The

Reconstruction.
of Medicine
by Joseph C. Morecraft, ill
I. THE CRISIS OF MODERN
MEDICINE
A. The Political Crisis
Our federal government
continues to move closer and closer to
the complete socialization of America's
health care system with such plans as
Secretary Bowen's Catastrophic Health
Insurance and Senator Kennedy's
Mandatory Health Insurance.l It refuses
to recognize that socialized medicine is
the death of the practice of medicine
that is inexpensive, effective and
available to all. All nations with
socialized medicine, such as the USSR,
Great Britain, and Canada lack one
thing, writes Harry Schwartz: "enough
money t9 provide quality medical care
and to take full advantage of modem
medical technology."2 Health care in
the USSR is a disaster. Britain's health
care system is in shambles, and
Canada's is on its way down.
"One or two generations ago, many
people dreamed that socialized medicine
would provide every citizen with all the
health care he needed or wanted. But
history has proved irrefutably that
medicine is simply a means
of tmposmg Procrustean rationing on
the entire population. In other words
. . '
some ctuzens receive care and live,
while others are denied care and are
permitted to die as quickly as
possible."3 (Harry Schwartz, "The
British Way of Withholding pg.
lOlf in The Freeman, March, 1989).It
must be mentioned that socialism is
not the only eontrlbuting factor to me
political crisis of medicine. The
unionization of medicine by the ..
American Medical Association, with its
Leftist orientatioJl. is also a
contributing factor.
This political crisis is a religious crisis.
As men change their faith, their
politics, world view and social order
change. As America's faith becomes
less and less Christian and more and
more pagan, its politics, worldView
(regarding medicine as well as
everything else) and its social order
become more and more dominated by
paganism's superstition, magic;
This shows up
Particularly the medical profession.
SoCialized medicine; rooted in a retuni
to pagan religion, is already here with
state and federal licensW"e, regulation , ,
and which "can protect
medicme and doctors, but the same
way that slavery protects s1ave8. There
are benefits, but the loss .is a Vital one ;.. _
- modem men and modem doctors are
sta.te property. They may grumble at
bemg sheared periodically, Or sacrificed
to suit the but, in essence, most
ate getting what they have asked for by :
their daily lives. They are statist in
faith. The slave may grumble his
working conditions, but he is simply
property, and he will be used as such. If
he wants a real change, he must work
for his freedom."4
B. The -Legid Crisis '
One needs only mention
words, medical rnalpractice.stiits, or be
Page 16 May 1990 The of
reminded of doctors' insurance costs
and it becomes all too painfully '
obvious that the legal crisis of medicine :
is out of control.
C. The Medical Crisis
1. 1HE CRISIS OF A LOSS
OFFAI11I
a. The Loss of Faith in the
Doctors
Modem doctors,
generally, have lost thek faith in the
One, . True. and Living God of the Bible.
They have replaced thek faith in God
with a fajth in themselves and in
medical/scienCe research and .
as their gods are failing them!
One evtdence of this change of gods in
doctors iffid its evil resUlts is
"medicine's mechanical model" in ;
Western. Culture, Its roots are also in
. ancientJ>aganiSm. This "niechanical
model" rejects the biblical truth that
man and woncin are made in the image
of God and are physical-spiritual beings
for pagan view that the physical
body Is the sole concern of the doctor
and is simply a mechanistic thing. '
When the fuel is low in a machine, we
add more oil and gasoline. When the
mechanical parts break or wear out, we
, add new parts. So with modem
medicine's approach to the patient This
model"produces not only a
distorted medical practice, but a
dangerous one. The idea of man being a
person created in the image of God is
by-paSsed. Life is no longer seen as a
religious but a legal definition "
writes Ru8hdoony: 5 The unborn chnd is
merely a piece of tissue. Euthanasia is
because elderly people are
vtewed as Qld, worn-out models, now
fit only for the junk pile. "The spare
parts idea is cultivated--aborted babies
are a source of raw materials and the
dying are cannibalized for spare
organs."6

God
b. The Loss of Faith in the
(1). The Loss of Faith in
In recent decades
Americans in general have lost thek
faith .in the triune GQ<l and have sought
phystcal, emotional, mental and
spiritual health and salvation from
doctors and medical research, the way
Christians seek salvation from God in
Christ This is nothing new. In ancient
Judah, King Asa "became diseased in
his feet His disease was severe, yet
even in his disease he did not seek the
Lord, but the physicians," II Chron.
16:12.
(2). The Loss of Trust in
Doctors
Since all idols
disappoint their worshipers, more and
more people have lost faith in
physicians. Their image has been so
badly damaged by their humanism,
especially their willingness to murder
unborn babies, that the patients' trust in
doctors is weakening. The doctor once
had an honored and loved status with
his patients because they were
convinced he was deeply religious and
deeply concerned for them. That picture
is rapidly changing due to the decline of
Christian faith in our culture.
