Defining the Christian Doctor. Who is a Christian Doctor.

Defining the Christian Doctor

Robert Maddox, M.D.

Dr. Maddox is a graduate of the University of Missouri - Columbia School of Medicine. He practices in Monroe, Louisiana.

A pediatrician acquaintance retired last month, elated about getting out of medicine. He joins the ranks of many Christian doctors, who raise the question of what it means to be a Christian in medicine. They say that the "good old days" of medicine are over and practicing is no fun anymore -- just competitive business. These doctors warn aspiring medical students that it is the worst possible time for a Christian to enter the field of medicine.

Another group is emerging, doctors who are not content to be doctors first, and then Christians. Focus on the Family publishes a magazine for this group, with articles on how to balance priorities, manage stress, and handle the system. They pray with patients, write prescriptions for Scripture reading, and witness to patients under certain circumstances. Some even enroll patients in discipleship programs. They have a prayer or study time for employees at the start of the day. They recognize that the body is only part of man and talk about the spirit and soul. Several have even planned or started associations of doctors, psychiatrists and ministers to treat the whole person.

There is a subset of this group that pick one issue to fight, and thus are distinguished as Christian doctors. They often are pro-life, repenting of our profession's involvement in the sin of abortion by fighting it. Others run adoptions services or lead seminars against teenage promiscuity or smoking.

Yet another group thinks that Christian doctors should be in ministry and not business. They donate their services to the poor, or become medical missionaries. They have started inner-city and rural clinics. They have mobilized efforts to feed and clothe the poor, and provide teaching about nutrition, cleanliness, and child care.

Other doctors work in Emergency Medicine, or Radiology, Anesthesiology, Pathology, or even in large group practices, with the goal of having time and money to spend in other Christian service. Some of these still recognize that their medical work can be Christian service -- witnessing to patients or employees perhaps. Some medical groups form with the goal of sending one of their doctors overseas on a rotating basis.

In contrast to all these groups, there are many Christian doctors who think it is improper even to talk about Christian medicine as if it were separate. They believe that a Christian practicing good medicine would (and should) practice no differently than anyone else. Being the most competent is the most important to them. They think it is improper to mix faith and practice.

There are others that would say that it is not activities that distinguish a doctor as a Christian, but rather ethics. Most who say this have in mind issues such as abortion or euthanasia, or attitudes such as the Hippocratic ideal or concern for the patient rather than money. On closer examination, few of these doctors can articulate any ethical principle that secular medical ethicists could not agree with in the broad construction - principles such as autonomy of the patient, beneficence, and justice. Except on a few specifics, their ethics do not differ from the non-Christians. This is not to say that ethics should not define a Christian doctor, only that many who try to use ethics in this way fail.

Why even define a Christian doctor? What would it change to know what a Christian doctor is or does? For the medical student it is most important, since it defines success in medical training. Success in medical school is not getting good grades. As the joke says, both the student graduating with the lowest averages and the one with the highest are called doctor. Success is not even graduating with one's faith intact. As important as that is, it is not success. It is only survival. Success in any aspect of the Christian life is becoming what God requires of us. If God requires that we be Christian doctors, then we must know what that is.

Defining a Christian doctor is also necessary in order to choose the proper teachers. In Luke 6:37-45, Christ teaches that a tree is known by its fruit, and a man's words and works reflect the condition of his heart. In this context, he tells a parable teaching that a fully trained student will be like his teacher. Christ is our ultimate teacher, and we must be like him when we are fully taught. Our human teachers must be chosen carefully, lest we be led by the blind. Recognizing a Christian doctor is essential for choosing a proper teacher.

It is also important to avoid improper teachers. You must not become like non-Christian doctors. It is difficult in a professional school to completely avoid improper teachers and influences. Stress and limited time force the student to accept loads of material without proper evaluation. You are even influenced by the massive influx of vocabulary that must be learned. Words are learned without context - words that should carry moral weight. Medical concepts are isolated from ethics simply by learning vocabulary. Medical training often doubles a student's vocabulary. Words are not neutral; they carry connotations and they represent concepts.

Becoming a Christian doctor is important. It necessitates defining a Christian doctor. As mentioned, activity or ethics are often the sole terms in this definition. There is no doubt that our ethics should be Scriptural, and should be distinct from any other consistent system of ethics. Christian activity is commendable as well. Christian medicine is caring medicine. It should be concerned with the poor, the orphan and the widow. These activities alone do not distinguish us from the pagans, however. In fact, pagans often outdo Christians at many of these activities. Christian medicine does treat the whole person but it was only after others began to promote "holistic medicine" that Christians began to adopt, modify and claim the same depth of focus. The recent emphasis on medicine for the whole person scarcely can claim a thoroughgoing biblical genesis.

Activities and ethics should be important distinguishing factors. There is something deeper, however. Commitment, perhaps, though the pagans are often just as committed to their gods. No, there is a difference at the very root of medicine, the basis, the purpose. A Christian doctor practices medicine to glorify God. Everything we do should be to God's glory, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do.

