Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Does Using Home Remedies Show a Lack of Faith?



I’ve posted on here before about growing up without medical care. I’ve never had immunization shots. I was born in my parents’ bedroom with lay midwives. I never visited a doctor or had any medicine until I left the group at the age of twenty-one.

When I was young, I had a small glass of wine and said the words, In Jesus’ name whenever I felt sick or couldn't sleep. If I had an injury – from a sprained wrist to the time a boy shot a staple into my eye using an industrial stapler – my parents (or sometimes an old guy from church) rubbed extra virgin olive oil onto the affected area while saying, In Jesus’ name.

When folks from church asked for prayer, we prayed for them (silently). If someone was dangerously sick, we sometimes fasted while praying for them.

I still practice faith healing.  When my children are sick or injured, prayer is my go to. I use bandages and children’s Tylenol as needed. And, if the situation calls for it, I take them to doctors’ offices and the occasional hospital. I also pray for friends, family, and anyone else who requests it.

I still rely on God for my health and well-being. Well, full disclosure, I also use home remedies. I would occasionally check in with a medical professional if I could afford health insurance – but adjuncts do not get benefits.

Nine days ago, I came home from my MFA graduation in New Hampshire with a gift from the East coast = a terrible flu. Last week, the first week of the term, I pretty much sleep-walked through all my lectures. I had a huge stack of essays that needed grading, but kept hoping all week that I’d wake up the next day feeling better. By Sunday night – day seven – I was still feeling like death. I had seen the recipe below being passed around Facebook and hadn’t tried it out because I didn’t feel well enough to make it to a grocery store.



But it was Sunday and I had a lot of stuff to catch up on before Monday morning, so I called my parents (who live a mile away) and talked my dad into picking up the ingredients and delivering them to me. In my desperation, I never considered how that stuff would taste – horrible! But, I started feeling better within an hour. I continued drinking doses until my original batch was gone, and it made a huge difference.

So, here’s my question: is that faith or medicine? What about drinking wine? When I was a teenager, a girl from church instructed me to eat pineapple for cramps. I also ate soup when I was sick. And honey for a sore throat – and I gargled with salt water.

What’s the difference between “natural remedies” and medicine?

14 comments:

  1. No difference from using the face book lemon remedy or getting the flu shot. You probably felt better from the placebo effect. You most likely could have avoided the flu had you had faith in the flu shot. Just get the flu shot and pray before and during the injection and you will be good.

    As a side question are you afraid of immunizations?

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    1. I'm not afraid of immunizations. I just don't see the point at this stage of my life. I've had almost everything (except Polio), so getting shots would be pointless.

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    2. I doubt you have had tetanus or shingles.

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    3. You're right. I'm taking a calculated risk on my own health. If I had known how bad the flu would be, I would've elected for the preemptive shot.

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    4. You still have time to get the shot. You may not have had the flu, just some other virus. No way to know for sure unless you have a lab test done.

      Did you have whooping cough? If not, you should get that immunization as well.

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    5. I had a very bad case of whooping cough. I also had mumps and German Measles.

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  2. I believe every scientific advance is just a discovery of God's creations. So are home remedies. If prayer works, it works according to the laws of God's universe and creations. Nothing is outside God. So I have never understood when people try to draw a line between medicine and faith.

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  3. Thanks for sharing the home remedy. I agree with Laura, both are creations of God. Dropping by from UBC.

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  4. Most "medicines" are simply synthetic versions of something that came from nature to begin with, so in many ways, there is no difference. Except perhaps with the numbers of test subjects and the related degree of certainty that a home remedy will work; you get better research from the medicines so have a slightly better idea what you're getting yourself in for. And--as you discovered--taste is often a difference. I see lots of home remedies floating around the internet (including this one) that I would probably never try because I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to choke it down. I'd much rather have a pill I can swallow or a shot!

    But, to anon's point, I think there's a certain amount of faith in all healing; neither home remedies nor pharmaceutical interventions are likely to have much effect if you're convinced they will not.

    But I'm glad you're feeling better.

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  5. I believe that God has placed much before us for our benefit. Where we seek knowledge and wisdom to use it is dictated by our free will. I grew up in the 60-70's. We did not have the addictions to technology we have today. We exercised and our mothers cooked us healthy meals. Fast forward a couple of generations and what do we have, a healthcare crisis, which I believe is directly attributable to our idleness and poor diet.

    We seek the concoctions of science to quickly and easily solve what took so very long to develop. Then we have to take more concoctions to counteract the first concoction.

    I have seen prayer work miracles. I have also known people who have lived very simple lives, maintaining their body temple, and seem to never get sick. I believe God has placed the answers before us, if we just open our eyes. Prayer alone cannot heal our illnesses, it must always be followed by action.

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    1. ewgreenlee, I totally agree. Truth is whether you believe in using physicians or not, prevention is far better than attempting cures.

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  6. I wish there was a "like" button to comments.. I agree with ewgreenlee's comment. Everyone just wants a quick fix and don't deal with the real issues at hand when it comes to health.. That's way I prefer the "Naturepathic" approach with prayer.. It's all about treating the "whole" person, not just the symptoms at hand. I'm still excited that that Lemon remedy worked out for you Suzaane! ;)

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  7. Regarding a lack of faith, is there any difference between naturopathic, pharmaceutical, traditional, or Internet home remedies? It's all a form of medicine that puts confidence in something other than God. At least that's the way I understand what I've read on here.

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  8. It was for freedom that you were made free. Take lemon juice and garlic, ibuprofen and dextromethorphan, or oseltamivir, or IV hydration and mechanical ventilation if you are really sick unto death. None of them negate your faith or endanger your relationship with Christ.

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