John Naisbitt, in his best-selling
book, Megatrends, points out that
"America's loss of faith in the medical
establishment gave a strong symbolic
push to the paradigm shift from
institutional help to self-help. When we
entered the 1970's without the long-
promised cure for cancer, people began
to question the omnipotence of
science." (pg. 133)7
2. TilE CRISIS OF NEW AGE
"HOLISTIC" MEDICINE
Accelerating this medical
crisis and this growing distrust in
"orthodox" medicine is the New Age
Movement with its emphasis on
"holistic" health and healing. In his
helpful book:, Unmasking the New
Age, Douglas Groothuis describes the
attitude that moves people toward
"holistic" New Age medicine: "The
health professionals' mechanistic view
of people, rising malpractice suits,
dangerous prescription drugs, iatrogenic
(doctor-caused) illnesses and soaring
costs have caused more and more people
to question modem medicine. Many
would agree with Voltaire's evaluation:
'Physicians pour drugs of which they
know little, to cure diseases of which
they know less, into humans of which
they know nothing.' Discontent with
establishment medicine coupled with a
gnawing feeling of helplessness in the
face of death and disease has brought
many to the healing fount of
holistic health."
Because of modem "orthodox"
medicine's loss of a Biblical worldview,
there is some justification for
criticism that all it knows to do is "cut,
poison, and bum." There must be a
renewed understanding that patients are
spiritual-physical beings; that
"wellness," i.e., "abundant life" in
Christ is the goal of medicine, not
simply the absence of disease; that
people should take responsibility for
their own health; and that God made
available to us natural resources in
creation, such as certain plants,
minerals, vitamins, etc., that are
essential to our health and restoration.
Although "holistic" medicine
emphasizes its own version of some of
these points (mentioned above), much
of Holism is not holy, because its roots
and presuppositions are drawn from the
paganism of Eastern Religions.
Groothuis warns that "while many
involved in holistic health may not
follow the idea that all is one and all is
god, this is what is most often meant
by holistic. The emphasis on 'universal
energy' betrays the worldview.
Although not all in the profession
would agree, one chiropractor makes his
views crystal clear: 'The chiropractor
believes that the innate intelligence that
runs the body is connected to universal
intelligence that runs the world, so each
person is plugged into the universal
intelligence through the nervous
system.'"9 Hence, the pantheism of the
New Age Movement .
Some forms of acupuncture, drawn
from Chinese Taoism, Shamanistic,
folk healing techniques, hypnosis, and
psychic and mediumistic healing, are
based on the pantheistic worldview of
the New Age Movement, and are
modem forms of old-fashioned
occultism. Groothuis continues: "The
Christian cannot condone a vision of
health rooted in spiritual deception.
Whatever the efficacy of these various
practices, the Christian must be careful
to test the spirits to uncover unbiblical
ideas, I Jn. 4:11.- A host of rebellious
spirits and demons can masquerade as
agents of healing and health for the
purpose of diverting attention from the
Great Physician. -- Holistic health
sometimes falls prey to the great lie
that we are masters of our own destiny
and lords of reality."lO Therefore, it can
be said, that New Age medicine is a
major contributor to the medical crisis
and decline of health care today.
3. TilE CRISIS OF TIIE
ruDGMENT OF GOD ("NEW"
DISEASES & DISORDERS)
Medicine is undergoing a
crisis, precisely because our culture and
society is under the covenant curse and
judgment of Almighty God for our
apostasy from him. "But it shall come
about, if you will not obey the Lord
your God .. The Lord will make the
pestilence cling to you until he has
consumed you from the land. . . . The
Lord will smite you with consumption
and with fever and with blight and with
mildew, and they shall puisue you until
you perish," Deut 28:21f. This
explains the complete failure of modem
medicine to cure AIDS, and the whole
host of new viruses and diseases
entering the human blood system.11
Modem medicine, with its humanistic
presuppositions is a pathetically
helpless dwarf in the face of the
gigantic monster, AIDS. When God
sends plagues in judgment upon a
people, there is " ... no healing for your
sore, no recovery for you" (Jer. 30:13),
without repentance.
