In God We Trust (1 April 2009)
As the waters in North Dakota’s Red River rose to and past flood state, a minister in Fargo, North Dakota, assured his parishioners that “God’s presence was at hand.” It wasn’t clear to me whether he was blaming God for the rising waters or promising his flock that they weren’t going to be washed away like lambs to the slaughter. As it was, the waters receded and Fargo was spared. Whether Fargo was spared as a result of God’s presence being at hand or as the result of thousand and thousands of sandbags having been filled and placed between Fargo and the Red River is a complex question. We’ve all heard such expressions as “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”; “Trust Allah, and tie up your camel”; and “When you pray, move your feet.” Such sayings imply that however much you trust God, you do well to take action on your own behalf, perhaps because “God helps those who help themselves.”
The question is the degree to which trusting God leads to blaming Him or Her when things don’t go as desired. This potential conflict is inherent in the concept of a “personal” God, One who counts the hairs on people’s heads (not an especially difficult task in my case) and who is aware of every sparrow that falls. Did the Red River recede because people prayed, or were other factors at work?
We have quite a bit of evidence that shows that prayer influences the outcome of illnesses. People being prayed for tend to do better than those who are not, regardless of the religious beliefs of those praying and regardless of whether the recipients know that they are in the “being prayed for” group or the control group. One of my “wonderings” has been the difference between praying for someone’s return to good health and praying for the flood waters to recede. The one seems to me to be in accord with the Energetic nature of the cosmos, while the other seems to run counter to what I consider the natural order of things.
I don’t know much about camels, but I suspect that the need to tie them up may be a result of their natural tendency to wander off. Given the nature of camels, trusting Allah to stop them from wandering may not be the best expression of faith. It is the natural tendency of rivers to ebb and flow and occasionally flood nearby plains. Asking God to make the river do what you want it to do rather than to follow its natural course seems to run counter to the natural order of things.
My guess is that prayer for those who are sick is a form of the branch of Energy Medicine typically called “Distant Healing.” It seems to me that this is more in line with God as “Source Energy” than it is aligned with the concept of a personal God. Source Energy responds when we are aligned with it, and aligning with it is all we need to do to influence a person’s health and well-being. It seems to me that this is different from petitioning a personal God to do something for us. God probably isn’t going to send us a Mercedes Benz because our friends all drive Porsches and we feel the need to make amends.
In personal appearances, videos, and CDs, Abraham-Hicks talks about going with the flow of source energy. The metaphor is that it is easier to go downstream than it is to go upstream. The application of that philosophy in North Dakota would probably lead to the conclusion that it is best to avoid building in a flood plain. Going with the flow suggests building where it doesn’t flood. Although that’s probably sound advice, it seems to me that the problem with this metaphor is the implication that nothing that requires work is worth doing. People originally built next to rivers because rivers were an important means of transportation, and floods left the plain more fertile and better for growing crops. That would seem to lead to some means of flood control or, at least, water management. The conundrum is whether going with the flow requires a choice between building by the river or never building in a flood plain.
Either way, going with the flow seems to leads to sandbagging rather than prayer when the river rises above flood stage. The same is essentially true when someone is sick enough to pray for. We have at least some evidence that in many cases prayer alone is not sufficient. In the past several months, news stories have reported that children have died when their parents chose prayer over medical treatment. It seems to me that that’s the equivalent of trusting Allah without tying up your camel. Without medical intervention, the natural order of some diseases (or the effects of some injuries) is death. That’s the reason we (humans) have developed various forms of medical interventions.
When the illness or injury is serious, going with the flow would suggests getting appropriate medical treatment. That doesn’t mean that medical or other interventions—even with the addition of prayer—will always work. Sometimes sandbagging is insufficient. The most important thing, however, is remaining in alignment with the natural order of things. When you are in alignment, Source Energy, by whatever name you know it, is glad to work with and through you.
joel@scs-matters.com
www.scs-matters.com