That a Christian doctor practices to glorify God would not be disputed by any of the groups mentioned at the beginning. Yet, in all these groups there is an implicit understanding that there is a basic set of principles or tenets of medicine, to which may be added Christian attachments; which attachments are important is the only debatable question. It is agreed by all these groups that medicine itself is neutral, to be used for good or for evil, just like a nuclear reaction. After all, it is argued, to practice medicine everyone must learn anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and such. Even the veterinary students take these courses. There is not a distinctively Christian anatomy (unless some change occurs in, say, the pineal gland when one accepts Christ). Histology is no different for a Christian, since the same tissues are examined through the same microscope. So it is concluded that diseases are diseases, and the diagnosis, pathology, and treatment are morally neutral.

Of course, most Christians would admit that some diseases are the result of immoral behavior. Some would even admit that morality should be brought into the treatment decisions for some illnesses, perhaps sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS, or those involving abortion. Everyone would agree that ethics are a part of every treatment decision, but most would deny personal morals from entering at all. This is an example of misused vocabulary begging the question. Some diseases, they would assert, can be viewed differently by a Christian, but for colds and congestive heart failure, for headaches and Huntington's chorea, for tuberculosis and thyrotoxicosis, there cannot be a distinctively Christian understanding. Some would still admit a Christian approach to the patient with these diseases, but the principles of disease remain the same. A Christian should respect the patient as made in the image of God, for example, or that our relationships should reflect Christ. But, these are seen as attachments to an otherwise neutral science. It is asserted that medicine itself cannot be Christian, only our use of it.

At the most basic level of the purpose of medicine, it is clear that medicine must glorify God. This is the only reason for any human activity, especially for a whole profession. It must be a service to God, and in serving him, a service to our fellow-man. In itself, this contravenes the neutrality of medicine, since it takes away a mere existence from medicine, glorifies God as Creator, and places medicine under his Sovereign control, to be practiced by human agents responsible to Him.

In order to glorify and serve God, we must have specifics. Those specifics must include definitions. What is a doctor? What is medicine? What is disease? What is health? What is a person? Who decides the answers to these questions? Very few doctors can satisfactorily answer these questions. That's what philosophers are for, or theologians. A few doctors will try to answer and find themselves talking in circles, which is also what philosophers and theologians are for. If we allow someone other than the Supreme Authority to answer, we have biased the discussion. When man is allowed to answer, disaster and sin result. As God answered Job, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" Man has tried to answer the question, "What is a person?" and abortion has skyrocketed. Man has tried to define the role of a doctor, and he has gone from a slave to a god and back again. If man has the final authority to answer the questions, then he can change the answers.

Descartes changed the answers when he introduced his Cartesian dualism. To that point, man, body and soul inseparable, was sacred, to be handled with utmost respect, distinct from and set over all other creatures. Descartes' mechanistic view of the body desecrated it, described it in terms of machinery, allowed it to be invaded with impunity, by knives and drugs and all manner of instrumentation. Now animals are used as models for man, corpses are dissected and men are treated as things, disposable things.

When man defines disease, alcoholism becomes a disease. Then all manner of sin is labeled as disease, to be cured with chemical, electrical and mechanical treatments. Any sinful habit, from gluttony to fornication, from stealing to bestiality, can become a disease. Now even normal and good functions, such as conception and pregnancy, are seen as diseases. Fulfilling one's calling before God as a wife and homemaker has even been viewed as a disease.

It does matter who defines and who answers. As Christians, we recognize that God's Word is our authority, our answer, our source of definition. In the words of Isaiah, To the Law and to the Testimony. God asked Job where he was when the world was created. God did not ask our advice when he created the world. He did not need our advice. He decreed the boundaries of the sea. He decreed how the wind would blow and precipitation would circulate. He decreed how animals would eat and how plants would grow. Both Job (10:10 - 12) and David (Ps. 139:15) tell us that God is the author and architect of our frames, our bodies. He is the one that oversees the process called embryology. He is the only one that knows the answers to our questions.

Definitions are not neutral, so the fact that medicine requires definitions also contravenes the neutrality of medicine. When Christians assume that medicine is neutral, man will define the terms and answer the questions. Unless we allow God to define and answer, man will define and answer wrongly. The results are the fruit of a bad tree, and evident all around us. Abortion, addictionology, and the American Medical Association (AMA) are just the beginning of man's achievements. The structure of medicine is being shaken, and the foundations are crumbling. High insurance rates point to a misplaced emphasis on health. Health care accounts for 11.5 - 12% of our nation's gross national product (GNP). For lower income families, insurance may require 20% of their annual income. There have been cries for more. In his recent inaugural address, the President of the AMA expressed the opinion that the majority of Americans would rather pay more, and have the latest technology and get it right away. The fact is, however, that most Americans would be shocked to find out what they pay for health care. They would pay far less for it if they paid for it themselves. Doctors will order less expensive tests, according to the patient's payment source, as studies are now demonstrating. Tests and procedures would cost far less if payment came directly from the patient's pocket, since normal market forces would be allowed to operate. Third-party payment, allowing someone else to make the decision and pay the bill, encourages and feeds upon individual irresponsibility. Scripture demands that the individual is held accountable for his stewardship of his body. When man is allowed to change the answers, irresponsibility and high costs are the bad fruit.