D. The Moral Crisis
Christians are all too painfully
aware of the moral crisis of the medical
profession.12 It hurts even to mention
the problem: The holocaust of abortion;
Infanticide; Euthanasia; Disregard for
the sanctity of human life;
Psychotherapy; Freudianism;
Relativism; Darwinianism; The abuses
of brain death; Sex therapy; The abuses
of birth control; Artificial
insemination; Genetic engineering; In-
vitro fertilization; Surrogate
motherhood; Sterilization, etc. And, in
a very real sense the political, legal and
medical crises of modem medicine are
also moral crises, just as they are all
religious crises. They reveal a long-
standing, persistent rebellion against
The Counsel of Chalcedon May 1990 Page 17
God and His revealed will for hwnan
life, which, unless we repent, can only
bring down His severe and devastating
judgment.
ll. THE RECONSTRUCTION
OF MODERN MEDICINE
A. The Basis of Mediclne
The God of the Bible and his
covenant promise are the basis for the
practice and effectiveness of medical
treatment and health care. "If you will
give earnest heed to the voice of, the
Lord your God, and do what is right in
his sight, and give ear to his
conunandments, and keep all his
statutes, I will pllt none of the diseases
on you which I have put on the
Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your
Healer," Exodus 15:26. "Bless the Lord,
0 my soul; and all that is within me,
bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, 0
my soul, and forget none of his
benefits; who pardons all your
iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
who redeems your life from the pit;
who crowns you with lovingkindness
and compassion; who satisfies your
years with good things, so that your
youth is renewed like the eagle, (Ps.
103:1-5.) "And Jesus was going about
in all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel
of the kingdom, and healing every kind
of disease and every kind of sickness
among the people." Matt. 4:23; 9:35.
The root of all disease and sickness
is sin, Rom. 6:23; 3:23. God covenants
with us in mercy and grace that he will
bring spiritual, physical, social and
cosmic health and restoration in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Normally, just as
God uses ministers and witnesses to
bring spiritual and cultural restoration,
so he uses physicians and medical
treatment for physical, .
(pneumosomatic), restotation and
health, James 5:14.
B. The Worldview of
Medkine
Dr. Ed Payne succinctly sets
forth the basics of a Christian/Biblical
worldview of medicine in his book,
Biblical/Medical Ethics, (pg. 94f):l3
"Certain distinctives are essential for a
biblical concept of health. Biblical
anthropology states that man is
composed of body and spirit. Man is
not 'whole' until he is rightly related to
God through the atonement of JeSus
Christ. Any wholistic approach without
the centrality of salvation is antithetical
to. biblical wholism. Following
salvation, wholistic health is dependent
upon the balanced Christian life which
consists of four characteristics (certainty
of salvation, obedience, right attitude or
motive, and perseverance) and seven
activities (prayer, Bible study,
fellowship, physical health, putting off
. of sin, ministry and management of
daily essentials, {and-I might add,
worship}). The joy and peace whiCh
result from characteristics and
activities are the most important
ingredients for pneumosomatic health.
Preventive measures are second in
importance. Coaelations between the
health benefits associated with the
balanced Quistian life and preventive
practices has been demonstrated
biblically and empirically. The practice
of medicine is third.
"In an attempt to make such
distinctives clear, the discussion can be
formulated into succinct statements:
1. Man is composed of two distinct
substances, the body and the spirit, yet
these exist and function as a unit
[pneumosomatic].
2. Biblical and empirical evidence
correlate that health is positively
affected by the balanced Christian life,
preventive practices and modem
medicine.
3. Pneumosomatic health is not
possible for the unbeliever; although
preventive and medical practices will
improve and/or maintain health.
4. Pneumosomatic health is
possible for all believers; but its
implementation in an individual's life is
dependent upon God's sovereign will for
that life.
S. Perfect pneumosomatic health
existed in the Garden of Eden and will
exist in heaven.
6. Since unbelievers are not aware
of man's spirit or the rtecessity of
biblical concepts, only physicians who
are Christians are able to practice
pneumosomatic medicine.
7. No final conflict exists between
Page 18 May 1990 The Counsel of Chalcedon
pneumosomatic health and empirical
evidence when the latter is cOiltrolled by
biblical principle.
8. The most common health
P'oblems in the U.S. are a result of
personal sin.
9. Sickness and death are not
'nonnal' according to the biblical
account of creation.
10. Many specific sins result in
specific diseases. For example,
syphillis is contracted through
extramarital sex.
11. Physical health primarily
involves individual responsibility and
- only secondarily is a responsibility of
the medical profession (except for the
education of the patient).
12. Many diseases cannot effectively
be treated without simultaneous
application of biblical principles.
Sometimes, these will be Jl10i'e
important than the medical treatment.
13. The effect of sin is to program
man's body to age and die with an upper
limit to its longevity.
14. Biblical principles may not be
violated for medical reasons. For
example, a divorce designed to relieve
stress in a heart disease patient is a
violation of the sanctity of marriage.
15. Health resoilrce allocation in the
U.S. is reversed according to the
effectiveness of pneumosomatic,
preventive, and medical practices.
"The biblical ethic for health is
distinct from the ethic of naturalistic
science and its ethical principles will
never be inconsistent at any point when
a thorough biblical approach is
realized."l4
C. The Vocation of Medicine
R.J. Rushdoony has written in
his book, Institutes of Biblical Law:
"The doctOr's function is to further
healing and to protect and further man's
life under God."15 This vocation is
rooted in the Law and in the Gospel.
