Thursday, July 10, 2025

Differences (7/27/07)

Yesterday in a discussion group with students, I had a difference of opinion with a colleague that has caused me to think.  My colleague expressed his belief that politics and religion needed to be avoided in the context of the patient-doctor relationship.  On the contrary, I feel that faith plays an important part in that relationship and in health in general.

 

As I reflect on how my colleague expressed his point, I think I can understand why he feels the way he does.  Certainly, many people have used positions of authority to influence and even force upon others a particular religious viewpoint.  This stems from pride, often expressed as snobbishness and bigotry, and can lead to the worst forms of discrimination, such as genocide.

 

Even as I claim to be a Christian physician, that can conjure up all sorts of ideas based upon one’s past experiences and preconceptions.  But just as there is a tremendous spectrum in Judaism and Islam regarding the expression and integration of faith into life, so there is in Christianity.

 

As one who follows the Judeo-Christian tradition, I seek to follow the example and teaching of Jesus.  This, I believe, little resembles the religious or political expression of so-called Christianity that we see so often today in society.  

 

I believe that man is made in the image of God.  Each individual has worth because they are an image bearer.  Most, if not all of man’s attempts to relate to God through religious practices likely have some element of truth within, because all men bear the image of God.  The problem is deciding which part of it is true, and which part of it has origin in man’s faulty thinking, or even in his pridefulness.

 

I happen to believe that the approach to God that centers in Jesus is the correct one, but man has taken that approach down many divergent paths over the centuries.  I am not so naïve as to believe that what I may think is true is totally correct.  I just don’t know what part is incorrect, or I would change my thinking (I think)!

 

Thankfully, God is the judge, and he looks at the hearts and intents of man.  Part of my role as a true Christian, is to respect all men, because they bear the image of God.  I need to also respect other religious expressions, since they too most likely have some basis in and expression of the image of God. Certainly, Judaism deserves the utmost respect, since it is the foundation of Christianity.  Islam as well, shares some common roots with Judaism and therefore Christianity.  Differences there are, but they do not form a just basis for disrespect!

 

It was interesting to hear one of the characters in the most recent Harry Potter movie quote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.  It was pointed out to Harry that the dividing line of good and evil is not so clear that we can say one is evil and another good, but that the dividing line of good and evil runs through the heart of each of us!  

 

How true that is!  I find that when I concentrate on the battle between good and evil that rages within my own being, I have very little time to pass judgment on others!

 

So, I still believe that faith has an important part in the doctor-patient relationship, and that my role as a physician may at times best be played out, not by instructing a patient in a particular religious expression, but, by inviting the patient to join me in a pilgrimage for truth, a quest to be the individuals that the Creator intended us to be.  I think, if God is who I believe He is, He will meet those who truly seek Him and guide them along the path.

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