The high cost of health care reflected as a percent of the GNP is not the only aspect of this misplaced emphasis on health. Americans crave the latest technology, despite the fact that medicine has not been shown to be of much benefit in the health of a population. It has been estimated that less than 4% of the decline in mortality between 1900 and 1970 was due to medical measures. There has been a decline in deaths from infectious disease, but that decline is clearly not due to medical treatment. "The cure rates for the major life-threatening cancers remain unchanged since the war on cancer was started by Nixon." Cancer death rates have actually risen slightly.

More Americans surviving birth are living a full life span. This does not mean that longevity has increased. Does it mean that a person has a better chance of living to age 80? Maybe, depending on whether you define a person as God defines him, or as modern statisticians do. By God's definition of a person as including all conceived, American life expectancy has actually dropped back below the 1900 level, due to abortion. Another measure of relative rates of moratlity, the years of potential life lost, makes it clear that abortion is the single leading cause of loss of life in America, with cancer and heart disease insignificant in comparison.

Mortality figures may not be the best measure of efficacy. In fact, without defining death and health, it may be a fallacy. Scripture asserts that all will die, and that death entered the world as a result of sin. So health may be entirely, or partially, unrelated to death. Until health is defined from Scripture, we have no means of measuring it, and no basis for asserting advances. By its own definitions, medicine has been unable to deliver what it has promised. Even if it were able to deliver on its promises, the emphasis currently placed on health is unscriptural. God did indeed promise health as a blessing of the covenant, but he tells us to seek him first, not the physicians only, when we are sick. Rather than looking first to medical studies, we should look to the Scriptures. Most medical axioms have a short half-life, and textbooks are often outdated before they are distributed. The new view can no more be taken as truth than the one it replaced, since both are the result of the same flawed methodology. Scripture, on the other hand, is truth. It has always been true, and will never pass away, or change, or become outdated.

What remains, then, is to glean our definitions and principles from Scripture. This task is not easy, though there are a few principles of health which are quickly found. These principles are unequivocally true. Health is a blessing of obedience to God. Our spiritual attitude affects our physical health and vice versa. Improper use of the sacraments (especially the Lord's supper) can result in sickness and death. Sometimes the wicked are more healthy than the righteous, but their end is clear. Since physical health is not much advantage in hell, this teaches us the lesser importance of physical health.

Scripture also teaches our duty to the sick. In Mt. 25:31-46, Christ teaches that at the Final Judgment, he will judge us by whether we clothed the naked, fed the hungry and thirsty, sheltered the stranger, and visited or comforted the sick. We will not be judged on how many were cured or how long we prolonged life, but whether we comforted the sick. Even if medical care were worthwhile, it is not a priority. Obedience is a priority. Food and water are priorities, but not medical care, especially not super high-tech medical care. Comfort, yes. Caring, yes. Not medicine. When cure rather than comfort becomes the focus, failure must result. Medical training forces the focus on cure. Morbidity and mortality conferences are only part of a system designed to reinforce that death or lack of cure means failure.

Even more basic, and necessary to the development of Scripture's view of medicine is a proper understanding of the way the world works. God created the world and actively sustains it. That is a tenet of Christian belief. The implications are often ignored, however. God tells us that he upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions and things. Psalm 104:10 makes it clear that God causes the springs to flow into the valley. God may use gravity, a force decreed by him, but he says that he causes it. Gravity is not automatic, nor is it a law of nature independent of God. Gravity is merely our description of his decree. It is even possible that gravity is mediated by angels carrying the molecules to a new location. Whatever means God uses, it is clear that he actively decrees and directs.

Psalm 104:15 declares that grass grows and seeds sprout not because of certain temperature and moisture conditions, but rather because God causes the grass to grow, and ordinarily under certain conditions. Nothing happens automatically. Everything happens as a result of God's active hand. God's Sovereignty is not reactive, merely the power to fix what happens. Rather, God planned everything in his good pleasure, decrees it, then works it all out in history. This is the teaching of Scripture and the historic confession of the church. It has important implications for medicine.

We are taught to pray for our daily bread by our Savior. He himself rejected Satan's offer of bread after he had fasted forty days. He reminds us in Mt. 4:4 that man does not live by bread alone but rather is sustained by the Word of God. In referring to Dt. 8:3, he makes clear his meaning. It is by his power alone that our life and strength are sustained. The manna that God fed the Israelites was unknown to them. They asked what it was. God used something other than bread to sustain them that they might learn that it is not bread that sustains them. God ordinarily uses bread, but this is not proof of its power, only of its ordinary agency. God wanted to teach them that when they were prospering in the new land, it was not a natural result, or the result of their labors. Their prosperity, even life, is his gift. The Krebs cycle does not work automatically. It is a description of the ordinary agency of God Almighty; he could accomplish its ends entirely otherwise.