First, it is rooted in the Law of God.
"Since the protection and nurture of
man's life under God is the positive
affumation of the sixth commandment,
[Thou shalt not commit murder], it
becomes apparent why, in Biblical
tradition, both in Israel and in Westeril
Civilization, medicine has been closely
linked to religion."16 Second, it is
rooted in the Gospel of Christ
According to the Bible, the physician
has a priestly calling. "His very area of
concern, health, requires this. In the
Hebrew-Christian heritage, the doctor,
in origin a Levite, is concerned with
health, and health is an aspect of
salvation. The Latin word, salve, carries
the same implication, and it is a fitting
fact, in terms of the Bible, that our
English word, salvation, has as its root
the word for health. Salvation is total
health, spiritual and material; it means
in its fmal form the resurrection of the
body, in its inception, regeneration,
and, in between, growth in terms of the
principle of health, God in Christ As a
result, for Biblical faith, care of the
body is a religious concern, and health a
godly duty and blessing. The man who
ministers to the body has thus a
priestly calling, as does the man who
ministers to the spirit Both doctor and
pastor have a priestly calling or
ministry."17 Both aim at
pneumosomatic health--the health of
the whole person in Christ, James
5:14.
D. The Practice of Medicine
1. WHO SHOUlD PROVIDE
MEDICAL TREATMENT AND
HEAL1H CARE?
Health care and medical
treatment should be provided by three
sources, according to the Bible.
a. FAMILIES should know
how to provide some measure of. health
care for their members. The Laws of
Childbirth, Lev. 12: 1-8, the Laws of
Circumcision of male infants on the
eighth day, Gen. 17:10f, the Laws of
skin-diseases and mildew, Lev. 13-14,
and the Laws of Bodily Discharges in
men and women were oriented toward
family life m the covenant community,
and presuppose some ability to
recognize diseases and disorders as well
as some knowledge of medical
treatment, preventatives, minor
surgeries, and health care m general.
b. PHYSICIANS should be
sought out for medical treatment when
needed. Jesus clearly taught that those
who are genuinely ill need a physician,
Matt 9:12; :Mk. 2:17; Lk. 5:32. Paul
calls Luke his "beloved physician",
Col. 4:4. However, Christians should
be cared for by Christian physicians,
primarily, and if possible. Dr. Ed Payne
writes: "Believers have indiscriminately
accepted the role of physicians in their
lives. Empirical and biblical evidence
has been presented to demonstrate the
close link between sin and sickness.
Therefore, if almost all medical care is
practiced without consideration of, or is
opposed to spiritual realities, the most
important dimension in believer's lives
has been neglected, II Cor. 4:16f; Rom.
8:18; I Tim. 4:7f."18
c. The OIURCH should offer
some measure of health care for those
who need it, especially, but not
exclusively, those of its own
membership. This can be offered in, at
least, five ways:
(1). By nouthetically
counseling those who are sick, that
their cure could be found in repentance
and in obedience to the Law of God--
"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear
the Lord and tum away from evil. It
will be healiDg to your body, and
refreshment to your bones," Prov. 3:7.
(2). By praying for those
who are sick--"ls anyone among you
sick? Let him call for the elders of the
church, and let them pray over him,
anomting him with oil in the name of
the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith
will restore the one who is sick, and the
Lord will raise him up, and if he has
committed sins, they will be forgiven
him," James 5:14.
(3). By properly
administering the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper--"For he who eats and
drinks, eats and drinks judgment to
himself, if he does not judge the body
rightly. For this reason many among
you are weak and sick, and a number
sleep," I Cor. 11:28f.
(4). By the ministty and
counsel of the diaconate, which is
responsible for the health and welfare of
the membership of the church, Acts 6:1-
7. The New Testament deacons, like the
Old Testament Levites, "mercifully
promoted the general health and welfare
of God's people by encouraging them to
eat better food and practice better
hygiene and receive a better
while carefully monitoring their
infectious diseases and decontaminating
their housing and supervising their long-
range socio-economic practices,:
according to F. Nigel Lee.19 (His
scriptural support for the diaconate
fulfilling the pennanent social
functions of the Levites, as opposed to
their temporary, ceremonial functions
fulfilled in Christ, include Acts
especially verse 7; Lev. 11-15, 25-27;
Dt 2A:8; I Sam. 21:1-6; Ezra 8:24f.
See pages 7-11 in his unpublished
paper, The Diaconate.
