Bad Theology Can Kill Several years ago there was an article entitled, “Bad Theology Can Kill” written about the case of Wesley Parker who died because his parents refuse to give him insulin for his diabetic condition. The story goes like this, “Lawrence and Alice Parker went to church with their 11-year-old son, Wesley, one August Sunday morning. Wesley was diabetic, kept alive like thousands of other diabetic people by insulin. When the visiting preacher, at the climax of this Sunday morning service, invited people to receive prayer for healing, the Parkers brought Wesley forward. The preacher laid his hands on the boy, prayed that God would heal him, and then announced his belief that God had indeed heard their prayer and would heal. Lawrence and Alice Parker went home rejoicing in faith.” Now the Parkers were no lukewarm believers. They wanted to put their trust in God alone. Without reservations they withheld the insulin believing that there was no need for it any longer now that Wesley was healed. It was all the way with God–– No back up man made resources “just in case.” The premise was that God does things right and whole–– for those that believe! It was their faith which was the instrument of his healing. Three days later, Wesley fell into a coma and died. Maybe his parents were poor simple-minded people. Their own pastor admitted that he thought they were making a terrible mistake. The church, he protested, never meant to encourage people to gamble that much on their faith. He was really saying is that the church do not expect people to practice their theology consistently. A number of years before this case I remember seeing something very similar happened after a “faith healer” had visited our city. A lady in the congregation who wasn’t diabetic believed that she was healed and therefore discontinued her insulin. She was told, if she believed enough, have faith enough, she would be healed. Though she was sincere and devout, it did not keep her from dying. She drew a consistent conclusion from a bad theology. No matter how it is guarded, Faith healing is built on the premise that God is waiting to heal all of all their diseases but it check-mated by man’s lack of faith. But what they call Faith is nothing more than practicing positive thinking. It is presumption. Does this mean that we do not pray for the sick? Certainly not. We pray for the sick as the Scriptures teach us, but we submit to “the will of God.” We are taught that when we pray we are to ask, “Thy will be done.” I remember hearing Oral Roberts interviewed and asked why that not everyone for whom he prays are healed. His response was, “Well, sometimes God acts sovereignly.” God is sovereign and does not act uniformly, and we are both responsible agents and utterly dependent upon Him, and therefore must not act irrationally nor presumptuously. We must thank God for insulin, and to honor God’s presence in, under, and around all man-made medications. Remembering that sickness and tragedy are effects of this sin cursed world and that we will have it until Christ comes. It is bad theology to expect God to be a bell boy, to be at the beck and call of “Faith Healers.” It is rather that God has created a world of cause and effect and He still honors that. Wesley Parker died from bad theology. His parents were guilty of practicing with abandon what their theology implicitly urged them to do. Dr. Ronald W. McKinney
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 19:35:40 +0000
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