On the news recently was a piece about Pentecostal pastors in England telling members with HIV to stop taking medications and instead rely on God's healing. And ill people became worse.
And it became a news item because it was scandalous news. And as a Christian who believes in miracles and healing, I agree it is scandalous. Not speaking about any case in particular, there is a real danger that when healing by faith doesn't appear to work, we tell people that they didn't have enough faith, or that there must be some kind of sin in their life holding back the power of God.
However, the truth is that we all have sin in our life, and nowhere in the Bible do we read of Jesus telling people to stop any kind of medical treatment. It's not an either or... Either have faith or get medical treatment. We should pray for wisdom and discernment and also listen to the advice of medical experts. And we should pray for healing of mind and body.
But it's yet another example of a horrific impact on the witness of the Christian church. Add this to the list of things such as sexual abuse in Christian schools or abuse by monks, nuns, priests, the apparent intolerance of homosexuality.
If I wasn't a Christian, I'd want nothing to do with the Church!
And yet, the stories we don't hear... The love, the mercy, the compassion, the feeding the poor, the giving comfort, the amazing, selfless acts of kindness and generosity. The list of positives far outweighs but is sadly not as newsworthy.
But after my anger at the news item of the pastors telling people to stop treatments died down, I spoke to God. I told him how frustrated I was and how angry I was at the poor witness of Christians throughout the world (myself included). How were we to convince the world that being a Christian is worthwhile?!
And after listening patiently to my rant, I got a sense of a reply. I got a gentle reminder that no-one is perfect. In fact, no-one is actually good enough. And this doesn't stop God loving us one little bit. God isn't calling us to good behaviour. He's calling us into relationship.
It was a reminder that Jesus is calling everyone into closer relationship with him, not just the "unsaved". We need to love and show forgiveness to our brothers and sisters as well as the world. And we need to show love and forgiveness to ourselves.
My anger helped remind me of Grace. Thank you God.
