Bitter Medicine

How do you get well when you are sick? Most modern adults understand thatillness is often caused by viruses, bacteria, and other organisms, so when weget sick, we take medicine designed to eliminate the cause. This makes perfectsense to us, since we know the cause of disease.

But what if we didn't know about germs? What if we had lived a century ago,before germs were discovered? We certainly wouldn't admit that we had no ideahow to treat sickness; instead, we would come up with some other explanation.For instance, we might conclude that sickness is caused by evil spirits, andtreat it with magic spells or complex incantations.

During the mid 1800's, the British Empire spanned the globe, and the BritishNavy was without rival. Sailors on British ships received the best medical carethe empire had to offer, but at times, it was worse than useless. Four majortheories existed about the cause (and cure) of disease, and doctors trained inthese four philosophies treated their patients very differently. Eachphilosophy had its strong proponents who championed it while criticizing theothers. Each had followers who were convinced they were absolutely right.

One school of thought taught that illness was caused by an imbalance of'nervous energy', so patients were forced to exercise. Another school believedthat weak organs were the cause, and prescribed massive doses of opium andmorphine. Other groups favored blood-letting, electric shock, and even suchpoisons as arsenic and strychnine.

In the end, the most fortunate sailors were not those treated by trainedphysicians, but rather the relatively untrained navy surgeons, who usuallyprescribed rice, medicinal wine, and bed-rest. In this particular case, alittle knowledge was far more dangerous than none.

There are several schools of thought today on how to make sense of life. Oneschool says, "You are the master of your course; take care of yourself."Another teaches, "Life is meaningless; do whatever you choose because itdoesn't matter anyway." Still another proposes, "One philosophy is as good asanother; choose the one you like best." Each has its strong proponents, itsprophets, and its champions. Yet in the end, most will be proven worthless ...or worse.

There is one cure for the ills of mankind. Jesus Christ claimed to be the focalpoint of history, the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and the conquering Lord ofall eternity. He claimed that he alone could bring meaning to life, and thatthose who take his medicine will live forever. A pretty amazing claim, if it'strue.

You have lots of choices. Which cure are you betting on?

If you're interested, there is more information about:
The most important event of all time and
The most important Book of all time.

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Contributed by Mark Phillips
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