Faith and its Manifestations

Read today: http://www.somareview.com/ which is a site I often read. It is the Society for Mutual Autopsy, autopsy meaning "to see with one's own eyes" literally. Found an article which I will quote and try to briefly summarize: http://www.somareview.com/noprosthesis.cfm

No Prosthesis for Jesus To avoid hell, a Christian chose death over the amputation of a gangrenous limb. Gotta love that old-time, fear-based religion! By John Sparks and Mary Beth Crain

A few days ago, I posted a blog describing journalist turned author Jennifer Skiff’s request for “God Stories” for a book she’s working on. And it struck me that just as there must be millions of people who’ve had experiences that convinced them of the existence of God—that’s the subject of Skiff’s book—there must be just as many who’ve faced trials or witnessed events in life that led them to seriously doubt, even reject, God... Yet another kind of reply came from Kentucky author John Sparks. He told the tale of an old Appalachian lady who, clinging to her brand of fundamentalist beliefs about salvation, chose to die a terrible, painful death rather lose a gangrenous limb and thus her place in heaven...—J. Spalding * * *

John Sparks: Some years ago I worked in the laboratory of a mid-sized rural hospital, which meant that I occasionally had to serve as a jack-of-all-trades for the pathologist if his own technician didn't happen to be available. One night I had to draw blood from an elderly patient suffering from developing gangrene in one limb. My father was an amputee and, thinking that the patient had been admitted for an amputation, I mentioned Dad's operation to the patient's sons and daughters who were present. They immediately corrected my mistake: this patient was not going to have an amputation, because her Christian faith was such that she felt she had to keep her body entirely intact for the Resurrection...

The old patient suffered for two or three weeks and finally died, to the last refusing amputation of that gangrenous limb because her faith simply demanded that her body be intact to be raised in the power of the Lord..

It's a hard thing to think that people can, and do, die for extremely deeply felt religious beliefs that in the long run turn out to be worth [very little].

Mary Beth Crain: John Sparks’ story made me ponder the irrational, perverted, and thoroughly self-destructive lengths to which human beings will go in affirming their faith in God...

Sparks’ tale of the old Appalachian lady who suffered a terrible, needless death rather than lose a gangrenous limb and her place in line for the Rapture is a wonderful, if distressing, example of religion gone berserk. Had someone invited this poor woman to follow her logic to its ridiculous conclusion, I wonder if she would have been forced to rethink her position...

Our old Appalachian woman was obviously controlled by a fear-based religion so insidiously lethal that it overrode her very instinct for self-preservation.

Even as we realize the need to talk between faiths to increase our understanding, we may still find ourselves condemning our own co-religionists.The same standards of what is acceptable religious belief as described above would, if applied to the Lord Buddha, condemn him as a wild man seeking suicide.These standards would decry Gandhi's fasts as the work of a mindless terrorist.

What life do these people mean to save this grandmother for?

A life of poverty wherein she finds herself an object of scorn and ridicule?

Perhaps Granny has borne enough suffering and decided that it is time to leave suffering behind.

That is one point that never dawns on the People of Reason who heap scorn upon her: maybe Granny is attaining Nirvana!