(5) By recommending,
nonprofessionally, proven methods of
treatment of physical disorders and
health care. The Apostle Paul did not
hesitate to suggest to Timothy that he
drink a little wine for his stomach
problems, I Tim. 5:23. The Book of
Proverbs is even more specific in its
reconunendations: "Give strong drink to
him who is perishing, and wine to him
whose life is bitter. Let him drink and
forget his poverty, and remember his
trouble no more," Prov. 31:6-7. James
urges the one who is sick to "call for
the elders of the church, and let them
pray over him, anointing him with oil
in the name of the Lord; and the prayer
offered in faith will restore the one who
is sick, and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he has committed sins, they will
be forgiven him," James 5:14f. Here
the elders, not doctors, are encouraged,
not only to pray for the sick person
who calls for them, but also to "anoint
him with oil." Only the Christian
church has a means for curing
hamartiagenic sickness, i.e., sin-
engendered sicknesses. James 5 offers
the means for a cure. The anointing
with oil mentioned here is not a
ceremonial or symbolic ritual.
Although the Old Testament speaks
of anointmg with oil as one of the rites
of the Sanctuary, Jay Adams shows, in
his book, Competent to Counsel, that
"James did not write about ceremonial
anomting at all. 111e Greek word
'anoint' (aleipho), which James used,
does not mean ceremonial anointing.
The ordinary word for a ceremonial
anointing was chrio (a cognate of
christos, Christ, the 'anointed one). The
word James used (aleipho), in contrast
to the word chrio, 'to anoint,' usually
means 'to rub' or simply 'apply.' The
word aleipho was used to describe the
The Counsel of Chalcedon May 1990 Page19
personal application of salves, lptions,
and perfumes with an oil base. The
word is allied to /ipos, 'grease.'- An
aleiptes was a 'trainer' who rubbed down
athletes in a gymnastic school. Aleipho
was used frequently in medical treatises.
And so it turns out that what James
required by the use of oil waS the use of
the best medical means of the day.
James simply said to rub oil, often used
as a base for mixtures of various
medicinal herbs, on the body, and pray.
What James advocated was the use of
consecrated. dedicated medicine. In this
passage he urged the treating of
sickness by medical means accompanied
by prayer." (pg. 105-108)20 If the
patient was cherishing unconfeSsed,
unrepented of sins, the medicine and
prayer would be ineffective unless he
confessed his sins and repented of them.
2. WHO SHOUlD W1:
PROVIDE.MEDICAL lREATMENT
AND HEAL1H CARE?
The one social institution
that is not given the power and
authority by God to provide medical
treatment and health care is the civil
government, the state, whether federal
or local. In Old Testament and New
Testament alike the civil government is
given the one function of the
administration of justice--" .. .it is a
minister of God, an avenger who brings
wrath upon the one who practices evil,"
Rom. 13:1-7; Deut 16:18-20; When a
civil government usurps powers and
responsibilities, such as health,
education and welfare, which God has
not assigned it, it not only fails to
execute its appointed purpose, it also
begins to experience the effects of God's
judgment for its attempts to play God,
rather than being a minister of Goo.
a. Harold OJ. Brown
reminds us of the point made by Nobel
Prize winner, Jean Bernard of Paris; in
his book, The Grandeur and
Temptations of Medicine, "that it is
physically and financially beyond the
capacity of a great nation to
provide for all its citizens all the
medical services that our modern level
of medical knowledge tells us will or
possibly could be helpful to them. n21
b. Governmental
bureaucracies with Orwell's "Big
Brother" mentality bungle and ruin the
practice of medicine, endangering the,
lives of the healthy andthe sick. Dr.
Jane Orient's rewriting of the parable of
the Good Samaritan tothe
principles of socialism illustrates the
point:
"A man fell among antisocial
elements, who probably had a deprived
childhood. (In the absence of property
rightS, there are of cOUISe. no thieves.)
A priest and a Levite passed by, and
notified the proper agency in cbarge of
prioritizing and providing for a victim's
right to medical care in an efficient and
fair manner. While the bleeding victim
was awaiting his turn, a Samaritan
came along. The Samaritan was moved
by pity (a deplorable trait, since
tenderheartedness can lead to favoritism
and other evils). However, he had no oil
or wine for pouring on the man's
wounds, no beast, and no denarius.
