The Point of Medicine
The following articles fall under this category of content within The Point of Medicine.
Empty Vessels
“While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message” (Acts 10:44, NIV).
A Compelling Argument
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13, NIV).
Loving God
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son…” (1 John 4:10, NIV).
On the Side: October 2024
The burden of a friend’s pain is heavy. I’m with you. But Paul’s letter to Philippi reminds us that God is faithful in carrying them until the day of Christ. Maybe you’re the friend with the burden. We’re with you!
Family
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name” (Ephesians 3:14-15, NIV).
Jehovah Mephalti
“In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me” (Psalm 120:1, ESV).
The Pain of Second Chances
“The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress…’” (Hosea 3:1, NIV).
Desert Ridges
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (Job 38:4a, NIV).
Friction
When we struggle, a painful friction changes us, and the change provides new opportunities for His glory.
On the Side: September 2024
nd so it happened that one week before move-in day for my baby, I saw a dog that seemed to need me. I looked at my husband and said I think I will fill out this application. My dog-loving hubby told me to go right ahead.
The Real You Inside
“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens” (Ezra 9:6, NIV).
Naturally Sticky
On the last day of our Spring Canyon vacation with most of our children and all our grandchildren, after the adult time of worship and spiritual message, my son and his wife went to collect their two children from the children’s program.
Forevermore
My wife and I chose to use our vacation money this year to invite our kids and grandkids to a Christian ranch in Colorado. Today we were gathered in a worship service at Spring Canyon Ranch, where the hook of Mount Princeton is rising in the distance
At the Table or On the Menu
On June 18, 2024, Miles Meline highlighted a recent study published in The American Journal of Bioethics called, “Bioethicists Today: Results of the Views in Bioethics Survey,” which confirmed Smith’s, and in general our, worst suspicions.
A Question of Place
I have been managing his prostate cancer for 10 years. During that time, his wife left him and all his children moved elsewhere. He loves the Lord deeply. His sister wants him to come live with her in Texas. His daughter wants him to come and live with her in Alabama.
On the Side: August 2024
I had delayed answering for too long, because she was rephrasing the question yet again. “Where do you go when you want to find the truth?”
A Call to Engage in Contemporary Culture
We are living under common grace. As Colson states it, “God’s power sustains creation holding back sin and evil because of the fall and that would otherwise overwhelm his creation like a great flood.” We can be incredibly thankful for that common grace, but what is our role? What is our responsibility in holding back evil?
Clean Evangelism
Last Sunday I looked to the choir loft of my local church and spotted a man whose father I knew when I served in Nigeria as a medical missionary. Today, I found my diary and located my account of his father:
Circus in Town
My faith, that hope grounded in certainty, was not imagined by a heartfelt desire. It was fully grounded on the character, capacity and commitment of my father.
See You Later
“‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57, ESV).
Lies, Love and Civil Discourse
Today, recognizing the numerous forms of lying to which we are tempted, our communication is to be characterized by veracity, courage and love. Especially in our highly polarized society, when we see the stakes of political decisions as being so high, it is tempting to fudge the truth to win an argument, or avoid speaking the truth, in order to keep the peace and avoid painful confrontation.
Steadfast
“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves…” (Ephesians 4:14, NIV).
The Big Gamble
“…I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12, NIV).
On the Side: July 2024
My physician hubby and I just celebrated 33 years married. 33 years. 25 of those I have been married to a physician. (The first eight he was an aerospace engineer but don’t get me started on the bliss of having a NASA engineer as a husband and the flex schedule that meant he had a three-day weekend twice a month!)
The Anxious Generation
Are skyrocketing rates of mental illness among the young caused by smartphones? A growing chorus of mental health professionals and research psychologists say “absolutely yes.” What does the evidence show, what can we do about it and why are religious conservatives largely being spared?
