This is a FB status update from an old friend of mine. She and her husband moved to Haiti as Christian missionaries a few months ago.
This is jeffery. He is five months old. His mother brought him to the clinic yesterday with a temp of 103.5 and a fungal infection on his head. He was lethargic and not eating well. After assessment, Tony felt like he needed to go to the hospital because we didn't have the meds he needed. We gave his mother a little money for a tap-tap to go to a hospital. She came back a while later and said the hospital was closed, and she was very worried about her baby. Tony gave him some Tylenol and created an infant dose suspension of the antibiotic that he needed. It was a long shot. Jeffrey took the medicine great. After that we prayed for him. Pastor Matheny led us in prayer for Jeffery and almost IMMEDIATELY - within 10 minutes, his fever was down from 103.5 to 100. There's no doubt God chose to move in this child's body. Jeffery is back today for a follow up visit, and he is laughing and eating again.
Hallelujah for God's HEALING LOVE!!!
I haven't commented on this post, and probably won't because I don't want to hurt her feelings, but i would like to figure out what all of this is really about. She's not dumb, or slow, in any way, but when it comes to religious beliefs, she seems to short-circuit for some reason. What is obvious to me, is that the fever-reducing qualities of tylenol began to work right about the time their praying session ended, but what i can't figure out is whether or not she truly believe what she wrote. I mean, if prayer heals, why would they waste time & effort with medicines? And if they don't believe in the healing power of prayer, why pretend to? I'm not religious & this stuff just sounds crazy to me, but I know "crazy" isn't the answer. I know there's more to it. Not knowing bothers me. What I really want to do is "witness" my atheism to her, in hopes of showing her "the light". After all, if I had some odd, uncharacteristic delusion, I would think my friends would point it out for my benefit. Religion though, is a very sticky subject. I don't think pointing this out to her would work or be of any benefit to our friendship.