God is active in disease and health. Cotton Mather, the great colonial American theologian and the first American advocate of the germ theory, said of germs, "What unknown Armies has the Holy One, wherewith to ... even destroy the Rebellious Children of Men? Millions of Billions of Trillions of Invisible Velites [soldiers]! Of sinful Men they say, Our Father, shall we smite them? On His order, they do it immediately; they do it effectually." He sought to find a spiritual lesson in every human ailment. A toothache, for instance, should remind us that it was with their mouths that our first parents sinned, and with our mouths we continue to sin, cursing both God and man. We may not alwqys clearly see God's purpose, nor are we to be obsessed to find it, but we can be sure that he has a purpose and is working out all things according to his good pleasure.

Disease, then, is not just disease. The fact of an illness cannot stand in isolation. It is always seen in terms of more basic principles. A headache is different for a Christian. To view a headache apart from the Creator, apart from the biblical view of man, apart from God's view of illness, is not simply an incomplete view. It is a view based on entirely wrong principles, a view based on another system. Since God's system is reality, a headache not seen from a Scriptural perspective is necessarily viewed outside of reality, or in an inconsistent system. This accounts for the failure of modern American medicine to accomplish what it has promised, much less what God requires of it. In a sense, modern American medicine lives in a dream bubble and does not deal with reality.

What is needed is a rethinking of the entire foundation of medicine. Medical training has taught us to think as the world thinks. We must instead train ourselves to think as God thinks. There is no systematic development of medicine to which you can refer. At present, only piecemeal work on specific aspects of health and illness exist. Much work has been done by the church through the ages that is simply ignored, usually because it was written in the pre-scientific age. This fact makes it all the more useful. The ultimate basis for specific answers to the questions and dilemmas of modern medicine is in Scripture, not in chemistry or immunology or electronics.

What does it mean to be a Christian doctor? It means first to be a Christian, striving to please God in every area of life. It means to exercise that in our calling, our vocation. We must serve God in serving our fellowman. We must serve our fellowman by listening to his complaints and ailments. We must serve by comforting him, teaching him about his illness, diagnosis and prognosis, and treatments; but most importantly, we serve by reminding him that there is no comfort outside of Christ. We advise, and counsel, and rebuke on occasion. We sometimes use drugs or other remedies, if they may benefit; but we use nothing without thankfulness to God, asking for his blessing in its use. We seek daily to see God's hand in his world. We recognize that to ignore God's hand is to deny him. We treat the patient as fallen, a sinner in need of redemption far more than he needs our medicine. We remember that the patient has responsibility for himself before God, that we cannot force others to pay for his care, nor can he. We remember that resources are limited, and that medicine is not the highest priority.

The groups of doctors described at the beginning are not wrong for their approach or activities. They are not wrong for their ethics. The underlying view of medicine, however, needs to be rethought and based on Scripture instead of on the foundation of sand. Then medical practice can be truly exciting, fulfilling and Christian. This is a most exciting time to enter medicine, because the foundations of sand are being exposed and Christians can once again build on the foundation of Scripture, with Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone.

Lack of Compassion in Medicine

Alan Rosenstein, MD, a San Francisco-based internist and healthcare management consultant, elaborates. "Changing expectations of physician accountability, increased administrative tasks, and utilization controls that govern how doctors conduct their practice contribute to increased pressure," says Dr. Rosenstein, who is also the Medical Director of Physician Wellness Services, a Minneapolis-based organization designed to help physicians manage day-to-day stress and work-life issues.

Moreover, shifting organizational structures, politics, malpractice threats, and medical "reform" contribute to a sense of powerlessness that leaves little room for an open heart because everyone is in survival mode. "At any moment, your years of effort in building your practice could be destroyed," observes Dr. Drummond.


Is this the beginning of the end for Medicine?


Continue reading:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/813967

Spirituality and Medicine.

A fine topic, but an area of controversy and conflict. Many prefer to exclude spirituality from the practice of medicine, while others see it as an integral part of medicine and the medical practice. Divine healing of terminal cases like cancer, AIDS, has been recorded even by health practitioners.
What do you think? Should Spirituality be involved in Medicine? Or should it be relegated to the Churches? Your opinions are needed?


Chuks.
LSMU, Ukraine.

Medical Books

Here are some materials for free download. These materials are shared for free.

-Medicine.

-McMinn's clour Atlas of Human Anatomy.

Map out all of the key structures of the human body with examples of real human dissections…and easily place them in a clinical context! This popular atlas incorporates an unrivalled collection of cadaveric, osteological, and clinical images with surface anatomy models, interpretive drawings, orientational diagrams, and diagnostic images – emphasizing a well-rounded visual perspective of a real human body as seen by modern doctors. The 6th Edition offers new endoscopic images, 250 new dissection photos (including eight pages of new dissections on lymphatics), and 300 new clinical thumbnails. A bonus DVD – new to this edition – includes 1,000 additional photos not found in the text, as well as questions and answers that accompany each section from the book.
* Displays X-ray, MR, and CT images next to corresponding dissections, showing how to recognize anatomic structures in diagnostic images.
* Presents interpretive drawings to help you differentiate between structures with a similar appearance (i.e., veins, arteries, and nerves).
* Offers orientational diagrams that make it easier to relate the dissections in the text to real experiences in the lab.
* Provides an unobstructed view of the artwork by using a numbered labeling system, which also allows you to self-test by covering up the key and identifying each numbered structure yourself.
* Presents 300 new clinical thumbnails – with relevant clinical notes and additional images on the DVD – that emphasize the clinical relevance of images depicted and demonstrate their clinical relevance.
* Offers 250 new dissection photos that enhance the overall quality and scope of the images shown · eight pages of new dissections on lymphatics · 50 new illustrations reflecting the increasing use of diagnostic imaging in anatomy teaching · and 20 new endoscopic images to reinforce memorization of structures.
* Features a bonus DVD with 1,000 clinical photos not found in the text…more information on clinical correlations…and questions and answers that accompany each section of the book.
.