Praying for Dogs
I prayed for a dog today. I’m not a dog-lover; I’m a dog-liker, but I prayed for Hershey today. A young man who had fallen on hard times called me today, a friend I had not heard from in years, but I had prayed for him regularly.
Business-model Seeking
If I become a private practice doctor, I might win four people to Christ in my life; but, as a missionary doctor, I could win 400? If I am a preacher, I would win 800? Should we not do for God that which brings the best outcomes? It’s certainly honorable to try. Such thinking works for Microsoft; does it work for Christ?
A Declaration Heard Around the World: Protect Our Children from Harm
Whether a healthcare professional, legislator, mother, father or concerned citizen, it should be our highest priority to protect children. Several healthcare professionals, healthcare organizations and others are doing just that.
Selfish with Sadness
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV).
Suffering and Facing Death
No fewer than 20 states introduced assisted suicide bills so far in 2024, and polling suggests the majority of Americans are sympathetic to the cause. According to the stats, this must mean a number of supporters would at least call themselves Christians, which strikes me as a sad development considering the rich tradition of Christian thought regarding how we should live in our final days.
On the Side: June 2024
“…let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross…”
Hebrews 12:1-2
Faithful
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25, ESV).
Inconsistent Ideology from ACOG
How can the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) fully support gender-affirmation surgery but strongly condemn female genital mutilation?
The Cass Review Final Report (UK), 2024
The final Cass Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People was released in April 2024.
Mission in the Mess
“…Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14, NET).
Seasoned
“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6, NIV).
Grabbing For Jesus
“As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored…” (2 Thessalonians 3:1, NASB).
On the Side: May 2024
The best title of all to have, I think, is the title of “Redeemed.” No matter what other titles we may have, no matter how noble or glorious they are, compared to Redeemed, they all seem to shrink in importance.
Excellence
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23, NIV).
God’s Sandwich
One of my favorite patients is a part-time pastor. At the beginning of his visit this week, he shared a frustrating story from the day before. “I was standing in the line at Subway, telling the woman how to fix my sandwich.
Unavailable
I stepped into the fellows’ room to share a bit of wisdom: “You guys are not yet practicing medicine but will get there soon enough. Let me tell you how to build your practice.
The Debasement of Title IX
The latest update to Title IX regulations, introduced by the Biden Administration, will be devastating for women’s sports.
8 Principles of Sound Christian Thinking
Beliefs have consequences. All other things being equal, false beliefs have worse consequences. Pick any issue on which people are divided. COVID treatments? Sexuality? Evolution? It doesn’t matter what.
Pentecost
He was cancer free but suffering from complications of therapy. “This ain’t nothing,” he declared. “In the 80s I was shooting up drugs every day. I would find myself watching my hand inject the drugs and tell it to stop, but it wouldn’t. I even tried to commit suicide. I took an extra-large dose of the drug and injected it.
Hope-Hopping
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure…” (Hebrews 6:19, NIV).
We reviewed his CT in our multidisciplinary conference after treating his cancer with radioembolization.
I brought him good news: “Right now, I’m optimistic. There’s no evidence of cancer on your scan.”
He replied, “Optimist nothing, Doc. God said, ‘It is finished,’ and that’s all I need. That’s where my hope lies.”
Xenotransplantation: What’s New and Should We Be Concerned?
In the last month, a patient with kidney failure was discharged from the hospital, off dialysis, with a new kidney—from a genetically modified pig. What an incredible accomplishment.
On the Side: April 2024
Moving is an art form. It’s also an invitation to be gentle with ourselves and fall into the arms of Grace.
Responding to ACOG…Again
On February 27, 2024, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a “Consensus Statement on Threats to Reproductive and Maternal Health Care.” ACOG and 12 other organizations act as though they are speaking on behalf of all OB/Gyns to further their agenda that abortion is healthcare. I would like to respond, because they do not speak on my behalf.
Hanging By a Thread
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV).
Why You Need Church
A 2023 report by Pew Research Center reported that 13 percent of Americans reported attending in-person worship services in the summer of 2020. I was not one of them. Until we had a vaccine, I did not want people gathering in groups.
