Modern Medicine Is Catching Up with the Bible

Proverbs 3:7‑8
“Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”

For thousands of years the Bible has taught that there is a link between spiritual health and physical health. When rationalism came along, many sought to deny the spiritual aspect of humans. For them, the spiritual and the material have nothing to do with each other. Even medicine was, and still is, taught and practiced by many without any consideration of humans spirituality. In one recent survey, only 20 percent of doctors reported that spirituality and healing ever came up during their medical education.

According to several recent surveys that rationalistic view is now beginning to change. These surveys include a 1996 poll of family physicians, a 1997 poll of HMO professionals and a 1987 survey of Americans. Now, 87 percent of the Americans public believe that prayer and other religious practices help in the treatment of people who are ill. Most surprising, 99 percent of all physicians polled believe these things help. Forty-one percent of the American public polled said that their ill health had been improved or even cured because of personal prayer. It is not out of place, according to 74 percent of Americans, for doctors to begin a discussion of a patient’s spiritual needs as part of the patient’s treatment.

It’s not surprising to learn that the Bible was right thousands of years before modern medicine learned that spiritual health and physical health are related. But it is nice to see this area of science finally catching up with the Bible.

Prayer: I praise You dear Father, because You have shared Your wisdom with us in the Bible. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Author: Paul A. Bartz

Ref: Better Health, Summer 99, v.15, n.2. Photo: Pixabay (PD)