COMMUNITY OF FAITH

In January of 2009, the parents of 11 year-old Kara Neumann prayed fervently while their daughter lay in their Wisconsin home dying of complications from diabetes. The article in the New York Times notes that: Her parents are known locally as followers of an online faith outreach group called Unleavened Bread Ministries, run by a preacher, David Eells. The site shares stories of faith healing and talks about the end of the world. An essay on the site signed Pastor Bob states that the Bible calls for healing by faith alone. “Jesus never sent anyone to a doctor or a hospital,” the essay says. “Jesus offered healing by one means only! Healing was by faith.”

Much controversy surrounds similar cases based upon how we make distinctions between freedom of religion and child abuse. In looking at this case, it is hard to argue against Pastor Bob's viewpoint that God is the source of healing. After all, we do claim that God alone is the source of all life, healing and forgiveness. So how do we address this way of interpreting scripture and faith?

Pastor Jeff Wild, at Advent Lutheran in Madison, Wisconsin talked about this case one Sunday morning and keenly observed that when we remove ourselves from the web of human relationships, we deny the full power of God’s good creation. In this case, there is also a separation from the accountability that comes with a relationship to the wider human community. When one group or one individual decides upon only one way of viewing or understanding a particular issue, or in this case interpretation of scripture, it becomes a dangerous ideology. Religious ideologies make demands and limit input from the wider human community and seek to control the behavior of others. This particular controlling viewpoint promotes the notion that God will punish those who fail to be obedient to a set of rules prescribed by one group of people. As a former Christian Scientist whose own son died from lack of medical care stated in the New York Times article, “We knew that once we went to the doctor, we’d be cut off from God.”

But as Paul tells us in Romans, nothing has the power to limit our access to God. God does not limit God’s love as a means of punishment or retribution for lack of faith. Paul knows all too well the power of this love that dramatically turned his own ideological viewpoints around. Lutheran Study Bible author David E. Fredrickson (1 Cor. introduction) tells us, “Love is not the same thing as control, nor is love the same as discipline. Control is power over others or even power on behalf of others. But love is communion.” We must discern God’s will for our lives and interpret scripture within this web of human community where we are held accountable. It is never easy and often we must hand over our own ideological viewpoints in order to be open to the power of this love. But when we do, we will have our sight restored like Paul and see that what we hold in common, or in full communion, is God’s unconditional love.