Health Archives

June 3, 2021June 2, 2021

My Brother Jim and Alcohol

We have frequently pointed out that a massive percentage of the pain and death people experience is directly related to their choices in life. If you don’t believe in God, what do you use for support when you hit the usual frustrations in life? My brother Jim bought into my parent’s atheistic beliefs. For much of his life, he lived as an atheist.

When my youngest brother grew frustrated with the everyday struggles of life, alcohol became his tool for coping. That caused him to be unable to help others or find meaningful companionship. When he struggled with his normal sexual drives, he did not believe that marriage was the only way those feelings could be satisfied. My brother’s marriage failed because of his alcohol use, and it also seriously affected his relationship with his two sons.

My brother Jim was fired from his first teaching job because his alcohol use affected how he dealt with his students. One of his sons and I pleaded with him to realize what alcohol was doing to him, and gradually he began to move away from his addiction. He eventually got involved in Alcoholics Anonymous, started studying the Bible, and carried on extensive conversations with me about the existence of God.

I finally convinced my brother Jim to go with me and a group of 50 Christians as we toured the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, and the Canyonlands. In addition to showing evidence that the Bible accurately describes Earth’s history as revealed in these places, we all engaged in singing hymns, praying for one another, and studying God’s Word. At the end of the trip, my brother admitted that he could not be an atheist anymore and that he saw the validity of Christianity.

What do people in our culture do to relieve the pains that come in life? The use of drugs, including alcohol, has skyrocketed in my lifetime. Developing a relationship with God and working with those of like faith to establish a realistic approach to failure and frustration is not on the radar for much of our culture.

As people reject God, ridiculing the Bible, and questioning its relevance to the struggles of life, the problems they experience have grown. The ultimate result of this is a massive increase in health issues related to drug use and an enormous rise in legal problems, including prison terms. More than half of the prisoners studying our correspondence courses are in prison because they abused drugs.

Unfortunately, the use of alcohol and the destructive nature of my brother’s early atheistic beliefs had consequences on his relationships and health. He had marginal relationships with family, had few friends, and never found the kind of joy that Christians have when they follow God’s Word. In addition, his health had been compromised by his use of alcohol. On May 28, he died from all the damage alcohol had done in the past. Living the Christian way of life is essential to give the hope of eternal life and to give us the very best things that this life can bring. My brother Jim is a case history that demonstrates that fact in vivid, realistic terms.

June 2, 2021June 1, 2021

Problem of Hunger Unnecessary

A strange situation that exists today is human mismanagement of what God has given us. I get 20 to 30 pieces of mail daily asking for donations to feed starving children. These children are not just in Africa or India, but also in Appalachia. When you donate to one organization, you get on everyone’s mailing list. I’m glad organizations are addressing the food needs of people all over the globe, but the problem of hunger is so unnecessary.

With political circumstances depriving common people of basic food needs and selfish politicians and rulers involved in power struggles, children are dying all over the planet. The pathetic pictures of starving children hit home in the United States as the statistics show how poorly we manage God’s gifts. USA Today (May 26, 2021) published a report from the Environmental Protection Agency showing that 42.8 million tons of uneaten, wasted food ends up in landfills or combustion facilities every year. The report goes on to say that people in the United States typically waste 25% of the food they buy, amounting to a cost of $2,275 a year per person.

The problem of wasted food is not getting better even though we have ways to prevent food spoiling. Buying canned goods, freezing leftovers, dehydrating fruits, and ordering more intelligently should reduce our waste. The problem of hunger is unnecessary, yet every city in the country is reporting issues with waste.

A society will practice selfishness when it rejects the notion that God has given us what we have and expects us to share it with others. The economically deprived are the ones who suffer. The collateral damage of selfish atheism is a testimony to the validity of faith in God, but Christians should be leaders in making full use of God’s blessings.

Reference: Time magazine May 24/31, 2021, page 23.

May 27, 2021May 26, 2021

Who Owns Your Body When You Die?

One of the medical issues of our day is the shortage of organs for transplant. Many people die while waiting for a heart, kidney, or liver, and the problem of finding organ donors is complicated. That leads to the question of who owns your body when you die?

In the United States, there are data banks for almost every organ in our bodies. If someone needs a kidney, their surgeon can go to the kidney bank and see how many people in the database have the blood type and traits to be a donor. Often kidneys are supplied by living donors, so the kidney is moved from one person to another, with both the donor and the one receiving the new organ in the same operating room. Of course, that is not possible for many organs such as hearts.

