For many, to question their doctor is as irreverent as questioning their priest. Yet, consumerism has begun in medicine. Insurance companies and government agencies have begun to require doctors and drug companies to prove their treatments are safe and effective. So there is a growing movement to question conventional medical care. The temples of medicine are crumbling.
Healers have been said to have a special gift. Some are called saints. For most of mankind’s history, health and a godly life were fused. Religious leaders prescribed folk remedies to their flocks. Plagues cut short the human life span, so for a great part of human history man lived under the threat of his imminent demise. Nutritional deficiencies and lack of personal and public hygiene were the hidden causes behind most epidemics. But mankind interpreted sickness as evidence that the reigning gods were unhappy. Mankind pled for mercy and universally came up with the idea of offerings to appease the gods.
The pharaohs in Egypt and the emperors in China were quick to mix their magic potions with a variety of herbs to obscure which one held the healing power so the laity would not have this knowledge. But when this knowledge was discovered by the common man and became a threat to the ruler and physicians, it was branded as witchcraft and sorcery and was condemned. Not much has changed over the centuries. In the modern world pharmacological prescriptions are obscured in Latin and any remedy that is not ordered by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacist, that is outside the approved compendium of 3200 drugs, is considered to be unproven and possibly dangerous.
And people are not completely satisfied with the technical advancements of modern medicine, of just prolonging life and postponing death. In the face of all the medical breakthroughs, all of a sudden there is a turn towards alternative medicine and a return to traditional health practices. The use of shamans and health gurus are on the rise and acupuncture, massage therapy, Chinese herbs and mind-body medicine techniques are in vogue. Why?
As spectacular as the advancements in medical technology have been over the past century, there may be limits to progress. Chronic diseases still plague mankind, and longevity has given rise to an array of age-related health problems such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer, and retinal disease, for which modern medicine has few remedies. The “magic bullet” drugs are falling into disfavor with the realization that it costs nearly as much to treat their side effects as it does to purchase them. Medical mistakes are now among the leading causes of death in the U.S. Germs are becoming resistant to antibiotics and health officials fear worldwide plagues. Mankind is still vulnerable to viral epidemics (AIDS comes to mind), which antibiotics are useless against. The Medicare system, which pays for the medical care of retirees, could not afford to provide a cure for cancer even if it were to be developed. Many retirees cannot afford the drugs they are prescribed, and many others do not have health insurance.
So God is the true Dietician, Holy Bible is the best diet prescription manual for all human being on this earth.
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