Because the business in which he was
engaged did not serve the social good,
his property had been redistributed to
those who needed it more. He was thus
unable to help the man. Eventually,
some member of the helping
professions brought the victim to the
inn, where he was evaluated by the
gatekeeper. There was a delay because
the man's identification card had been
stolen, and it was difficult to verify his
eligibility. Also, the. gatekeeper needed
to confer with a utilizatiOn review
advisor, who was more expert in
applying the criteria. The admission
criteria had been recently revised by a
committee of community-based
professional consultants, including the
priest and Levite. Once the gatekeeper
certified that the man was both eligible
and needy, he assigned him, by now in
a moribund state, to a preferred
innkeeper. The innkeeper's duty was to
take care of the patient, for whatever
reimbursement sdCiety decided upon. In
fonner times, he might have gotten a
denarius, but in the age of cost-
efficiency, he would make do for less,
without any decline in the quality of
care. Otherwise, he would lose his
innkeeper's license, or face other
sanctions. "An innkeeper who
complained that HE had fallen among
thieves would be accused of greed and
selfiShness. If he failed to cure the
Page 20 May 1990 The Counsel of Chalcedon
patient, the priest and LeVite could
accuse him of incompetence or
negligence, and the man or his heirs
could instigate a lawsuit, with the aid
of the neighborly lawyer. The
innkeeper's union, in turn, could
complain that society had not provided
adequate resources or had allocated them
unfairly. They could also propose an
additional tax on the Samaritan for
programs to alleviate the conditions
that lead to roadside crime. "In this
Utopia, mere love for one's neighbor
could be replaced by concern for all
humankind. The new code of social
responibility would supercede the
primitive, individualistic Oath of
Hippocrates, to the benefit of all,
especially priests, Levites, lawyers and
thieves. The obsolescent Good
Samaritan and the bankrupt private
innkeeper would go the way
of the dinosaur."22
c. Socialized medicine becomes
"punitive medicine." This has been
amply documented in a recent book
entitled, Punitive Medicine, by
Alexander Podrabinek, who is now in
exile in Siberia. He carefully shows
how psychiatry and medical treatment
are used brutally for political purposes
in the U.S.S.R.23 He reveals how
leading opponents to the communist
totalitarian regime are discredited by
being sent to mental institutions, where
they are drugged and tortured into
submission.
In his review of this book,
Rushdoony makes this insightful
comment: "The most serious mistake
we can make is to treat punitive
medicine as a Soviet aberration. We
should instead see it as the logical
conclrision of all socialized medicine.
The advocates of socialized medicine
believe that such a step would bring
more medical care to the poor and
needy. The fact is that, at least in the
United States, the poor have usually
had more medical services rendered to
them than any other class. . ..
"But the problem goes deeper;
-- There is no reason tO believe that
socialized medicine anywhere will serve
the people ahy better or as good as
private practice. On the contrary it will
serve the federal government Let us
remember, after all, that the Sixteenth
Amendment (the income tax) was voted
into the U.S. Constitution in the name
of helping the poor! There is no reason
to suppose that a socialized and
federalized medicine will be any more
benevolent than the Internal Revenue
Service. Anyone who can think of the
IRS as the people's friend today does
indeed have mental problems!
Socialized medicine will be no better
than the IRS, and potentially worse.
Any and everything which puts us into
contact with a powerful state and its
bureaucracy is dangerous, and socialized
medicine will place us in a very close
relationship to that power-state: at
pregnancy and childbirth, in ill health
and accidents, for a variety of required
medical examinations, and much more.
Also, as euthanasia becomes an
accepted practice like abortion, the more
the state knows abOut you, the less safe
you are. "Thus, Alexander Podrapinek:'s
Punitive Medicine gives us merely the
avant garde aspect of the new medical
practice, socialized medicine. It is a
very logical development The state is a
punitive agency or institution. Its
pUipOse is to punish or to vindicate. Its
basic and truest instruments are the
courts, the police and the military.
Their purpose is punitive -- the state is
the agency of coercion. To place the
healing arm of society under the
coercive or punitive arm is the height
of folly and unreason. No realm taken
over by the state has escaped its
coercive and punitive nature. As a
result, because no independent,
uncoerced, and free voice exists,
corruption prevails."24
3. WHO SHOUlD PAY FOR
MEDICAL TREATMENT AND
HEAL1H CARE?
Virtually every institution in
human society has some role to play in
the payment of medical treatment and
health care, although the role for some
institutions is narrow and highly
limited.
a. The individual who
receives the medical services is
primarily responsible for payment, if
possible. "For the Scripture says, 'You
shall not muzzle the ox while he is
threshing,' and 'The laborer is worthy of
his hire,"' I Tim. 5:18. Jeremiah warns:
"Woe to him ... who uses his
neighbor's services without pay and
does not give him his wages,'' 22: 13.
In fact, according to the Bible,
oppression is the failure to give a just
return for services rendered to you.
Prompt payment of medical services
rendered is commanded of us in the
Bible. "You shall not oppress your
neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a
hired man are not to remain with you
all night until m()Jlling," Lev. 19:13.
Failure to pay, short-changing
payments, and delay in payment was
and is fraud
b. The family of the person
receiving the medical services is also
responsible for payment, when
necessary. Paul makes clear that we are
to "honor widows who are widows
indeed; but if any widow has children or
grandchildren, let them fli'St learn to
practice piety in regard to their own
family, and to make some return to
their parents; for this is acceptable in
the sight of God. But, if any one does
not provide for his own, and especially
for those of his household, he has
denied the faith, and is worse than an
unbeliever," I Tim. 5:3-8. The church
is to support needy widows, unless
those widows have families of their
own who can support them. In fact, the
family is to provide for the needs of all
the dependents in the family: widowed
mother, grandmother, wife, children,
orphaned nephews and nieces, and
servants. "Failure to care for members
of one's family thus constitutes a
violation of the fifth commandment; it
is also a violation of the eighth, in that
it is a form of theft Those who do not
support their own are fmt to be rebuked
and then excommunicated, (i.e., treated
as an unbeliever, Matt. 18:17),"
explains Rushdoony.25
c. The neighbors of the
person receiving the medical services
are also responsible before God for
payment, when their friend is in need.
