Thoughts From 3John - Part 1

 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3John 1,2

         This is my favorite verse having to do with philosophy of Christian medical care. It recognizes the three important parts of the person that me, as a doctor, needs to address. First, good health. My eldest son, a doctor, is more in tune with this than I ever was. Our teaching had nothing to do with diet and nutrition and minimal training in preventative medicine. We were more focused on identifying diseases early so they could be treated. All of this is important to keep the body, the carrier of the eternal soul, alive and well and on this planet as long as possible. This unfortunately is where care stops with most physicians.

        The next part is the "all goes well" part. To me, this is the emotional well-being aspect or what we would call the psyche. Most doctors would rather not deal with this because frankly, who has time to listen to family, relational, work, marital, money problems, when patients are sandwiched tightly into time slots 15 minutes apart. Besides, you can't bill for that and there are doctors called Psychiatrists that chose to do this for a living. But as a Christian doctor who is supposed to care and love and show kindness, this is an essential part. Not only that, but so much of emotional distress triggers the problems with the body, that to adequately treat physical illness, psychological issues need also to be addressed.

      A good Doctor addresses parts 1 and 2 but a great doctor deals with the last one also and that is the spirit of mankind. To paraphrase Jesus (which is never wise), "What shall it profit a person if they live to be a healthy, happy 100 year-old yet lose their own soul. In other words, if I care for a person and they eventually die without knowing Jesus, they are going to Hell according to God's word. Therefore, I'm not really caring for someone if I don't care for their eternal soul that lies dormant inside of them. I must, at some point lead the conversation toward Christ. Frankly, it's much easier to do if you allow time to explore part 2, their emotional well-being because that often leads to areas that are in disarray because of a life of sin. Also, studies show that Christians live longer due to lack of sinful, detrimental habits to the health of the body, and also a renewed psyche filled with hope, peace, and joy.

       Can non-Christians be good doctors? Absolutely. Can non-Christians be great doctors? No.