Copy of HEALTH AND DISEASE

Health and Disease

In what ways are followers of Jesus demonstrating God's loving character through caring for the sick, preventing disease, and even attempting to eradicate some diseases?

Photo credit: Sanofi Pasteur - Flickr

Posts tagged health
Blessed Are the Shalom-Makers: The Role of the Health Practitioner in the Church

by Brian Lowther and Beth Snodderly

People are being wounded physically, psychologically, and spiritually by activities instigated by the adversary, the devil, the sniper, that “ancient foe” that seeks “to work us woe.” In this cosmic battle with the prince of darkness, health care workers need affirmation and support from the body of Christ so they do not grow “weary in doing good” (Gal. 6:9).

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The Role of the Church and Other Public Health Providers in the Fight against HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Kalemba Mwambazambi

The spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa poses an enormous challenge for public health providers in countries that are already weakened by many other evils such as poverty, wars, corruption, social injustice, and political conflicts. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a drop of water in a bucket already overflowing. Within the context of African concepts of family, sexuality, and of the pandemic itself, this article analyzes the tasks of public health providers, communities, and government. It emphasizes the role of families and the church in stemming the exponential spread of this pandemic.

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Holistic Transformational Development through Surgical Care

by Dan Poenaru, M.D.

“I have a dream…” The iconic words, spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 resonate in the ears of all those who, like me, would like to see true transformational development be born and flourish through the church of Jesus Christ in global communities bound by poverty, sickness, injustice, and apathy. This is the dream which has led me to a more than decade-long health care career in Africa, and the dream which made me join, in 2000, BethanyKids, a small faith-based organization whose motto is “healing children in Africa, transforming lives.”

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Reflection: What Does God Want Human Life to Look Like?

by Beth Snodderly

Paul Pierson’s answer to this question gives a good description of shalom: grace, health, education, safety, well-being for all people.

These qualities flow from being in right relationship with God, as seen in Jeremiah’s prophecy that tied the concept of “prosperity” (Hebrew: shalom) to God’s forgiveness for the peoples’ “… sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it” (Jer. 33:8, 9).

From this passage, it is clear that shalom is a quality that is observable.…

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Reflection: Health and Shalom

by Beth Snodderly

Recently I read a Florida State University dissertation, “Shalom and its relationship to health/healing in the Hebrew Scriptures.”* A society that is healthy and experiencing shalom, is one that is in right relationship with God’s cosmic order. In a sick society, the righteous suffer at the hands of deceitful and untruthful people. That sounds familiar. Bribery is a way of life in much of the under-developed world. This dissertation gives a biblical explanation for that under-development.

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