One of Christianity's Biggest Lies

We like formulas. We want to know that when we follow the appropriate steps in the correct order that a positive outcome is guaranteed. To this end we buy books that promise such things as 6 Steps to a Happy Marriage, 8 Principles for Success in Business, and 7 keys to Getting into The College of Your Dreams. Falling for these fantastic promises in our personal lives is sad. Falling for such false promises in our spiritual lives is a tragedy.

The idea that God blesses us because of what we do is one of the biggest lies in Christianity. Too many of us fall for it.

Blessing in this life is not guaranteed by following any formula or set of rules. God’s blessings are based on His character and not our performance. While many Christians will profess this truth our lives can say otherwise. When we follow God we expect him to bless us and give us what we desire. When it doesn’t happen we find ourselves disillusioned, disappointed and depressed.

This is where I found myself in 1993. I had just started my first “real” doctor job and life was going well. Lisa and I were both teaching Sunday School and regularly attending Bible Study. We were giving more to the church than we ever had before in both time and finances and we were checking all of the spiritual boxes. Everything was going well except for the area of fertility.

We had struggled to conceive for years. Our son appeared to be a fluke, as in the three years after his birth Lisa had not conceived in spite of our not using any contraception. A miscarriage in June was disappointing but it at least confirmed that conception was possible. We were certain that God would soon bless us with another child.

In November our prayers were seemingly answered. It all made sense to us. We were faithfully serving God and He had blessed us with another pregnancy. A few weeks later the bleeding started and an ultrasound confirmed another miscarriage. We were devastated. We found ourselves wondering what had happened. We had actually thought, at least to some degree, that our faithful service would result in God answering our prayers. We were wrong.

The broken thinking that led us to believe that we had a part to play in God’s blessing us, that there was an element of earning blessings, caused our grief to be greater than it would have otherwise been. In the loss of that pregnancy we were taught the truth that God blesses in His time, for His purposes, to those that He chooses, for His reasons. We don’t earn anything.

It is only when we understand the truth of God's grace that we can break free from the lie of earned blessing. Sadly for me, it took the sorrow of loss for me to learn the lesson.

- Bart

I share more details of our heartbreak and the lessons learned in the 4th part of the series I taught on Broken Thinking. All four parts are available on my vimeo page at www.vimeo.com/bartbarrett. This particular lesson can be viewed by clicking here.

An Atheist Asks for Prayer

“Doc, you know I’m an atheist, but I know you are a man of faith and I am going to ask you to pray for me.”

Atheists do not usually ask for prayer but this was a special circumstance. Being diagnosed with cancer causes people to reconsider beliefs they had previously rejected, to look for help in new places. Although my phone call to him delivering the biopsy results was not unexpected the diagnosis still hit him pretty hard. He had cancer and it was serious. He took only a moment to absorb the information before telling me he was not ready to die and he was afraid.

He had been battling a number of health issues for several months. First had come an unusual cancer of the skin and superficial tissue of his back, a cancer so rare that none of the doctors had seen it before. Shortly after the final surgery and radiation treatments for that cancer he developed an irregular heartbeat and was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Blood thinners became a part of his life. He had always been strong and healthy and now he was on chronic medications. He was no longer invincible.

While he dealt with the stress of these diseases he began to battle another problem. He developed severe stomach upset that made it difficult for him to eat. Heartburn, indigestion and nausea became his daily companions. He lost 50 pounds. He saw a specialist, but the specialist was concerned about doing an endoscopy and biopsy while he was on the blood thinners so definitive testing was delayed. After several weeks of waiting he called me and asked for a new GI doctor. A few weeks later the new GI doctor called me to let me know that he had done an endoscopy and discovered a cancer in the stomach. That news led to my call to the patient and to his unexpected prayer request.

A few weeks later he scheduled an appointment with me to go over his options and ask my opinion. We discussed what we knew (which was too little for me to give him a decent prognosis) and we discussed several possible outcomes. Although the cancer is serious and life threatening he is determined to survive. He again asked me to pray for him. I told him that I had been praying and would continue to do so.