The government of Switzerland is considering a bill that would make the state the receptor of everyone when they die unless the person officially opts out. When a person dies, their organs will become a “public asset” so doctors could harvest them for transplant to alleviate the shortage. The Swiss medical establishment says that between 50 and 100 patients die in Switzerland every year because of the lack of organs for transplant.

This proposed law brings up all kinds of issues and gives a whole new dimension to the relationship between the state and the individual. Who owns your body when you die? Many times a dying person is in a coma or is pronounced brain dead. Taking their organs would certainly be a form of euthanasia. What about the person who is terminal with cancer but has organs that are unaffected by the disease?

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:50, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.” That same chapter tells us that we will all be changed (verse 52). The natural body is not sacred. It is the dwelling place of God’s Spirit when we are alive (1 Corinthians 3:16), and our soul is housed in it. But Genesis tells us that our body is “dust to dust.”

The body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26). I had that vividly pointed out to me as I stood beside my wife’s bed when she died. The body was lifeless, cold, and unresponsive. My wife Phyllis was gone and what was left was the house in which her spirit had lived.

The issue here is how much control the state should have over our being. Who owns your body when you die? In Switzerland, at least, the state may be considered the master of our existence, even in death.

Reference: The Week, May 21, 2021 page 16.

May 20, 2021May 19, 2021

Opioid Problem is Pandemic

Health officials tell us that between September of 2019 and September of 2020, over 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses. That is a 29% jump from the previous 12 months. As data for the current year is just beginning to be processed, it is obvious the numbers will be even higher. But this is not just a problem in the United States because every country that gathers and shares data shows equally high numbers. A pandemic is defined as a disease that spreads across several countries, affecting many people. By that definition, our current opioid problem is pandemic.

One of the efforts made by the Does God Exist? ministry is to reach out to incarcerated people. We offer eleven correspondence courses postage-paid to anyone in prison who would like to study apologetics or Bible topics. One course, titled “Freedom Steps,” is specifically designed for people struggling with substance abuse. Right now, we have over 4,000 men and women involved in these courses, and a significant number of them are in prison directly or indirectly because of drug abuse. Opioids are the most common culprit we see in these prisoners.

As we consider that the opioid problem is pandemic, we must quickly add that opioids are a valuable medical tool when used properly. The majority of people in prison because of opioids purchased them on the street, but some were on a prescription drug and became addicted.

For many years we have worked with Buck Griffith and “Kings Crossing Prison Ministries,” an outreach of the Kings Crossing Church of Christ in Corpus Christi, Texas. In 1988, they began a program called “Christians Against Substance Abuse” (CASA). Buck Griffith and Don Umphrey have built a program to help people recover from substance addiction, but recovery is a slow process with no quick fixes.

One of their successful programs is a series of classes conducted in prisons called “Newlife Behavior.” The big problem we have seen in working with prisoners and substance abuse is that people and congregations don’t stay with it. When a Christian congregation working with prison ministry has a personnel change, it becomes a “new Pharaoh didn’t know Moses” situation, and they drop the program. Jerry Stephenson in Louisville, Kentucky, calls prison ministry “the best-known secret in churches of Christ.” That is a good description of the problem.

The opioid problem is pandemic, and substance abuse, in general, is a neglected ministry in the Church. That is something we all need to address. For a registration sheet of the courses we offer, please send us your name and either an email or postal address. The 47th national Jail and Prison Ministry Workshop will be held in Louisville at the Midwest Church of Christ June 9-11. For more information, call 812-207-7156. The Kings Crossing Ministry is at www.kingscrossingprisonministries.org or phone 361-855-3372.

May 19, 2021May 18, 2021

Human-Macaque Chimera Created

Human-Macaque Chimera and Ancient Greek Mythology

A chimera is a living organism made up of parts from different organisms. You have heard myths about a half-woman, half-fish mermaid, and a human torso and head on a horse’s body and legs. Those would be chimeras if they actually existed. Now scientists have created a human-macaque chimera.

Scientists at the Salk Institute in California injected human stem cells into macaque embryos. They allowed the embryos to grow for only 20 days before destroying them. The stated purpose for creating a human-macaque chimera is to find a way to grow human organs for transplant and to develop new drugs.

This reminds us of a science fiction story of chimeras turning into monsters that threaten human beings. The term “chimera” (kye-MER-uh) comes from an animal in Greek mythology with a lion’s head and body, a goat’s head protruding from its back, and a tail with the head of a snake. Imagine what a human-macaque chimera might be like.

