I've been reading about a missionary doctor who served in Southern India from 1900-1960. Her name was Ida S. Scudder, and she came from a family of missionaries. During her years of service, she saw many Indians suffer from poor hygiene, superstition, ignorance, and quack doctors called "healers." At that time Indian Hindu's thought it was wrong to give a drink of water to a person with a fever. And Muslim men would rather their wives die than be seen by a male doctor. Once, a temple priest prescribed broken glass, cayenne pepper, and oil rubbed into the eyes to cure a blind man.
As one of the first women doctors in the area, Ida Scudder worked to not only heal people's physical bodies, but to teach them the truth about hygiene and medicine. She did this by starting a hospital and medical college that continue to this day.
Reading about the medical ignorance of India in the early 1900's made me think of the spiritual ignorance in the United States today, even among many who profess to be Christians. What ineffectual things we think will heal us of our hopelessness, fear, or anxiety!
Are we not often like quack spiritual doctors to ourselves? An hour of T.V. erases our fears of the future. Some frivolous spending cures dissatisfaction. A flurry of activity heals our thoughts of inadequacy. A little over-eating reimburses us for our day's sacrifices. A "harmless" daydream patches up our discouragement. A little glass in the eyes for blindness . . . no spiritual water for my fever. Would we too rather die spiritually than see the Great Physician?
Perhaps it's time for a spiritual waking up, where our eyes are opened to the frightful ways we've been trying to treat ourselves and, instead, we come to the Great Physician to receive his deep and thorough healing. He knows how our souls were made to function and he wants to cure us.
More on Missionaries: The Best Way to Avoid Pain and Suffering, Afraid of Science, Camaraderie in Men and Women,
Posts
Comments