soberly considered before we become too causal about our linking God with synthetic chemistry ingested into our bodies.

bump for bratti

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

I'm not using it as bait, I'm asking you which medicines you would define as in keeping with God's Word????

You stated that you don't believe God is against medicine, so if that is the case, then which medicines or medical practices are, in your view, acceptable within scriptural confines?

The ones that don't alter the mind or body. Does that help?

[MissBrattified]

Sorry I didn't respond...still mulling it over.

Originally Posted by tbpew

so mzbratti,
are you similarly confident when the administration of supplemental chemistry into your blood stream is necessary on a continual basis? Is such a condition a God-supplied remedy even though it is blatantly NOT curative?

No, I'm not. That is, I'm not convinced that the majority of chemical treatments available (e.g., drugs) are good for us on many levels. In our home, we do go for a more natural approach, but I am not above treating an infection with antibiotics. (Antibiotics are curative, however, so maybe they don't fall into your category of "blatantly NOT curative.") However, it seems that these treatments are often the only way to sustain life for many people, or to sustain a life that is worth living. What is the alternative? To allow people to suffer seizures, or to suffer undue amounts of pain? Or to go ahead and die from diabetes and other chronic ailments?

Are you willing to comment (using your generally pragmatic approach to things), concerning the child of God altering their body's chemistry by the continual (chronic) ingesting of drugs?

Well, my father died from diabetes complications, so while I realize what drugs can do to a person eventually, AND I realize that the drugs in and of themselves offer their own set of health problems, implications and side effects, I am thankful for the life-extending properties of certain treatments. They are not curative, as in they do not cure the underlying disease (obviously only God can heal certain diseases at this point), but they do sustain life by preventing the disease from taking over as quickly as it would without the medications.

Is this God's purposed blessing for all of us lucky-ducks living in 2008?

Are your liver and kidneys up for the task of processing 'God's blessing" out of your blood stream?

I don't think I equated pharmaceuticals to "God's blessings." And I am of the minimalist school of thought--that we should rely on chemicals of any sort as little as possible. However, I don't believe they are sinful, that the ingestion of those chemicals is sinful, or that those who take medication to reduce pain or discomfort are going against God's Word in any way.

Why do your liver and kidneys want to remove what God has supplied as a remedy?

IMO, these are an example of questions that need to at least be soberly considered before we become too causal about our linking God with synthetic chemistry ingested into our bodies.

I am not linking God directly to the pharmaceutical industry. However, I do think that He has supplied us with an earth full of remedies--we just haven't been smart enough to discover them all yet. Until we do discover "cures", the only other choices are to allow someone to die without interference, letting nature take its course, allow someone to die in pain, or to help reduce their painful and uncomfortable symptoms until a cure can be found or their death arrives.

Of course, God can also heal them, but I have seen just as many cases where He did NOT heal as when He did.

So...that's as far as I've gotten so far along that train of thought.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Oneness Man

The ones that don't alter the mind or body. Does that help?

Yes. Alter in which way, though? Obviously healing a wound is altering the natural state, correct? (But in a positive way)

Illness can alter a mind, and there are medications which can "un-alter" the alteration, for lack of a better phrase.

Do you mean the ones that facilitate healing without adverse side effects?

Antibiotics are a case in point, when regarding "cures." Penicillin, for instance, will cure an infection by killing off the bad bacteria, but it also destroys good bacteria, which can require more medication to remove the ill side effects. I think thrush-mouth is an example in children.

[Rico]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Yes. Alter in which way, though? Obviously healing a wound is altering the natural state, correct? (But in a positive way)

Illness can alter a mind, and there are medications which can "un-alter" the alteration, for lack of a better phrase.

Do you mean the ones that facilitate healing without adverse side effects?

Antibiotics are a case in point, when regarding "cures." Penicillin, for instance, will cure an infection by killing off the bad bacteria, but it also destroys good bacteria, which can require more medication to remove the ill side effects. I think thrush-mouth is an example in children.

Tell me about it! I got on some anti-biotics once. They were so strong my poop had no odor! The wife was thanking God, but I wasn't so happy. Mine has such an aromatic blend it's like the perfume of the gods!

[Scott Hutchinson]

Did not Paul tell Timothy to use a little wine for stomach medicine ? Did not DR. Luke probaly use ancient forms of medicine perhaps ? Does not laughter doeth good like medicine, the books says.

I see a big difference between Methand Aspirin.Taking something for medical reasons,and taking something to get a fix is vastly different.

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Rico

Tell me about it! I got on some anti-biotics once. They were so strong my poop had no odor! The wife was thanking God, but I wasn't so happy. Mine has such an aromatic blend it's like the perfume of the gods!

Good LORD, RICO, that is TMI!!!!

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Yes. Alter in which way, though? Obviously healing a wound is altering the natural state, correct? (But in a positive way)

Not that I am aware.

Illness can alter a mind, and there are medications which can "un-alter" the alteration, for lack of a better phrase.

medications also alter the mind, which in turn usually makes people suicidal.

Do you mean the ones that facilitate healing without adverse side effects?

Yes, that would be pretty resonable and their aren't that many out there like that. Most medications have adverse side effects.

Antibiotics are a case in point, when regarding "cures." Penicillin, for instance, will cure an infection by killing off the bad bacteria, but it also destroys good bacteria, which can require more medication to remove the ill side effects. I think thrush-mouth is an example in children.

Wouldn't a good old fashion prayer do the job better?