This experiment raises bioethical questions. Just because researchers can do this, should they do it, and what kind of research should they carry on? Insoo Hyun, a bioethicist involved in this research, says that chimeras have “the potential to radically humanize the biology of laboratory animals.”

The morals and beliefs of the scientists doing the research become a significant issue in situations like this. We need people with Christian values involved in making these decisions to ensure that everything is done to relieve human pain and suffering, not to create half-human creatures. God has provided the blueprint in DNA, but it is up to humans to decide how to use it. Whether it is for good or evil is an old biblical question.

Reference: Phys.org/news

May 16, 2021May 11, 2021

Refusing Vaccines is Not New

The current ignorance about vaccines is amazing. We see statements every day, frequently in religious publications, that are simply not true. There is nothing in a vaccine that could contain a microchip, for example. There is a fundamental distrust of the government and the scientific establishment that fuels ideas like this one. There are always hucksters who will seize upon this distrust and use it to try to make money. Refusing vaccines is not new.

In 1776 Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids frequently had cowpox, which is a virus found in cows. The milkmaids didn’t get smallpox, which was killing 30% of the population at the time. Doctors tried various attempts to stop the epidemic, but Jenner’s treatment of giving people cowpox shots was the only one that worked. But many people were refusing vaccines for a variety of religious reasons.

In America in 1809, Massachusetts passed a mandatory vaccination law. In England in 1853, the government passed a U.K. Vaccination Act. It required parents to have infants vaccinated by three months, or the parents would be arrested. This precipitated the “Anti-Vaccination League of London,” and in 1879, the “Anti-Vaccination Society of America” was formed.

In America from 1920 through the 1970s, scientists developed vaccines for diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella. Some of those diseases, such as polio, were stopped in your author’s lifetime. I can remember iron lungs and classmates dying with polio and how we all celebrated when scientists produced the polio vaccine.

That all changed in 1982 when a documentary aired called “DPT: Vaccine Roulette.” It claimed that children had suffered brain damage from the diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus shot. It turned out that the cases used in the documentary were unrelated to the vaccines, but the media never reported that. Parents formed “The National Vaccine Information Center,” which is an organization to encourage refusing vaccines.

We must point out that there can be allergies or reactions to any drug. When I was a kid, doctors used sulfa-drugs to fight infections, and I had a severe reaction to one of those drugs. The drug was never removed from the market because I was a rare exception, and the drug benefited many others. My atheist parents did not attach any religious significance to my allergy but withheld further treatments. Some people are very allergic to peanuts, but I have not heard of an anti-peanut league.

In 1998, the National Vaccine Information Center secured a report from Andrew Wakefield, a gastroenterologist claiming that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine caused autism. Since I have a grandson who is autistic, I was very interested in that report. It turned out that Wakefield falsified data, and there was no connection. I took the time to check out the claim, but in 2000 Wakefield’s study reached the U.S. and was immediately seized upon by anti-vaccine groups as more evidence for refusing vaccines.

So why are we reporting on this in DoesGodExist.today? First, Christians are to serve others and do the best we can to promote well-being in all of those created in God’s image. That means we need to check out the stories and make sure the data supports what people are saying. We can not trust the news media, and TV programs promote hoaxes of all kinds, from Bigfoot to UFOs to miracle health substances.

Secondly, Christians should embrace anything that relieves suffering and avoids the pain of disease. Jesus had naysayers in His day. He would cure someone by a miracle, and His opponents would try to explain it away rather than admit He was God’s Son. Don’t blindly embrace the claims of anyone, but check out the facts. Vaccines are not made from aborted babies, and they do not contain fetal cells. Vaccines save thousands of lives, even though occasionally someone will have an adverse reaction to them.

Science and the Bible are friends, not enemies. The only reason vaccines work is because of God’s design of our bodies. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows completely” (Psalms 139:14).

Data from Science News, May 8, 2021, pages 32-34.