As often happens during life and death conversations the discussion drifted to other areas of his life. He talked being estranged from his son and how difficult that had been for him. He shared about a recent school reunion that was bittersweet, as the joy of renewing old friendships was tempered by the gravity of his diagnosis. He told me about his journey away from faith many years ago, how travels to Europe and Africa had included visits to concentration camps and  areas of mass genocide. Faced with such evidence of evil he had rejected the idea of God's existence.  

Time and circumstances made deeper conversation inappropriate but it seemed to me that there was much he wanted to discuss, many more issues of the heart he desired to explore. It seemed that my years of caring for him had resulted in me being someone he felt he could trust. I wrote down my cell phone number and handed it to him.

“Anytime you want to talk, I’ll buy the food or the coffee. Not as your doctor, but as your friend.”

He promised he would take me up on the offer. I pray I will be an encouragement to him if and when he calls.

When he left I was again reminded of how important it is to not only care for my patients but to care about them. Sometimes the greatest therapeutic tool available is our ears. We just need to listen.

- Bart

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The Most Important Lesson of the Charleston Shootings

9 Christians are dead. They welcomed a young stranger into their midst, treated him with kindness and grace, and he killed them. Ruthlessly and without remorse he shot them all because of the color of their skin. The killer has been appropriately described as a monster, a beast and a psychopath, but the family members of the slain called him something else and with their words taught us all what it means to be a Christian.

When the gunman was brought for a preliminary hearing the family members were allowed to address him in the court room. One by one they went to the podium and addressed the video screen on which the murderer’s image could be seen. Here are some of the things they said-

“I forgive you, my family forgives you. … We would like you to take this opportunity to repent. Do that and you'll be better off than you are right now.”

“You hurt me. You hurt a lot of people. But God forgive you. I forgive you.”

“For me, I'm a work in progress, and I acknowledge that I'm very angry. We have to forgive. I pray God on your soul”

“You took something very precious away from me. I will never talk to her ever again. I will never be able to hold her again. But I forgive you. And have mercy on your soul.”

Their lack of vitriol, malice and a desire for vengeance was astonishing. Their loved ones had been brutally murdered, at church. Families were shattered, parents and children were gone. Instead of calling him a monster they called him forgiven. How could these suffering people forgive such a man?

The answer can be found on the official website for the AME Church. A part of their statement of faith is the Apostle’s Creed, which says-

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead; and buried. The third day he arose from the dead’ he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Church Universal, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.

They forgave, because they are forgiven.

They do not despair, because they believe that death is not the end.

They rest in the assurance that they will someday be reunited with those they have lost, that no evil deed done by a man on earth can alter their eternal destiny. Their loved ones that are gone are not gone forever, they are in the presence of God. They understand that as terrible a man as the shooter is, he is still loved by God and that God could save him and change him, and that would be a good and glorious thing.

In a letter written by the Apostle Peter to the church at large he spoke of the power of faith through trials such as these-

“Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials, these have come so that your faith… may be proved genuine and may result in praise glory and honor.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

I thank God for the encouragement and testimony of the AME Church of Charleston. Their faith has been proved genuine indeed.

- Bart

Facing Death at Forty

She is in her early forties. She is thin and appears fit and healthy. She isn’t. She can’t walk much more than 100 feet before crippling chest pain sets in. She can’t work and she can't exercise. She recently tried to walk to the corner store on her own but passed out on the way. Her cardiologist has told her she is never to walk alone again. It is too dangerous.

She has lived this way for a few years now, cursed with coronary arteries that spasm for no reason, constricting so severely that she has the crushing pain of angina, the sensation that she is having a heart attack. She lives in constant fear that her heart might stop at any time, that one day a heart attack will actually happen.

There are many medications for coronary spasm but she has not been able to tolerate any of them. They all work by dilating blood vessels which means they lower blood pressure. Her blood pressure is low without medications and even the lowest dose of the standard medications results in dangerously low blood pressure. She has seen multiple cardiologists who have discussed her case with multiple other cardiologists but no solution has been found. She continues to suffer. 

I did some online research on coronary spasm and came across an article on the subject written by a cardiologist an hour north of us. I reached out via email and asked the doctor if she would be willing to see my patient in consultation. My patient scheduled a visit as soon as she could. She came to see me a few days before the consult to go over her records. As I reviewed her history I was once again moved by the challenges she faces.

