Refusing medical treatment.

JonF

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My step-brother has been recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. The doctors tell him with out treatment he will die. He is claiming “If it’s God’s will, God will heal him” and so he thinks he doesn’t need any treatment. Can anyone help me find verses to show him that refusing medical treatment isn’t scriptural? I mean wasn’t Luke a doctor? And there certainly aren’t any verses saying you should refuse treatment.
 

JonF

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Here is what i've found so far

Ezekiel 34:1-5 1T he word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? 3 You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals

Mathew 25 34-36 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Luke 5:31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick
 
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arunma

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It may be helpful to refer your step-brother to the account of Jesus during his temptation:
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you,' and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (St. Matthew 4:5-7)
Note that the devil tried to quote the Psalm against Christ, to convince him that he ought to throw himself down from the Temple. Indeed, the devil's explanation was effectively, "if it is God's will, then his angels will protect you" (which sounds a lot like what your step-brother is thinking). But Christ responded from the Law, showing that it is a sin to test the mercy of the Lord. Likewise, it would be wrong to refuse a viable medical treatment under the assumption that God will offer supernatural protection. More often than not, God's protection comes in a natural form.

Anyway, I pray that your step-brother would change his mind about this.
 
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bradfordl

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Jon,

Your quote from Ezekial is very good. If treatment is unbiblical, why does God upbraid the shepherds of Israel for not binding up their injuries? Or why did Jesus represent it as kindness that the Samaritan "bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine" in the parable?

The technology of treatment has improved, but the intent is the same. And it is a providence of God.

Will pray for your step-brother. May God keep him and bless him.

Brad
 
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My step-brother has been recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. The doctors tell him with out treatment he will die. He is claiming “If it’s God’s will, God will heal him” and so he thinks he doesn’t need any treatment. Can anyone help me find verses to show him that refusing medical treatment isn’t scriptural? I mean wasn’t Luke a doctor? And there certainly aren’t any verses saying you should refuse treatment.

Hi Jon,

I don't know any Bible references, but I will certainly pray for your step-brother.

CC&E
 
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Erinwilcox

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Praying for your step-brother, Jon. Would it help him to know that people are praying for him--that the Lord would heal him AND that God would grant him wisdom in this matter? You know, the old saying is rather true:

The Lord helps them who help themselves

Yes God is sovereign, but I think of it like this:
God provides the food that you eat and the money with which you buy that food. If someone was sitting on his couch and was hungry, would he say, "Well if it's God's will that I should eat, then I guess God will get the food to me somehow and I don't have to do a thing about it. "? I think not. He realizes that all things are from God, but he still has to get up and get some food.

I don't know if that will help him any, but it is a different perspective.
 
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Proeliator

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If the treatment is something like chemotherapy, or another of the poisons that they use to treat cancer, maybe he knows what he is doing. If the treatment course will be extremely painful, and has a low success rate, perhaps he doesnt want to put himself and those he loves through that wringer. I'm not advocating not using medicine, just trying to present the flip side of the coin here. Radiation and chemotherapies can sometimes be worse on the patient than the actual disease.
 
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JimfromOhio

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When I was healthy physically, I had learned nothing except my deafness which is not an illness but rather a disability. Looking back. I was very healthy until I was diagnosed with MS a few years ago. I was unable to learn anything from my healthy body. Its just that I was able to do many things that an unhealthy person could not do. (which I learned later). 3 John 1:2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. Mark Pickup said it perfectly when he was healthy at one point, “I have been more service to God disabled than during my able-bodied years. This didn’t happen despite my disability but because of my disability.”

Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." Joni Tada: "Sometimes God will use suffering and affliction to sandblast us to the core and get us seriously thinking about larger than life issues of heaven and hell, I just don't know that we would think about these issues were it not for an ice-cold splash of suffering waking us out of our spiritual slumber. God's purpose in redeeming us is not to make our lives happy, healthy, and free of trouble. It is not an escape from our physical pains. His purpose is to make us more like Christ. He will chose to allow spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis or blindness or stroke or Alzheimer's or whatever to not only teach us, but also our loved ones, about what it means to become more like him." Suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope. Romans 5: 1-5 (NIV) "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV) "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

God have provided great talents like Dr Luke and other great doctors and medical staff around the world. God also created herbs and similar plants to provide us proper medicine for our health. In case you don't know, many drug companies are using God's creations to make better drugs. Drugs do not come from empty air.

I remember this quote and I think this applies:
Get Your Own Dirt

One day a group of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they were done with Him.

The scientist walked up to God and said, "God, we've decided that we no longer need you. We're to the point that we can clone people and do many miraculous things, so why don't you just go on and get lost."

God listened very patiently and kindly to the man and after the scientist was done talking, God said, "Very well, how about this, let's say we have a man making contest." To which the scientist replied, "OK, great!"

But God added, "Now, we're going to do this just like I did back in the old days with Adam."

The scientist said, "Sure, no problem" and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt.

God just looked at him and said, "No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!"

No matter what we do, God is always guiding us through our circumstances (good and bad). Nothing is impossible for Him. God is Good and at the same time, God is Holy and Sovereign. The Apostles, Joseph, Joshua, Daniel, Job, David and other great biblical characters lived in the same world, but how differently they interpreted their relationship with God. Learning from them, I can see that circumstances did not control them; it is their reaction to circumstances that determined what kind of people they were and most importantly, how faithful they were.

I have multiple sclerosis (MS) and taking expensive treatments for it. I will not reject what God have provided through great people who came up with medicines to help us.

There were number of Christians in the Bible who were sick (i.e. 2 Timothy 4:20 Erastus stayed in Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.) 1 Timothy 5:23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.

Trusting God is important when you are sick but at the same time, use God's people who have spiritual gifts (talents) to help others.
 
