Health and Wellness
Many Christian physicians have set out to define "health" in biblical terms. What I've found is that they usually try to smash together two concepts: holistic wellness (or biblical "shalom") and our modern understanding of biomedical health.
It might be helpful to leave health and wellness as two separate things. John Pilch explains in his book, Wellness Spirituality, that for him "wellness is not a synonym for good health, physical or mental. You can be terminally ill, mentally retarded, and permanently disabled, yet still have a high level of wellness… Wellness can be imagined as a line parallel to a health and sickness line. Wellness can coexist with terminal illness as well as with health."
He goes on to say that in his experience, the people who have the hardest time with this distinction between health and wellness are healthcare professionals who can only see reality through the lens of their profession. "Such individuals claim that sound physical health is the basis for wellness and thereby exclude individuals whose health is incurably deteriorating.”
So what is wholeness according to Pilch? He outlines five key elements for wellness, which, as it turns out, have a lot to do with spirituality:
Some confusion enters when we get sick and someone tells us that it is always God's will for us to be healthy. Well then, what's the problem? Am I not praying hard enough? Is God not powerful enough to cure my illness?
But is it always God's will for you to be healthy? I think generally it is, except for when your health comes at the expense of your wellness. In other words, if by making you sick, God can improve your wellness He will do it. For example, in 2 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about being given a "thorn in the flesh" by God through Satan in order that he might not become conceited. His health worsened in order that his wellness increased (or at least didn't decrease vis-a-vis conceitedness).
It seems that our wellness or unwellness may stick with us longer than this mortal life. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man died and still seemed to be unwell, thus where he ended up. Lazarus, on the other hand, was no longer unhealthy after death. And as it turns out, he was apparently a spiritually well person in spite of his health condition and wound up in the good place.
There's a cheeky saying among doctors: "100% of the patients you treat will eventually die." These bodies we currently have are on an inevitable slide towards old age and death. God has solved that problem, though. He has promised us a future bodily resurrection, never to die or get sick again. So, it seems to be a problem of free will. God can resurrect the body to a completely healthy state without messing with our free will, but I fail to see how He could instantaneously change our wellness - which has to do with our attitudes and motivations - without interfering with free will.
What I am suggesting is that we allow health and wellness to be two separate things. This will allow those with disabilities, incurable diseases, and all those who simply aren't as young and spry as they used to be to still be considered "well" persons. This will also not cause us to call God's character into question every time we get sick, knowing that God can use even sickness to make us well.
It might be helpful to leave health and wellness as two separate things. John Pilch explains in his book, Wellness Spirituality, that for him "wellness is not a synonym for good health, physical or mental. You can be terminally ill, mentally retarded, and permanently disabled, yet still have a high level of wellness… Wellness can be imagined as a line parallel to a health and sickness line. Wellness can coexist with terminal illness as well as with health."
He goes on to say that in his experience, the people who have the hardest time with this distinction between health and wellness are healthcare professionals who can only see reality through the lens of their profession. "Such individuals claim that sound physical health is the basis for wellness and thereby exclude individuals whose health is incurably deteriorating.”
So what is wholeness according to Pilch? He outlines five key elements for wellness, which, as it turns out, have a lot to do with spirituality:
- Accepting responsibility for making free choices.
- Finding personally effective sources of motivation, particularly spiritual values and religious beliefs.
- Determining one's personal meaning and purpose in life.
- Identifying life's authentic joys and pleasures.
- Realizing that change or conversion is a normal part of life.
Some confusion enters when we get sick and someone tells us that it is always God's will for us to be healthy. Well then, what's the problem? Am I not praying hard enough? Is God not powerful enough to cure my illness?
It seems that our wellness or unwellness may stick with us longer than this mortal life. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man died and still seemed to be unwell, thus where he ended up. Lazarus, on the other hand, was no longer unhealthy after death. And as it turns out, he was apparently a spiritually well person in spite of his health condition and wound up in the good place.
There's a cheeky saying among doctors: "100% of the patients you treat will eventually die." These bodies we currently have are on an inevitable slide towards old age and death. God has solved that problem, though. He has promised us a future bodily resurrection, never to die or get sick again. So, it seems to be a problem of free will. God can resurrect the body to a completely healthy state without messing with our free will, but I fail to see how He could instantaneously change our wellness - which has to do with our attitudes and motivations - without interfering with free will.
What I am suggesting is that we allow health and wellness to be two separate things. This will allow those with disabilities, incurable diseases, and all those who simply aren't as young and spry as they used to be to still be considered "well" persons. This will also not cause us to call God's character into question every time we get sick, knowing that God can use even sickness to make us well.
Comments
Post a Comment