http://hotfile.com/dl/36328277/48d8044/mcminn_atlas_of_anatomy.part1.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/36328856/d2f18d7/mcminn_atlas_of_anatomy.part2.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/36329503/c1940b0/mcminn_atlas_of_anatomy.part3.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/36329830/c11f662/mcminn_atlas_of_anatomy.part4.rar.html

After Medicine, What's next?

As a Christian, this has been my question. Everyone around me has a field of choice already engraved in stone. Cardio-thoracic surgery, Neurosurgery in the States, Gynaecology in Australia...
Even summer practice is planned for great places. I'm not against this, but I feel Medicine is a GREAT tool in propagating the Gospel. If all our plans revolve around our dreams only, it would instead be seen as an end in itself. There are wonderful mission groups for students and young doctors that affords the opportunity to serve God with our Profession. When we graduate, and before we graduate, we should earnestly seek the face of God for directions in life.

Chuks.
LSMU, Ukraine.

Medical Doctors Confirm “Divine Healing” Cases at the 6th International Christian Medical Conference

The 6th International Christian Medical Conference was held at the President Hotel on October 30 and 31, 2009 under the auspices of Ukraine Organizing Committee of WCDN (World Christian Doctors Network), whose founder and board chairman is Dr. Jaerock Lee, an evangelical pastor and the author of many Christian titles including “The Power of God”(978-1554522576).


This 6th Conference was attended by 400 doctors and medical professionals from 30 nations including USA and Italy, and was represented by many medical doctors from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many other Russian-speaking nations.

During the Conference, an Australian Doctor Irene Jacovou presented a healing case of a 68-year-old man, as the most outstanding case presented. In 2003, he was diagnosed to have severe emphysema, asthma and alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency, and had a bilateral lung transplant and received immunosuppressive therapy. In 2008, he noticed a skin lesion on the top of the right shoulder, which was later found to be a malignant tumor. He was diagnosed with skin cancer and was surgically treated, but it recurred. In October, 2008, cancer cells metastasized to chest and lungs, and he was sentenced to live just a few months longer because of this cancer. In winter of that same year he attended a Christian healing prayer meeting and tumor regression started. All the tumors in his skin were gone through fervent prayers, and the CT scan showed that lung metastases disappeared.

A Ukrainian Doctor Larisa presented the case of healing of hepatitis C, confirmed by the person of the case appearing at the conference firsthand and testifying to his healing. Another Australian doctor Mieke Kuiper presented the case of healing of eclampsia and subarachnoid hemorrhage by prayer. Two Korean doctors presented the cases of healing of the infected cystic mass in the submandibular area and the retroperitoneal necrotizing fascitis due to perforated acute appendicitis, with scientific and medical data confirming the healing cases. In addition, many cases of the healing of various diseases including schizophrenia, pancreonecrosis, and AIDS were presented at the conference.

Dan Wooding, Founder and International Director of Assist News Ministry said, “At the same time that Ukrainian candidates are battling each other for votes in the upcoming Presidential election, Christian doctors gathering in Kiev, the country’s capital for a “Spirituality and Medicine” conference, have already cast their vote–for “miracles.”

WCDN was organized to medically analyze divine healing cases performed by God, clarify the data before and after the healing and testify with that data as to existence of God and the authenticity of the Bible. WCDN aims to work with intellectual people including medical doctors and scientists. They have held annual international Christian medical conferences in Seoul, Korea, Chennai, India, Cebu City, Philippines, Miami, USA, Trondheim, Norway, Kiev, Ukraine. www.wcdn.org

RAPE and ABORTION

There exists many views on abortion, especially when the unwanted child is a product of RAPE. Emotions flare on such issues. Some say: "the lady has a right to choose the fate of the bastard", others say: "allowing the child will bring unthinkable emotional and psychological trauma to the mum". Here's a little story that may change your view of the matter.



Rebecca Kiessling's story: Author of the Heritage House '76 pamphlet "Conceived in Rape: A Story of Hope"

I was adopted nearly from birth. At 18, I learned that I was conceived out of a
brutal rape at knife-point by a serial rapist. Like most people, I'd never
considered that abortion applied to my life, but once I received this information,
all of a sudden I realized that, not only does it apply to my life, but it has to do
with my very existence. It was as if I could hear the echoes of all those people
who, with the most sympathetic of tones, would say, “Well, except in cases of
rape. . . ," or who would rather fervently exclaim in disgust: “Especially is cases
of rape!!!” All these people are out there who don’t even know me, but are
standing in judgment of my life, so quick to dismiss it just because of how I was
conceived. I felt like I was now going to have to justify my own existence, that I
would have to prove myself to the world that I shouldn’t have been aborted and
that I was worthy of living. I also remember feeling like garbage because of
people who would say that my life was like garbage -- that I was disposable.