Gracefully Broken
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17, ESV).
LGBTQIA+ and the Political Divide
To many, the Sexual Revolution evokes nothing more than memories of the summer of love, the emergence of contraception and the “freedom” for sexual expression. However, after years of warnings by Christian cultural commentators, the Sexual Revolution has overtaken the mainstream.
The Nudge
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8, NIV).
Bulvarism and Bias: Responding to Flawed Scholarship
In early 2023, I read the article “Gender bias in postgraduate year one pharmacy letters of recommendation” published by in the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. The analysis contained methodological flaws, and it presented conclusions that were not derived from the evidence presented.
Fickle Faith
He is one of our few remaining World War II heroes at 97—a retired pastor, still alert, able to walk with a cane, writing great stories about his life and sharing wisdom that only comes with experience.
The Status of Frozen Children
Anyone paying close attention to current events has likely heard about the Alabama Supreme Court decision declaring that frozen embryos created through IVF are legally children under the state’s constitution. The legal case arose when a person unauthorized by an IVF clinic destroyed frozen embryos from three Alabama couples who later filed a lawsuit against the clinic.
ACOG Doesn’t Speak on My Behalf
In this statement, ACOG is calling for “the ability of every patient to access abortion when they need it…,” while further claiming that “abortion is an essential part of comprehensive healthcare.” As a practicing OB/Gyn, I again cannot stand by and let this organization speak on my behalf.
I Need to Do Better
He is one of our few remaining World War II heroes at 97—a retired pastor, still alert, able to walk with a cane, writing great stories about his life and sharing wisdom that only comes with experience.
On the Side: March 2024
I hear Wade talk about his interviews for residency sometimes. I hear him describe flying to a centralized location in the Southeast and renting a car. I hear him describe traveling from program to program to hit as many schools with one flight as possible.
Sophisticated Lies Endanger Everyone—Black, Brown, White and Other
Language can be cloak and dagger—particularly when that “old serpent” is speaking who is none other than Satan. He is the father of lies, as noted in John 8:44. He is the original liar. Adam and Eve experienced Satan’s craftiness firsthand when he asked Eve in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” and then went on to lie and say to her in Genesis 3:4, “You will not certainly die” (NIV).
The Squeeze
Is the juice worth the squeeze? This is a reasonable question to ask about following Christ, and Jesus encouraged His followers to do so.
Eutychus
The battle between faith and science is a battle in people’s minds, not between two great opposing forces. In my discussion with her, she shared her faith in God and the spiritual. “I’ve seen spiritual healing,” she said. I then tried my best to lay out for her my understanding of the integration of faith and science in healing.
Does Acceptance of “Deep Time” or Evolution Imperil Christian Belief?
Does acceptance of evolution or geological time imperil Christian belief? The evidence says no. But guess what does?
Multiplication
I received this message from a young Albanian physician I had not seen for many years: “Hello, brother. As I am reading your book (which I borrowed from my brother’s wife). I cannot help but thank you for your mission in Albania. In March 2016, I came to the Lord in one of the conferences in Durres. That led to my mom, her mom, my brother, my cousin, my father, my other cousin coming to Christ!” As I learned more, it became clear I had not been the one who led her to Christ, but I had been present as part of the team. What amazes me about her story is the beautiful way God works if we just show up.
Painful Redirections
There are times we want things badly: good things, even Godly things, that God has not chosen for us. The tearing away of those dreams is painful but not evil if we leave God in charge.
The Case for Conscience
The United States has long been a beacon of freedom in the world, and it has held the hope of a better life even before it was an independent nation. We see this exhibited in history when the Pilgrims left Europe in 1620 to come to the New World.
How Then Should We Live?
What does the Bible say about the body in light of today’s gender confusion? How then do you think we should live? While not new, a form of a gnostic dualism is ascendent in our world today. Our postmodern culture has rallied behind a two-tiered view of the human being, promoting the mind or consciousness at the expense of the body.