We talked about how hard it was and she shared with me how important her faith is in helping her get through each day, that she reminds herself continually to trust in God. We talked about the reality that God does not heal everyone and that we may not find an answer or a cure. He does not always grant our requests.

With this in mind I reminded her of one of the central truths of our faith- this life is not all there is. Eternity awaits. We tend to focus on our present circumstances but it is our eternal destiny that matters and how our eternity is not dependent on our current condition. We talked about how God’s eternal plan for her has not been altered by any of her current sufferings. His promises are based on His goodness, not our condition. She told me that she clings to this truth everyday.

We closed the visit with a prayer and she went on her way. As she left I reflected on her faith and example. I was reminded of one of the purposes of Christian suffering as described in 1 Peter 1- “These trials will show that your faith is genuine.” Her steadfastness through tough times has shown her faith to be real. I pray that when illness and suffering come to my life I will be equally strong.

- Bart

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"Too Christian" to be a Doctor

I have gathered a collection of insults over the course of my 25 years as a physician. I have been called stupid, old, racist, arrogant, ignorant, too young (okay, this was a long time ago), unkind and once I was even called "a threat to children." This week I became the recipient of a new label. I heard that a specialist colleague told a potential patient that I was “too Christian” to be his primary care doctor.

I was taken aback by the news, surprised that a colleague would view my faith as a negative for my practice. In response to his words I stopped and considered the ways in which my faith has entered into my interactions with patients. I wondered if there were times I had crossed that an invisible line and gone too far, if I had gone from encouragement to offense. I discussed the topic with my staff, not all of whom share my faith and perspective. I realized that there are many ways in which I allow my faith to influence patient care but that these ways have for the most part made me a better person and doctor.  I have described many of them previous posts but decided to take the opportunity to share some the things I do differently because I am a doctor who is a devout Christian.

1-      I pray for my patients, and when appropriate, I pray with my patients. When I do pray in the office, I intentionally avoid denominational or theological lingo. Unless I am certain that the person has a Christian faith, I do not use the name of Jesus (He knows who I am talking to anyway!) I try to carefully assess the patient’s openness and then always ask for permission. Since studies have shown that half of patients actually want this, it seems reasonable. My experience is that patients are grateful for the additional expression of concern.

2-      I try to be more forgiving. My staff says I do this too often, but because of my faith, I intentionally extend more grace when patients are late, non-complaint, or unhappy. The Golden Rule requires it of me. I find my patients are more forgiving of me as a result.

3-      I give more hugs. I continually pray that God will help me love my patients more and serve them better. Overtime this has led me to listen better and care more, which leads to hugs, which seem to be appreciated!

4-      I stand up for my patients more. Since my faith is more concerned with doing right than being accepted, I find myself defending my patients and standing up for their rights. This means going the extra mile in fighting to get medications or therapy approved.

5-      I am more available. My office hours have become more of a suggestion that a rigid rule. When it is truly needed I come in early, stay late or work through my lunch hour. Just this last Saturday I met a patient at the office to suture a hand laceration. I did it because I could.

6-      I am more respectful of my patients time. My faith teaches me that I am no better than anyone else, that my medical degree does nothing to change my standing before God. I am a wretched sinner just like anyone else. This has led me to be more respectful of the time and needs of my patients, and is in large part why I give away Starbucks gift cards when I fall behind schedule!

7-      I often refer to Biblical passages when I talk. Some might call this risky but I have seen it have a powerful impact in my counseling with patients. Truth is truth and wisdom is wisdom and I see no reason to avoid either just because they originate from Scripture. The passages I refer to the most have common applications. I use Adam and Eve to illustrate the truth that people in trouble tend to hide their problems and run from help. I quote the wisdom of Romans 12 to people dealing with depression or addiction as a reminder that we are all broken in our thinking and that trusting in our own thoughts can lead to trouble. Passages such as these are often a source of encouragement to patients.

I am not boasting in this post. None of the behaviors I describe come naturally to me, and for the most part were not a part of my early practice. These things came about through a lot of prayer and a lot of work. I am not by nature a very nice or kind person. I am a Christian who asks God to change me every day, to allow me to be His hands to touch and heal others.

After thinking about it, I have decided that being “too Christian” is a criticism I can willingly accept. It is far better than someone saying I am not Christian enough!

-          Bart

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