Please understand that whenever you identify yourself as being “pro-choice,” or
whenever you make that exception for rape, what that really translates into is you
being able to stand before me, look me in the eye, and say to me, "I think your
mother should have been able to abort you.” That’s a pretty powerful statement.
I would never say anything like that to someone. I would never say to someone, “If I
had my way, you’d be dead right now.” But that is the reality with which I live. I
challenge anyone to describe for me how it's not. It’s not like people say, “Oh
well, I’m pro-choice except for that little window of opportunity in 1968/69, so that
you, Rebecca, could have been born.” No -- this is the ruthless reality of that position, and I can tell you that it hurts and it’s mean. But I know that most people don’t put a face to this issue. For them, it’s just a concept – a quick cliché, and they sweep it under the rug and forget about it. I do hope that, as a child of rape, I can help to put a face and a voice to this issue.

I've often experienced those who would confront me and try to dismiss me with quick quips like, “Oh well, you were lucky!” Be sure that my survival has nothing to do with luck. The fact that I’m alive today has to do with choices that
were made by our society at large, people who fought to ensure abortion was illegal in Michigan at the time – even in cases of rape, people who argued to protect my life, and people who voted pro-life. I wasn’t lucky. I was protected.
And would you really rationalize that our brothers and sisters who are being aborted every day are just somehow "unlucky"?!!

Although my birthmother was thrilled to meet me, she did tell me that she actually went to two back-alley abortionists and I was almost aborted. After the rape, the police referred her to a counselor who basically told her that abortion was
the thing to do. She said there were no crisis pregnancy centers back then, but my birthmother assured me that if there had been, she would have gone if at least for a little more guidance. The rape counselor is the one who set her
up with the back-alley abortionists. For the first, she said it was the typical back-alley conditions that you hear about as to why "she should have been able to safely and legally abort" me -- blood and dirt all over the table and floor. Those
back-alley conditions and the fact that it was illegal caused her to back out, as with most women.

Then she got hooked up with a more expensive abortionist. This time she was to meet someone at night by the Detroit Institute of Arts. Someone would approach her, say her name, blindfold her, put her in the backseat of a car, take her and then abort me . . . , then blindfold her again and drop her back off. And do you know what I think is so pathetic? It’ s that I know there are an awful lot of people out there who would hear me describe those conditions and their response would just be a pitiful shake of the head in disgust: “It’s just so awful that your birthmother should have had to have gone through that in order to have been able to abort you!” Like that’s compassionate?!! I fully realize that they think they are being compassionate, but that’s pretty cold-hearted from where I stand, don’t you think? That is my life that they are so callously talking about and there is nothing compassionate about that position. My birthmother is okay – her life went on and in fact, she's doing great, but I would have been killed, my life would have been ended. I may not look the same as I did when I was four years old or four days old yet unborn in my mother’s womb, but that was still undeniably me and I would have been killed through a brutal abortion.

According to the research of Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, co-editor of the book Victims and Victors: Speaking Out About Their Pregnancies, Abortions and Children Resulting From Sexual Assault, and author of the article "Rape, Incest and Abortion: Searching Beyond the Myths," most women who become pregnant out of sexual assault do not want an abortion and are in fact worse-off after an abortion. http://www.afterabortion.org. So most people's position on abortion in cases of rape is based upon faulty premises: 1) the rape victim would want an abortion, 2) she'd be better off with an abortion and 3) that child's life just isn't worth having to put her through the pregnancy. I hope that my story, and the other stories posted on this site, will be able to help dispel that last myth.

I wish I could say that my birthmother was with the majority of victims and that she didn't want to abort me, but she had been convinced otherwise. However, the nasty disposition and foul mouth of this second back-alley abortionist, along with a fear for her own safety, caused her to back out. When she told him by phone that she wasn't interested in this risky arrangement, this abortion doctor insulted her and called her names. To her surprise, he called again the next day to try to talk her into aborting me once again, and again she declined and was hurled insults. So that was it -- after that she just couldn’t go through with it. My birthmother was then heading into her second trimester – far more dangerous, far more expensive to have me aborted.

I’m so thankful my life was spared, but a lot of well-meaning Christians would say things to me like, “Well you see, God really meant for you to be here!” Or others may say, "You were meant to be here." But I know that God intends for every unborn child to be given the same opportunity to be born, and I can’t sit contentedly saying, “Well, at least my life was spared.” Or, “I deserved it. Look what I’ve done with my life.” And millions of others didn’t? I can’t do that. Can you? Can you just sit there and say, “At least I was wanted . . . at least I’m alive . . . ,” or just, “Whatever!”? Is that really the kind of person who you want to be? Cold-hearted? A facade of compassion on the exterior, but stone-cold and vacated from within? Do you claim to care about women but couldn't care less about me because I stand as a reminder of something you'd rather not face and that you'd hate for others to consider either? Do I not fit your agenda?

