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Paul to Timothy: Take Some Wine For Your Stomach

Posted by Playful Walrus on Thursday, August 06, 2009 3:15:16 PM
Catherine Lyons, over on the LATimes.com opinion blog, asks if the right to life stops when a child is born.  She is specifically is referring to a perceived lack of concern by pro-lifers when it comes to parents who pray for their children instead of seeking medical treatment for them.
Dale Neumann was convicted Saturday of killing his 11-year-old daughter, Madeline, because he prayed for her instead of taking her to a hospital when her undiagnosed diabetes got so bad that she couldn't eat, drink, walk or speak. She died on the floor of her rural Wisconsin home with her father, mother and a group of people praying for her healing. Neumann says he was simply putting his faith first and following the will of God, but a jury found him guilty of second-degree reckless homicide.
If he believes the Bible is authoritative, then for what it is worth, the Bible does not advise believers to forgo medical treatment, nor promise the faithful healing and health in this lifetime.  See here for more info.  Christian parents should pray for their children and seek medical treatment for them.
This event raises serious questions about the conflict between individual rights and governmental power, just as abortion does. Both involve innocent and dependent lives with no real power to contest a parent's choices.
Actually, I think there is - it is called taking the child into protective custody.  If it can be demonstrated that a parent is abusing or neglecting a child, that is what should be done.  I believe in parental authority over minors and freedom of religion, but both have their limits.  For example, other than abortion, or the post-partum/hormonal defense by women, we do not allow people to get away with child sacrifice.
Isn't this a Right to Life issue? And if it is, where are the Right to Lifers?
Well, I think I qualify as a pro-lifer, as I believe in the sanctity of human life from conception through natural death.  I support the prosecution and conviction of Dale Neumann.

I'd like to turn this question around, though.  What about someone who denies treatment, or even just hydration, to a comatose adult?  Why is that okay but denying treatment to a diabetic child is prosecutable as murder?

I also want to point out that the right to life means protection from someone else killing you - obviously, we all die one way or another.  It can be argued that Neumann contributed to the death of his child by refusing to get her readily available, established treatment.

God ordains the means and the ends.  If medical treatments can help, do not avoid them.  Prayer is great, but there is no reason why it can't be done in conjunction with medical treatment.  From everything I've read and experienced, prayer's primary function is to get is to focus on God (not to "change God's mind"), and you can do that while also using medicine.  Unless God has given you special, specific revelation, then refusing the medical abilities He has provided to people so as to demonstrate "faith" is mere superstition, akin to thinking your mother's spine will be damaged because you stepped on a crack on the sidewalk.
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Pray For This Guy

Posted by Playful Walrus on Monday, December 29, 2008 12:54:17 PM
Edward Tabash of Beverly Hills, chair of the national legal committee of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, wrote in to complain about a recent editorial in the Los Angeles Times that said a government-recognized "day of prayer" is okay:
For a governor to declare such a day is for the state to officially endorse prayer.
That is not the same thing as adopting a national religious denomination.  For many years AFTER the adoption of the First Amendment, some states had official state denominations.  So a day of prayer is no big deal.
It sends a message that nonbelievers are lesser in the eyes of the political community than those who believe in a supernatural being.
Hardly.  I wonder how he feels about states and municipalities recognizing various days, such as "AIDS Awareness" days or The Great American Smokeout?  Do such declarations mean that those who do not participate are lesser in the eyes of the political community?
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Trying to Put God in a Corner

Posted by Playful Walrus on Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:03:51 PM
Seeing the coverage of Palin and the prayers said around her and the prayer requests made by her, I am more certain than ever that most people running the MSM don’t really believe in God, and they’re betting you don’t either.  After all, if an omnipotent and involved God exists, wouldn’t it be a good idea to seek to be on His side?  And isn’t it possible that He can make a difference in our lives?  What’s wrong with praying, then?

Yet we repeatedly see mocking of those very ideas.  Talking with dead people, horoscopes, extraterrestrials managing to secretly travel billions of miles and interact with some Earthlings without being detected by others… all of that is taken much more seriously by these people than God.

I find it amusing when people who accept without question that time + matter is all it takes for natural forces to accidentally result in Beethoven, Einstein, Angelina Jolie, dolphins, sunsets, wine, and orgasms think we have strange ideas because we think that God is there and cares.

To them, God is like a bouquet of flowers that you’d only bring to a wedding or a funeral – good for decoration but not much else.  Treating God in a condescending manner is risky business.  Perhaps we should pray for the MSM?

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Shock: Someone Prayed That Palin Be Free From Witchcraft

Posted by Playful Walrus on Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:21:29 PM
Well I just prayed that Obama wouldn’t be tormented by Xenu.  So what?

This is a non-story.  It is an attempt to make Palin look like a fringe kook to middle America, but how often have you been somewhere when someone you don’t even know says “God bless you!” or “You’re an angel!” or “Praise the Good Lord”?  It isn’t like Palin asked this person to pray to protect her from witches.  It isn't like she cited this person as her spiritual mentor and it wasn't like this person was her pastor for decades *cough cough*.

So now that I’ve asked Xenu to leave Obama alone, does that mean Obama’s a Scientologist?

Bill Clinton probably wishes someone would pray to protect him from witches.
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