May 14, 2021May 11, 2021

Fetal Microchimerism and Pregnancy

Smithsonian Magazine published an article on scientific research showing that becoming pregnant literally shapes a mother’s heart and mind. The scientific name for this is “fetal microchimerism.” The study shows amazing changes in a woman’s body and mind when she becomes pregnant. These include:

1) The mother regrows heart cells in the same way a salamander grows a new tail.
2) The DNA in new heart cells does not match the mother’s DNA.
3) The new heart cells travel to any damaged part of the mother’s heart.
4) Fetal stem cells transform into blood-vessel-like tubes and heart muscle cells in the mother.
5) Fetal cells not used in the mother’s heart show up in the mother’s lungs, spleen, kidneys, thyroid, skin, and bone marrow.
6) Fetal cells stay with the mother for life. Scientists find fetal cells in the corpses of older women with grown children.
7) Women with three or more kids have a 12% lower risk of dementia.
8) During the first month of motherhood, a woman is 23 times more likely to have her first hospitalization for bipolar disorder than at any other time in her life.
9) New mothers show significantly greater activity in the brain’s thalamus, which regulates consciousness, sleep, and alertness.
10) When observing distressed babies, mothers show unusual electrical brain activity.
11) Mothers have an oxytocin rush into the bloodstream during labor and delivery, facilitating uterine contractions and milk letdown. There is evidence that oxytocin is also a neurotransmitter stimulating a mother’s concern for infants.

When God designed women to give birth to babies, He didn’t just set up a chamber where the baby could grow. He also built into the conception process a system that benefits the mother and the child. Fetal microchimerism means that fetal cells from the baby remain in the mother’s body and affect her in various ways. Can you imagine what an abortion does to this system?

Science is just beginning to understand the complexities of this design. The process of abortion has long-term effects on the mother. The more we learn, the more obvious it becomes that abortion is not only the murder of an innocent baby, but it has collateral damage to the mother.

Reference: Smithsonian Magazine (May 2021, pages 50-57)

May 12, 2021May 11, 2021

Alzheimer’s and Dementia are a Growing Problem

Recently a critic suggested that if God were so great, He wouldn’t allow dementia and Alzheimer’s to be a part of the human experience. There is no question that Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem in today’s world. Those of us who have had family members develop these disabilities can testify how hard it is for family and loved ones. Is the inability of a mother to recognize her children or husband a failure in human brain design?

The Alzheimer’s Association has released data showing that one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or other dementia. Since 2000, the number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s has more than doubled. It kills more people than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Almost two-thirds of Americans living with Alzheimer’s are women, and more than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. We don’t know all of the causes and contributors to Alzheimer’s. Still, we know enough to tell us that Alzheimer’s and dementia are related to our environment, our growing life expectancy, and our lifestyles.

In the past, people just didn’t live long enough to develop Alzheimer’s. Life expectancy brings many age-related health issues. For that reason, Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem. Diet and physical activity are related to Alzheimer’s. In modern life, we do a lot of sitting and consume many foods that are not good for our brains. The same conditions that have caused heart disease and diabetes also produce Alzheimer’s and dementia. God did not design humans to sit behind a desk with no exercise and eat foods that negatively affect our brains. The Alzheimer’s Association has shown that multiple vaccinations for flu and pneumonia reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s.

Our brains are incredible devices that allow us to survive and do amazing things. We clearly see God’s design in how our brains work, but human activity and choices have contributed to a decline in brain health. Alzheimer’s and dementia are a growing problem but not an indication that God failed in His design. It shows that the neglect of our brains and our choices in life have caused problems that prevent our incredible biological computers from handling all the data we want them to retain. We must take care of the good things God has given us, and our brains are among the most important.

Data from the Spring 2021 issue of Alzheimer’s Update on alz.org

May 9, 2021May 6, 2021

Chrissy Teigen’s Comments About Miscarriage

Chrissy Teigen is a model, TV host, and wife of singer John Legend. She had a miscarriage in September of 2020 and shared the pain of that experience with her 34 million Instagram followers. In a picture in The Week magazine, with tears streaming down her face, she and her husband held a blanket-wrapped bundle. In the article, Chrissy Teigen’s comments about miscarriage impact the abortion debate.

Teigen says that sharing her experience with others has helped her deal with the “gut wrenching” grief of losing a baby. She does not refer to it as something other than a human being. She and her husband hold the miscarried child wrapped in a blanket as something precious and special. Teigen says, “I’m happy to talk about my uterus if that’s going to make other women feel that they can do it too.”

All scientific evidence points to the fact that a child in the uterus is still a child. It is not merely a part of the mother that can be removed as one would remove an appendix or a wisdom tooth. It is rare for a celebrity to come out with such an honest and accurate portrayal of the unborn. Chrissy Teigen’s comments about miscarriage contribute mightily to the discussion of what abortion really is. It is simply unadulterated infanticide.

Rerence: The May 7, 2021 issue of The Week magazine ((page 10).