In law school, I’d also have classmates say things to me like, “Oh well! If you’d been aborted, you wouldn’t be here today, and you wouldn’t know the difference anyway, so what does it matter?” Believe it or not, some of the top pro-
abortion philosophers use that same kind of argument: “The fetus never knows what hits him, so there’s no such fetus to miss his life.” So I guess as long as you stab someone in the back while he’s sleeping, then it’s okay, because he
doesn’t know what hits him?! I’d explain to my classmates how their same logic would justify “me killing you today, because you wouldn’t be here tomorrow, and you wouldn’t know the difference anyway, so what does it matter?" And they’d just stand their with their jaws dropped. It’s amazing what a little logic can do, when you really think this thing through – like we were supposed to be doing in law school – and consider what we’re really talking about: there are lives who are not here today because they were aborted. It’s like the old saying: “If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?” Well, yeah! And if a baby is aborted, and no one else is around to know about it, does it matter? The answer is, “YES! Their lives matter. My life matters. Your life matters and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

The world is a different place because it was illegal for my birthmother to abort me back then. Your life is different because she could not legally abort me because you are sitting here reading my words today! But you don’t have to have an impact on audiences for your life to matter. There is something we are all missing here today because of the generations now who have been aborted and it matters.

One of the greatest things I’ve learned is that the rapist is NOT my creator, as some people would have me believe. My value and identity are not established as a “product of rape,” but a child of God. Psalm 68:5,6 declares: “A father to
the fatherless . . . is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families.” And Psalm 27:10 tells us “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” I know that there is no stigma in being adopted. We are told
in the New Testament that it is in the spirit of adoption that we are called to be God’s children through Christ our Lord.
So He must have thought pretty highly of adoption to use that as a picture of His love for us!

Most importantly, I’ve learned, I’ll be able to teach my children, and I teach others that your value is not based on the circumstances of your conception, your parents, your siblings, your mate, your house, your clothes, your looks, your
IQ, your grades, your scores, your money, your occupation, your successes or failures, or your abilities or disabilities – these are the lies that are perpetuated in our society. In fact, most motivational speakers tell their audiences that if they could just make something of themselves and meet this certain societal standard, then they too could “be somebody.” But the fact is that no one could ever meet all of these ridiculous standards, and many people will fall
incredibly short and so, does that mean that they’re not “somebody” or that they’re “nobody?” The truth is that you don't have to prove your worth to anyone, and if you really want to know what your value is, all you have to do is look to
the Cross – because that’s the price that was paid for you life! That’s the infinite value that God placed on your life! He thinks you are pretty valuable, and so do I. Won't you join me in affirming others' value as well, in word and in
action?

For those of you who would say, "Well, I don't believe in God and I don't believe in the Bible, so I'm pro-choice," please read my essay, "The Right of the Unborn Child Not to be Unjustly Killed -- a philosophy of rights approach." I assure
you, it will be worth your time.

For Life,
Rebecca Kiessling
please read my essay, "The Right of the Unborn Child Not to be Unjustly Killed -- a philosophy of rights approach." I assure you, it will be worth your time.
For Life, Rebecca Kiessling
www.rebeccakiessling.com

Clinical student - How to survive this stage.

How to survive as a clinical student

Laura Quinton offers some practical hints.

There are times in life when we need to put theory into practice, where 'the rubber hits the road.' For a medical student on the brink of the start of clinical placements this is such a time. Many, like me, may feel a nervous excitement. Being a clinical medical student is very different from the life of a pre-clinical student. It is good to consider what will be required to live for Christ on the wards and use the gifts he has given you before you are actually let loose! I offer some pointers to help you not just survive, but enjoy and excel in your clinical years.

Clinical studies may be your first glimpse of what the life of a hospital doctor is like. Many of your expectations and beliefs about clinical life will no doubt be confirmed but be prepared for more than a few surprises! Spending time on the wards, in clinic and teaching sessions with doctors of varying grades (and other health care professionals) is the mainstay of life as a clinical medical student (not forgetting the numerous interspersed coffee breaks!).

One the major differences you will encounter on placement is the smaller group size - you will not see the full year group every day. This can be both a reward and a challenge. It does give you a good opportunity to get to know the other people in your group who you may not have spoken to before. At other times loneliness can be an issue as often timetables involve being by yourself in a different place, with different doctors, every day.

How to prepare
organisation

Obtain a diary or organiser if you do not already have one. With a constantly changing timetable, sometimes with random teaching and clinics interspersed during the week, this is an invaluable purchase to keep you sane and on the right track. It is also a good plan to write in your diary when you are going to do self directed learning and student selected components so that you are not working through the night just before the hand-in day. Get the contact details for other people in your group on the first day of placement. This means that it is easy to find out from them what you are meant to be doing if you are unsure or if you need to pass a message on to the whole group from your consultant who might assume that you all know each other really well.

know your goals

At the beginning of the placement you should have an induction or explanation of how that firm works, what you should be doing, and who everyone is. This does not always happen! Find out exactly what you need to have done by the end of the placement. Knowing what is expected and how you will be assessed is very important and means that there are no unpleasant surprises further down the line. Make sure you have determined what you personally want to get out of the placement, for example, becoming better at taking histories or becoming more confident at a skill like phlebotomy or venous cannulation. Once determined, think about how you can achieve these goals and then go for it!
don't be afraid to ask

Most placements will be in hospitals where staff are used to students being around on the wards. Most are very willing to help, and you should never be afraid to ask a question. Foundation year 1 doctors can be especially helpful because they have just finished the process of being a medical student and have a good idea of what sort of standard you should be at. If they graduated from your medical school you have even more in common and they may be a very useful allies on the wards - do ask them for any tips they have. Nurses are also often happy to help with any of their skills that you need to learn - but may be very busy themselves at times, and have their own students to train.

