Were the disciples and early church anti medicine?
Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:49 am
Hey all, I was wanting to ask you all this because, I recently heard a story in the news about a Church of Christ or chrismatic Christian family apparently allowing their newborn baby to die by only anointing him with oil and praying for him and not getting medical treatment for the baby.
This isn't the only story I have heard in the past like this. Apparently among many fringe Christian or should I say cult groups tend to take some verses way too far and this I think, is a big example.
But still I'm puzzled, in the new testament it does indeed command believers to lay hands, pray for, and anoint with oil *(I guess, I'm unsure about anointing since I've never done it myself). But unlike the nutjobs I just described, were the apostles and early church anti medicine and anti doctors?
I know that medicine wasn't anything back then like it is today, but did the early church use pre-modern medicine along with prayer sort of like what we do now, or did they only rely on prayer for healing and wellness?
Let me know what you all think.
This isn't the only story I have heard in the past like this. Apparently among many fringe Christian or should I say cult groups tend to take some verses way too far and this I think, is a big example.
But still I'm puzzled, in the new testament it does indeed command believers to lay hands, pray for, and anoint with oil *(I guess, I'm unsure about anointing since I've never done it myself). But unlike the nutjobs I just described, were the apostles and early church anti medicine and anti doctors?
I know that medicine wasn't anything back then like it is today, but did the early church use pre-modern medicine along with prayer sort of like what we do now, or did they only rely on prayer for healing and wellness?
Let me know what you all think.