The Ethical Healthcare Professional
No one would choose to be treated by an unethical healthcare professional. So, how do we as established healthcare professionals go about teaching the next generation of caregivers how to behave ethically, and what are some of the most important areas we should focus on in education?
Broken Legs and Grenades
We can’t always hide from the huge cruelty of life. It’s always there, mixed in with the great wonder and joy of life—a brokenness seeping up up from the soil of our fallen world.
On the Side: February 2024
We all need advice, and from time to time we may even look for it. The question is, where should we seek it? The Internet? The Bible? Our pastor? A friend? A family member? Where can a Christian find godly advice?
An Invitation to Sign the IFTCC International Declaration on Therapeutic and Pastoral Choice
The International Foundation for Therapeutic and Counselling Choice (IFTCC) and their global community of member mental health and medical professionals have authored “An International Declaration on ‘Conversion Therapy’ and Therapeutic Choice,” proposing that “Signatories of this International Declaration call upon our governments, local authorities, human rights, media and religious organisations, to recognise that the right to self-determination is an established principle of international law, and therefore must include the right to shape and develop one’s own sexual identity, feelings and associated behaviours, and to receive support to do so.”
Beautiful Mornings
We can’t always hide from the huge cruelty of life. It’s always there, mixed in with the great wonder and joy of life—a brokenness seeping up up from the soil of our fallen world.
900 Professors?
I am responding to the January 2024 article in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology entitled, “A statement on abortion by 900 professors of obstetrics and gynecology after the reversal of Roe v. Wade.”
How Long is Grief?
How long is grief? I guess what I’m really asking is, “Does grief ever end?”
Enlightening the View
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in June 2022, the acrimony within the abortion debate has increased exponentially, accompanied by a marked increase in the amount of misinformation contained in the debate.
The Core of Things
The Core of Things | Weekly Devotions by Al Weir, MD | “She was a medical student and a new Christian. She came with a small group of Christian students from Macedonia to our Albanian student evangelism conference. Small in stature, smart and soft-spoken, she rarely spoke up in our small discussion group of mixed Muslim, orthodox, atheist and agnostic students.”
Boldness or Respect?
“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold” (2 Corinthians 3:12, NIV).
Stopping the Pain and Saving Lives: Successful Treatments for Sickle Cell Disease
As Christians in healthcare, we must hold fast to the belief that all life holds value, and all human beings are made in the Imago Dei. To veer from that belief is to allow room for the lie that some lives are not worth living.
Texting Prayers
I caught myself misusing my prayer life today. A friend whose mother is very ill sent a text and asked for prayers. I immediately replied by text, “Praying for you now,” and I lifted up a quick one.
Discussing Difficult Cases
As Christians in healthcare, we must hold fast to the belief that all life holds value, and all human beings are made in the Imago Dei. To veer from that belief is to allow room for the lie that some lives are not worth living.
What Good Has Christianity Ever Done for the World?
This Advent season and new year, it’s fitting to reflect on what came of Christ’s coming. How did it change the world for the good? Foundational tenants—fundamentals, if you will—are key, and those of Christian biblical faith ignited a cultural revolution that continues to this day.
Eternity in Our Hearts
Our Christmas schedule was different this year. Helped by a day off for bronchitis, I had more time to reflect; and I did so, remembering many healthcare professionals, and others, who have impacted my life for Christ through the moments I have spent with them.
On the Side: January 2024
I finished school many years ago. My children are almost grown. My youngest is a senior in high school. There are no grandchildren on my horizon to date. Yet, I still put the new crayons in my shopping buggy at least once a year. There is just something wondrous about a brand-new box.
1946: The Mistranslation that Had Absolutely No Effect on Anything
This December marks the official theatrical release of 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture. According to Tim Malloy of MovieMaker magazine, “This film may change your mind about homosexuality and the Bible—if you watch it.”[1] Will it? Should it?