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JimfromOhio

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If I was going to die anyway, I would chose not to take drugs so I can "enjoy" my life until the day I die ONLY IF I knew the drugs would keep me in bed and not living my life while not knowing if the drugs will help or not. The odds of dying will be determined my decision.

Here are my thoughts from my experiences:
A Christian has the responsibility to put his faith in Christ, but God gives him the ability to make that decision through the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. Romans 8:28-29 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Proverbs 20:24 How can we understand the road we travel? It is the LORD who directs our steps. When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.(Eccl 7:14). In Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. We don't know God's will specifically but we will know what directions we should be going. To be grateful to God's servants is to be grateful to God in all circumstances. Thanking God shows humility and acknowledges His rightful aurhority as the Sovereign Lord and the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). We are to be thankful in ALL circumstances.1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

I may not be feeling well physically today but I have learned to be thankful anyhow and to rejoice in the promises of God. God's eternal blessings do not depend on how I feel today. If my eternal hope rested on how I felt physically, which is temporal, I might as well forget eternal blessings. The point is this: my feelings (i.e. cope) in no way change my eternal blessings because of great examples in Hebrews 11. I will NOT dare not relate my faith and hope to my emotions of the moment and to how I feel today or whatever the circumstances I am facing. My eternal hope depends on God's Word and His decisions because He will make good on His eternal promises at HIS time, not mine. The subject of my human emotions and circumstances, God does not play on our emotions to bring us to the point of His spiritual decisions. God uses circumstances for His glory, not ours.
 
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McWilliams

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Our Lord commands us to be good stewards of what He has given us, that is including the care of our bodies, our health, our finances, our relationships and such!
The servant that buried his talent rather than putting it to the best use was certainly not acceptable to our Lord!

Your step brother is in my prayers, that he will see that trusting our Lord is not incongruent with seeing a doctor and following the professional advice of those with such knowledge! We take the best care of what we have, honoring our Lord in doing so!
May God grant discernment and wisdom to all those interacting with your step brother, offering wisdom and proper support during his time of great need!
 
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McWilliams

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God is able to heal if He so chooses and if this is His purpose. He is sovereign. When we are ill we pray, seeking for our will to be as His, willing to be healed and willing to go to our Lord if that is His best for us! We pray, asking for His will, submitting to Him. However, while doing so we continue to accept all the benefit possible from modern progessional medicine which He has allowed.
The most primary thing is to be His, and as Paul said, willing to go or to stay!
 
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McWilliams

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Jim of Ohio said:
If I was going to die anyway, I would chose not to take drugs so I can "enjoy" my life until the day I die ONLY IF I knew the drugs would keep me in bed and not living my life while not knowing if the drugs will help or not. The odds of dying will be determined my decision.

No one is leaving here one second before the Lord calls! To determine our own death is sin! Our God expects us to care for what He gave to us, whether grief, loss, disaster or whatever and in whatsoever we do in word or deed to do all to the glory of God! Our goal is His glory always! Being a christian is very difficult at times! Review the life of Paul and also of the martyrs who gladly gave their life for Him. Sometimes remaining here in great difficulty and illness is the greater challenge to face!
 
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McWilliams

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Whoa! I feel a need to clarify some of the information. As I am a retired nurse and know very well that some of the options offerred to us are not always the best, it is very important to weigh the benefits carefully and get all the information you can before deciding which you feel to be an acceptable and beneficial choice! At times this is difficult but all the options have much information available on the net along with patient reports on their thoughts and any adverse reactions! Takes prayer and counseling and consideration!
As consumers today, especially in medicine we must determine what is the best course and make ecucated decisions.
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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A lot of people are refusing ama/drug treatment because of the cost and/or side effects. That doesn't mean at all they've given up, although some have yet still recover ! more and more are finding out what professionals in other countries are using that cost way way less and has virtually no negatives. I asked representatives of the drug companies why they won't tell doctors here (in the usa) about the proven cures, and they ALWAYS said "It can't be patented" !!!
and they said it with a straight face, no remorse nor sorrow that a good and proven remedy is not offered simply because of profitseeking.
I couldn't believe it at first, that they could think it was alright for their job and company to prevent knowledge of a safe and effective way to address illness, but that's their response across the board - they all think(or say) money is a good enough reason.
Still, thank G_d forever, googling and libraries and book stores are still a very good source of info and haven't been censored entirely yet. Hundreds or thousands of people every week are finding out for themselves what is safe and effective and inexpensive (and, as a bonus, no side effects).
 
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McWilliams

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Much of the corporate world is not humanitarian but as you said, focused on the bottom line, their profit.
Sadly also, the layperson is now so responsible for seeking out information and making decisions for options that years ago they trusted their doctors to do and knew it would be done with their best interest in mind!
 
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yeshuaslavejeff

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Positively, for laymen and for professionals interested,
the following have an excellant track record with common people
(the establishment is for reasons mentioned earlier against them)

Dr. Jarvis (shows natural help; over 100 years evidence)
Dr. Max Gerson (only Dr I know of who testified before congress with 50 or more cases of dietary help for cncr to get the study thereof approved - ignored by congress and attacked by profession)
Dr. Hulda Clark (admittedly controversial, but very effective helps)
Carey Reams (dr from Britain, refused to join ama, never used a drug
yet successfully helped over 10000 terminal cases
-cases diagnosed terminal by other hospitals or doctors)
Maureen Salaman , just passed at 70y.o.; former long time president of
NHF, 100,000 member doctors licensed in usa trying to get the use
of nontoxic helps approved since 1950's/1060's in the usa.
Kevin Trudaeay - salesman !!! watchout - may not have info needed. Book of Cures DOES NOT give info needed according to people who bought it.
 
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