Be enthusiastic

This is not always easy. However, it is true that the more you put into something, the more you will get out of it. If you consistently turn up to your placement, look interested and are willing to do things asked of you, you are more likely to be able to watch or perform procedures. This increases both your skills and your confidence for which you will thank yourself in the long run.

Know where to get help

Make sure you know before you start who to talk to at the medical school should anything go wrong with a placement. If personal issues arise that may affect your studies it is important to seek help sooner rather than later as much more can be done to help you at an earlier date.

Keep a balanced life

Make sure your entire life does not revolve around medicine. Though it is important to have close medic friends for companionship and camaraderie, having friends who are not medics is vital as they keep you in the real world and make your life more rounded and whole. During exam periods make sure that you make time to see these non-medic friends and enjoy a space where no-one but yourself understands what OSCE or MTAS stand for. They may also be good people on whom to practise medical examinations as they will not pre-empt your next move, making them more realistic patient substitutes!

How can I be a good Christian medical student?
worship in all you do

Remember that everything we do should be worship to God, using the gifts he has given us to bring him glory. When you remember this your perspective does really change. I find that it can be so easy, especially during exam time, to focus upon myself and my own abilities. This is where it is important to remember that you are doing these exams as a way of glorifying God. It is not about proving yourself, but rather about using gifts that God has given to you.
remember God's provision

One of the names used to describe God in the Bible is Jehovah Jireh which is translated as the Lord will provide. In the gospels Jesus emphasises that our heavenly Father will provide for our needs. These needs are not just material but also relational. The Lord gives us people to form close relationships with, to help and mentor us and to give us general encouragement. We must remember to trust in his provision knowing that He helps us whenever it is needed.One of the main ways I have experienced God's provision is by receiving peace from Him during exam periods. We must be encouraged by God's promise that we will never be given more than what we can cope with. We need to pray for his strength and help, knowing he is faithful to answer.

made in God's image

We must remember that everyone is made in God's image, created and loved by Him. Every patient who comes through the doors of the hospital or GP surgery is in some ways a picture of God. It is all too easy to forget this, even though we have the privilege of learning how to treat their body. There will always be patients on a ward who you wish were not there because they are drunk or abusive or unhelpful. However, remembering that they are made in the image of God reminds you to treat them to his standards, regardless of their behaviour towards you. Let us rejoice that God does not treat us as our behaviour demands and attempt to follow his example of unconditional love and care. Jesus taught that whenever we help somebody who needs it we are helping Him. Working in a hospital gives a chance to live this out every day, and experience God giving you his heart of love for the patients you come into contact with.
make church a priority

Throughout your clinical years make sure you are involved in a church, as well as any local christian group. This is fundamental for growing as a Christian and for personal and pastoral support. Attending church should be a high priority throughout the year. Joining a small group helps to keep you involved, and provides you with people to support you and to anchor you into the church. But just like medicine, church can take over your life. It's good to serve in church, but if you are doing worship one week followed by children's work the next, and doing youth every Wednesday as well as attending a small group, it is easy to neglect your studies, and paradoxically not spend enough time with your Creator. Although medicine should not take up your whole life, some input of time is needed. Learning to say no is an important skill for both medical and church life.
spend time with God

Having regular quiet times is something a lot of people struggle with, and being a clinical student can make it even harder. Routines are more difficult as you can have a busy timetable which is constantly changing.

However, time with God needs to be a priority; he is the reason we live, the reason we are here and the reason we are doing medicine, and if we are going to live for him we need to be spending time with Him. Either leave time in the morning or make sure that you have time when you get home. There may also be time in a break during the day where you can find a quiet spot in the hospital to spend time with God.

Use situations you have come across during the day to prompt you in your prayer. Pray for the patients you have seen in clinic or on the ward round that day or week and pray for the other students you are on placement with.
be an ambassador for Christ

Paul talks about us being Christ's ambassadors which means that we have been chosen to represent God to everyone we meet. We are sent into the hospital as representatives of God, so must act in a way that pleases Him. Be someone who shows a glimpse of what God's love is like, who stands out from the crowd, who has integrity in all they do.

Laura Quinton is a final year medical student in Leeds.
references

1. Romans 12:1
2. Genesis 22:14
3. Matthew 6:25-34
4. Genesis 1:26-28
5. Matthew 25:40
6. 2 Corinthians 5:20
www.cmf.org.uk

क्रिश्चियन मेडिको- वेल्कोमे!

Hurray!
The platform for christian medical students to comment, share their views, and meet fellow Christians from allover the globe has been created. Feel free to comment, author or post a relevant article or finding here.