Coverup,

Like Gary, I have some of the same background experiences as you in terms of knowing people who expect God to be a substitute for good, professional medical treatment -- and I continue to be perplexed and exasperated by it. I sort of did Gary's progression in reverse -- I was raised in an evangelical family and became a Catholic in my forties. While I was growing up, I saw relatives in my extended family dealing with major health issues and being very passive about medical treatment, saying "if God wants me to get better, he will heal me". On the other hand, I saw my father confronted with a seriously debilitating (and somewhat obscure) illness and observed my mother, a deeply religious woman, aggressively researching and pursuing every scrap of medical literature she could find on his illness so she could obtain expert professional help for him, which added greatly to the quality of his life, particularly in his later years. More than once I heard her explicitly reject the "sit back and wait for a miracle" approach that she saw in some other family members. Like her -- and like Gary -- I believe that God can and does use experienced medical professionals to accomplish great acts of healing. (My ENT surgeon was a very religious and compassionate man who used his skills to save many lives.)

If I had not gotten the kind of comprehensive treatment that I received 17 years ago, I'd probably be long since dead, as my pathology report showed a fairly aggressive type of tumor. I'm thankful for every day I've had since then, as I've had increasing opportunities in recent years to become more active in my church, as well as in several other volunteer activities. I've had many wonderful experiences (too numerous to mention) in my post-cancer years and believe that God DOES work in mysterious ways -- often using people such as doctors and nurses along the way.

Cathy

P.S. Brian -- I hope this is a permissible "breaking of the rules" in light of the tone of the thread.