Modern Medicine and Religion

For discussion - Does modern medicine bring any conflicts of interest to religious beliefs?

couple of examples
Sooner or later there will be some drug/protien/procedure that will evolve from stem cell research. If what develops is something a loved one needs, do you take it? Not knowing if the stem cells came from the cord or from an embryo can you use the drug

Ru-486 - Does this, or perhaps the black market for ru-486 make abortion issues non political. Seems the only political motive abortion has now(IMO) is to gain votes by saying one is pro this or that to get the voter off the real political issues. Which turns abortion into the moral issue it is now if the person thinks they are answering to a higher power

Viagra/The Pill How does this come into play. Did the big guy intend for humans to play with these

Pain management drugs, etc . .

Cosmetic surgery - Not sure I would ever use it, perhaps if I had a permanent disfigurement caused by an accident. then again, leaving the disfigurement could help one grow to become a better individual.

Drugs to help treat depression - aka prozac and such

Drugs devolped from testing on other animals - is that fair game?

Just seems to me you have to be with modern medicine or against it and not really selective on which part of medicine you are supporting. If we were not intended to discover what we have, then how did we do it (perhaps this came from greed or necessity)

 

That's a tough question for me. I am opposed to embryonic stem cell research. But if a cure for a dying loved one was devleoped through the death of an innocent child, does it make practical or spiritual sense to lose another life and devalue the sacrifice of the child? Under those circumstances, I think I'd use it.

 

Absolutely no way. IMO, Ru486 is nothing more than chemical abortion.

 

I think the pill is okay as long as it only prevents fertilization of the egg cells. As far as Viagra goes, I don't know of a spiritual reason to abstain from it. :huh:

 

YES PLEASE!! :applause:

I'm kidding -- I have a low tolerance for pain and chronic headaches so I pop Excedrin just about every day.

Again, I'm not aware of a Biblical reason not to use pain meds.

 

Reconstructive surgery is nothing short of awesome. I remember seeing a poor woman who was horribly burned in the WTC. A few months ago, I think CNN did an interview with her, and she looks like a normal person.

Like many things in the world, however, I tend to view cosmetic surgery as neutral -- a tool to be used for good or harm. For every burn victim who is helped, there is a Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett, trying desperately to change who they are, or cling to something that's been lost. I think the determining factor lies in the motivation for the use of cosmetic surgery.

 

I think they're excellent tools in the fight against chemical imbalances. My wife went through heavy withdrawls from 2 years of Prednisone treatment. Antidepressants helped her until her body regained its balance.

But I do not agree with throwing prescriptions at personal problems. In fact, I think it's destructive to do so.

 

I have absolutely no problem with drugs being tested on rats and mice. They're just about infinitely reproducible, and seem to bring little to the table with regard to positive contributions in ecological cycles. Their biggest attribute seems to be as test subjects in labs. It seems very harsh to write this, and I'm not sure I'm right on this one. I really don't know where I'd draw the line.

 

Some religions do seem categorically against modern medicine, but I think those are the minority. Many are selective to varying degrees (Christianity, Jehovah's Witnesses, LDS, probably Islam).

 

I agree with not throwing drugs at personal problems . . Seems now a days a large majority of kids are on some type of antipressants. My particular thought on that is perhaps their mind has not fully devolp, and putting them on the drug IMO may prevent proper devolpment, but I'm no doctor. I think the statisics for all is 1 out of every 8 people are on some type of sri(prozac or similiar) drug . . Go figure (but all that's off the R&S topic)

I guess my only run in with a chruch and antidpressants, via a friend who went to counselling and church counselling. the church wanted her to stop going to the other and to stop taking the prozac because it was not "gods" way. Sure enough she listened and later tried to take her life. Of course these same people would take their antiboditics etc. . . those are okay with them. Thankfully she doesn't go there anymore(this particular church seems to be more of a cult to me, but since it's a mainstream religion it would be hard to label it as one). This seems to be the biggest frustration point that everyone comes to hb99 with and that's more along the lines of when does a particular church go bad and why(perhaps a new topic). On that note hb99, are their similiar churches to yours out in WNC area. For some reason your church is interesting me. The wife and I sometimes go through times where we like to church shop, still really have not found 1 we both like.