They may either act individually or in
voluntary associations. The primary
example of this is the Good Samaritan,
who found a victim of muggers lying
in a ditch. He had compassion on him,
cared for him, and took him to an inn,
gave the innkeeper a denarius, and said,
"Take care of him, and whatever more
you spend, when I return, I will repay
you," Luke 10:35. Jesus himself taught
that the second greatest commandment
is the Old Testament Theocratic law so
essential to social order and so
illustrative of selfless love--"Y ou shall
love your neighbor as yourself," Matt
5:43; 19:19; Lev. 19:18.
d. The employer of the
person receiving medical services for
injury received or sickness contracted in
the service of the employer, and the
property owner, on whose property one
is injured due to the owner's negligence,
are both responsible for payment of
required medical services. The Bible's
liability laws, or laws of damages,
Exodus 21:24,25, teach us that one
who injures or wrongs another has the
responsibility to make restitution. The
employer and the property owner are
liable for the time lost from work and
for the medical expenses of the injured
party. They "shall cause him to be
thoroughly healed," Exodus 21:19.
"Laws of liability are thus laws of
responsibility. They declare that a man
is responsible for his acts, his
possessions, and for his failures,
negligences and omissions. To be
responsible means literally to be
answerable to Him for what we do to
ourselves and to our fellow men, to our
neighbor, writes Rushdoony .26 That is
why Deuteronomy 22:8 says, "When
you build a new house, you shall make
a parapet for your roof, that you may
not bring blood-guilt on your house if
anyone falls from it"
e. The church through its
tithes and offerings is responsible
before God to assist in the payment of
medical services of the needy, when
possible and necessary. We have already
seen in I Tim. 5:3-8, that the church is
to provide for the needs of widows, if
they have no family to take care of
them. Acts 6:1-3 clearly shows the
corporate and diaconal responsibility the
church has for the health and welfare of
needy people, especially of its own
The Counsel of Chalcedon May 1990 Page 21
needy members. In n Corinthians
Paul urges the Corinthian Church to
imitate the super-generous ch\Jrches of
Macedonia in coritributing to the
support of needy Cluistians. "For I
testify that according to their ability,
and beyond their ability they gave of
their own accord, begging us with
much entreaty for the favor of
participation in the support of the
saints," 8:3-4, "for the ministry of this
service is not only fully Supplying the
needs of the saints, but is also
overflowing through many
thariksgivings to God," 9:12.
f. 'The state also has a role,
although specific and limited. It does
not have the responsibilitY to provide
or to pay for medical serviCes 'far its
citizens. Using thebamH of a gun tO
force money from one person in order
to give it to another, whatever the need,
is armed robbery. When the state does it
legally it is legal plU!tder. In essence, it
is the same as armed robbery. Our
modern fomiS of taXation, coupled with
our welfare state, decapitalize
Americans so that it becomes most
difficult to pay for our medical bills
properly, and then, only with much
strain and sacrifice.
The state's only role in the payment
of medical services is in the enforcirig :
of biblical laws requiring restitution arid
fair compensation to the victim of a
crime to be paid by the convicted
criminal, Exod. 21:23-25. The "eye for
an eye" principle spelled out in these
verses is not 'retaliation but restitutiOn.
It simply means that ''compensation.
appropriate to the loss incurred must be
paid out.'' Wtinham.27 "The failure of
a society to 'ground itself on restitution,
or its departure from this principle,
means a growing necessity for costly
protection by means of insurance.
Much insurance is, all too often, a fonn
of self-restitution, in that the buyer
pays for protection against ittesponsible
people who will not make restitution.
The large insurance premiums paid by
responsible persons and COipOrations are
their self-protection against the failure
of the law to require restitution,'' writes
Rushdoony.28
E. The o( Medicine
Medicine, reconstructed by the
Word and Spirit of God, has a bright .
and important future; .as the Kingdom
of Jesus Christ makes its way
triumphantly through this earth, I Cor.
15:2Af, As Christ's Kingdom
progresses over its enemies, the
promises of God's CoVenant will be
more and more realized in the life of
Christ's. church on earth. God will
liberate. medicine from the restraints and
perversions of its humanistic
presuppositions and will then be used
of God f9 improve the overall
health of God'speople, greatly
extending their longevity, physical
strength and productivity. The future
holds increasingly good health for God's
people; and increasingly poor health for
God's enemies.
