If you are a paying customer you have a say. If the government is paying for your healthcare you are no longer a paying customer and you have no say. In addition, those who want Medicare and Medicaid for all also believe that the government pays for things and that "everyone" includes government authorities. And worse yet, some nurses actually believe these things.
The hymn Megan Basham referenced (inspired by the Westminster confession of faith) regarding her stage 4 cancer says:
“What God ordains is always good;
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.”
But that raises an important question:
Does God “ordain” cancer itself… or does He sovereignly work through a fallen world where cancer exists?
There’s a difference between saying God can bring purpose through suffering and saying He specifically decreed the disease itself. One emphasizes God’s redeeming power in the midst of evil; the other risks making God the direct author of the very destruction Christ came to overcome when He came and healed those who were sick.
Scripture repeatedly presents sickness and death as enemies connected to the fall, not as “good” creations in themselves. God can absolutely sustain, refine, comfort, and even glorify Himself through suffering. But that does not mean cancer is ordained by God simply because God can work through it.
The cross itself proves this distinction. The murder of Christ was evil in the hands of sinful men, yet God brought salvation through it. God’s sovereignty is seen not by ordaining moral evil, but in overcoming it.
@megbasham@MeMeDPsalm73@Phil_Johnson_ Why? Do you explain in the article why the diagnoses is good and ordained on the one hand, but why you are going to fight it tooth and nail on the other? If the suffering is going to bring you closer to God, it seems the will to fight it would be tempered.
Stage four liver cancer; he was told to expect death within two year. He got closer to God, finally listened.
He took a treatment that placed a device directly above his liver. Gave it chemo there.
Went through terrible pain and traveled around the country. Hoped for a liver transplant but they don’t give it to stage four people.
Except that…the tumors started shrinking.
Stage four became stage three.
By the next checkup, they were nearly ALL gone.
Now he qualified for a transplant.
My sister in law shares his blood type. She gave her liver, he got it, it’s been six months and both have new livers again.
He’s cancer free!
My family prayed like crazy as did his mom (devout Catholic). He was a lapsed Catholic. Sadly now he’s kicking God to the backseat, but God spared him when he wasn’t ready to go.
49 years old. Had a 1% chance of survival.
Alive today and thriving.
@megbasham Yes, you have to subscribe. I was interested in reading the article, but I am not buying a subscription to the Washington Post under any circumstances. The fact that you are not posting this article yourself is perplexing to me.
The hymn Megan Basham referenced (inspired by the Westminster confession of faith) regarding her stage 4 cancer says:
“What God ordains is always good;
His will is just and holy.
As He directs my life for me,
I follow meek and lowly.”
But that raises an important question:
Does God “ordain” cancer itself… or does He sovereignly work through a fallen world where cancer exists?
There’s a difference between saying God can bring purpose through suffering and saying He specifically decreed the disease itself. One emphasizes God’s redeeming power in the midst of evil; the other risks making God the direct author of the very destruction Christ came to overcome when He came and healed those who were sick.
Scripture repeatedly presents sickness and death as enemies connected to the fall, not as “good” creations in themselves. God can absolutely sustain, refine, comfort, and even glorify Himself through suffering. But that does not mean cancer is ordained by God simply because God can work through it.
The cross itself proves this distinction. The murder of Christ was evil in the hands of sinful men, yet God brought salvation through it. God’s sovereignty is seen not by ordaining moral evil, but in overcoming it.