First Things First
The family structure, grounded in a foundation of parental respect, is at the center of God’s plan for humanity. The more we mess with it, the more our culture will crumble. The more we honor it, the more we will be individually blessed. It comes with a promise.
Goldilocks Faith
Blaise Pascal said, “I do not ask for health or sickness or life or death: I ask that you dispose of my health, sickness, my life, and death—for your glory, for my salvation, for the use of the church and the saints of which I am a part…Give to me, take away from me, but make my will conform to yours.”
Intentionality
Yesterday morning was Saturday. I was on call for morning rounds. On my drive in, I asked the Lord to let me speak the name of Jesus to at least one person that day. After rounds, I made it to the second half of my granddaughter’s basketball game, and then a friend called.
Stirring Up Fear Unnecessarily
This article questions the ethics and the challenges to female physicians’ well-being of hosting professional meetings in states where abortion is restricted.
Why God Invented Swimming Pools
A Christian physician, whom I should not name for safety reasons, told me of God’s faithfulness to complete that which He had started. He and his wife have led a ministry to Afghanistan for many years that included medical care, personal evangelism and hospice development. When the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, their ability to continue ministry in person was torn from them.
On the Side: December 2023
We drove to Mississippi from Chicago while in medical school. We had three under two and knew we probably wouldn’t make it the entire way in one day but weren’t exactly sure how far we would make it. And so, we decided to drive until we had to stop. It was a great decision right up until the triplets were past exhausted and there was not one hotel room to be found. Not one.
Pitching Our Tents in This Present Darkness
This clashing of worldviews calls me and other believers to confront darkness more often than we would prefer as we demonstrate and promote God’s truth and love in a world that pursues destructive answers for healing in the brokenness of our fallen humanity. Such healing only comes through a spiritual transformation, such that we are conformed to the mind of Christ (Romans 12:2).
MRI
“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him” (Psalm 40:3, NIV).
The 100th Birthday Party
Permit me to humbly suggest the following: If you are ever invited to a 100th birthday party, consider attending. And if the centenarian is one of your dearly departed mother’s most treasured friends, do whatever you can to attend.
A Song from the Heart
“He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him” (Psalm 40:3, NIV).
A Reflection on Friends, Mortality and Eternity
I was surprised that the death of a celebrity, whom I did not know and was not likely to ever meet, caused such deep reflection. And yet, these kinds of moments in life always seem to do that. It’s as if we forget from day to day that our human bodies are, in fact, mortal and our days here are truly numbered.
Four New Books Dealing with Transgenderism
Publications exposing transgender ideology and its capture of academics, medicine, the entertainment industry, government and the business sector are picking up steam. What we might term the breakout books, those that caught traction and burst onto the public square addressing and countering the whirlwind of transgenderism.
A Brilliant Machinist
Somehow in our fall from grace, we were distorted to become creatures to suck life in, like this vacuum cleaner. Our natural, fallen selves are wired to take from the world, to seek good things for ourselves and possess them, to suck in all that our hearts long for.
Who’s Calling Who a Blob?
Well, there they go again: science reporters are calling human beings “blobs.” Not blobs as in the classic science fiction movie that wreaked havoc and death on unwitting victims. No, they are back to labeling innocent embryo-age human beings as mere “blobs of cells.”
My Way, Not Yours
I’ve been discouraged over my “effectiveness” for Christ recently. It seems that, though I love Him, I am not accomplishing the work for Him that I imagine. At 10 a.m. this morning I took a 15-minute break and kneeled in the hospital chapel, just asking for Him to do what He wanted with me for His service.
Tucker Gets It—Abortion is Child-Sacrifice
In case you missed it, political commentator Tucker Carlson was speaking at an event hosted by The Center for Christian Virtue back in September in Cleveland, Ohio, where he brought up two key ballot initiatives Ohioans will be voting on in early November.