''You shall lie blessed above all .
peoples; there shall be no male or
female ba"en among you or among
your cattle. And the Lord will remove
frr;Jm you all siclcness; and He will not
PU! on you MY of the harmful diseases
of Egypt which you have known, but
He will lay them on ail who hate you.''
(Detit 7. :14-15)
"No longer will there be in it
an infant whO lives buta
few days, or an old man who does not
out his days. For the youth will die
at the age .of one hundred and the one
who does not.reach the age of one .
hundred shall be thought accursed. And
they shall build houses and inhabit
them: they shall. also plant vineyards
and eat their fruit. - They shall not
labor in or bear children for
ca(cqnity;for are the offspring. of
those blessed by the Lord, and their
descendents with them." (Isa. 65:17-23;.
3:29>
Endnote$
L Warren Brookes, "Mandatory Madness
on Washington Times July 27
1989, . rl. ' '
2. Schwartz, "The British Way of
Withholding Healtll," The. FrifeU111,_ Vo[ 39,
. 3,, pg. 101fj . and Pierre Lemic'!J.X,
Medicme< The Canadian


The Freemtm, Vol 39, No . . 3,
pg. .
3. Ibid. pg. 101!. '
4. JU, - Rushdoony;_ "Doctors as State
Medical Report, No. 5,
.. 5. 1u. Rushdoony, "Medicine's
M
273
echanical Model," Chaldedon Report, No.
? pg.l6. '
o.l;6id. pg, 16f.
Page 22 May 1990 The Counsel of Chalcadon
7. John Naisbitt, Megatrends, NY Warner
BooksJnc. 1"33. '
8. uouglas uroothuis, Unmasking the
Age.t Downen .Grove, Ill., lnterVarsity

9. lbi4. pg. M.
10. lb1d. pg. 66. .
11. Gene- Antonio, The AIDS Cover-Up?,
San Francisco Ignatius Press, 1986.
.. for four excellent . sources on a
Chnstian approach to medical ethics see (a)
BiblicaUMedical Ethics, by Frankllii E'
Jr;.o }d.D., . published by Mott
D
Milt:o. (b). Making Biblicat
ec'!10ns, y rrailK1in: E. Payne, Jr., M;D,,
Pllblished by Hosanna House Escondido
Cal., 1989; Medical Ethics: by John M:
Frame, puolished by Presbvterian and
Reformed Co. . :Phillipsburg
NJ., Dr. Greg Bahnsen's tapea
lectures on i!fal Efl1.icj at Ret'oniled
Tlteological enupary m ackson, Miss. .
. E. Payt!e, Jr.,
Bibl!caUMed1cal Ethifi!
1
Milford Mich
Mott Media, 1985, pg. ' .,
14. Ibid. pg. 94f. '
15. RJ. Rushdoomo, Institutes of Biblical
Law, Nutley, NJ., The Craig Press. 1973
pg. 221. . , .
16. Ibid. pg. 221. ,
17. , RJ. Ruspdoony, "The . Medical
Profession as a Priestly Cailing," CliaJcedOn
M1fal 1, VallecitO, Cal, .
BibuealJMe!Licai
Mott Media, 1985 . lOs. ' . . ,
19 .. F. Nigef The . Dim:onate
unpublished, bUr available thro\lghChalcedon
Church, Atlanta, etA.
7Q. Jay E. Adams, C01JJPetent to Counsel
Phillipsburg, N J ., Pi'esbvterian ami
Reformed l'ublishirig Co.,. 1970.pg 105-
108. . ' . '
21. Hiiroid OJ. Brown, The
Ret;onstructzon . of the Republic . New
Rochelle, NY, Arlington House Publishers
1977 p_g. 131. . . . '
L_it. Qrient, M.D.,. A given at
tru: Assoc1atwn oJ PhysJCUliiS and
OcBanquet, 43rd Annual Meeting,
.Denmi a, ctobet 24, 1986; .
0

23. Alexlllldcr . Podrabinek, . Punitive

(1980: K.aroma PublisherS
Carolina . House, 236 Forest .Park Place:
Ottawa 11linois, 61350).
24. liJ. Rushdoony, "Statist Medicine :
Chalcedon Medical Report, No. 8, VallecitO
Cal. '
25. RJ. Rushdoogy, Imtitules of Biblical
Law" Nutley, NJ., The Craig Press 1973
pg. 111. ' . '
26 . . RJ. l..4w and Society,
VaUCCito, Calif., Ross House Books, 1982
pg. 350. . . '
2/
1
Gordon Wenham, The Book of
LevW Ulcusk(fo!ICOTI. Grand
m; B. cerdmans Publishing Co., bu9, '
Law
28. RJ. Rushdoony, lnstztutes ofBiblical
, Nutley, NJ., The Craig Press, 1973, p
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