tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post4809167898045266446..comments2024-01-17T04:14:40.892-05:00Comments on A Pastor's Cancer Diary: June 4, 2007 - God and CancerCarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-19151153720290322412010-04-17T19:01:22.174-04:002010-04-17T19:01:22.174-04:00Glad you found it. Keep reading - and keep commen...Glad you found it. Keep reading - and keep commenting!<br /><br />CarlCarlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-17422399212580942482010-04-17T05:09:22.031-04:002010-04-17T05:09:22.031-04:00I found your blog on Google and read a few of your...I found your blog on Google and read a few of your other posts.Keep it up the good work.From you reading more in the future.Hospice Californiahttp://www.hospiceca.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-56042458695222423772007-06-08T23:52:00.000-04:002007-06-08T23:52:00.000-04:00What amazing responses to this post! Thanks, ever...What amazing responses to this post! Thanks, everyone.<BR/><BR/>ben (with the link to his Eclectics Anonymous blog) has got some VERY thoughtful reflections on this whole discussion. Thanks, ben.<BR/><BR/>And, I'm just floored at the "small world" aspect of Dr. Vance Esler's post. It just so happens, Vance, that I only just discovered your blog, and based my June 7 blog entry on something you've written.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-5002233696350104862007-06-08T16:37:00.000-04:002007-06-08T16:37:00.000-04:00Carl, I appreciate your measured remarks here. It ...Carl, <BR/><BR/>I appreciate your measured remarks here. It is interesting to contrast the views of two Christian pastors who not only help others to understand life's events, but who must also try to explain it to themselves. <BR/><BR/>As a physician who takes care of cancer patients, I try not to get into these discussion. Unless patients bring it up, it is not my place to interpret events for them from a spiritual viewpoint. My job is simply to help them live longer and better.<BR/><BR/>I find that most patients want to make sense out of their illness. It seems natural to wonder why bad things happen when you are a good person and believe in a loving God. Thus I cannot blame any Christian for asking. <BR/><BR/>However, I must confess that I cannot answer the "whys", and I quit trying. I agree with Harold Kushner (<I>When Bad Things Happen to Good People</I>) that the correct question to ask is, "What now?"<BR/><BR/>Your banner says you are in remission. I pray that you will continue in remission for a long, long time.Vancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00420873277607900142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-12370346294076348592007-06-08T05:37:00.000-04:002007-06-08T05:37:00.000-04:00My non-theist response.My <A HREF="http://eclecticsanonymous.wordpress.com/2007/06/08/you-will-waste-your-cancer/" REL="nofollow">non-theist</A> response.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-19696570160798468812007-06-07T10:27:00.000-04:002007-06-07T10:27:00.000-04:00I can't believe that someone would see cancer (or ...I can't believe that someone would see cancer (or AIDS or MS or any other disease) as something designed especially for a given individual. <BR/><BR/>I think that we Christians spend too much time worrying about why evil exists (how can a good God allow cancer or a tsunami...). Since we don't know the mind of God, such worrying is a waste of energy. Better to put our energy into trying to live out our situation as best we can, which is no small task.<BR/><BR/>One other thought: Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, has said that evil exists so that we can learn compassion--both for ourselves and others. Perhaps that's the reason cancer can be both curse and gift...it never stops being a curse but, at least sometimes, it can be an occasion of grace and compassion.<BR/><BR/>Peace to all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-65681461961287196852007-06-07T10:25:00.000-04:002007-06-07T10:25:00.000-04:00Your writing is beautiful and your honesty is refr...Your writing is beautiful and your honesty is refreshing. Thank you for sharing.<BR/><BR/>I interpreted #9 differently for some reason than the way you did:<BR/>"You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before."<BR/><BR/>I though Piper meant that when faced with cancer, and along with it the fight for your life, it puts life into perspective. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps before a cancer diagnosis, the sin that so easily drains our spiritual strength, which can lead to deadness, was something we fell easily into.<BR/><BR/>But perhaps after a diagnosis and realizing life is only a fleeting flame, you realize those things that can lead to spiritual deadness should not be so easily given into. <BR/><BR/>I could be wrong, but that's how I saw it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-864497948169777802007-06-07T10:24:00.000-04:002007-06-07T10:24:00.000-04:00Thanks for sharing your story, Kay. Sounds like y...Thanks for sharing your story, Kay. Sounds like you've had a real roller-coaster ride.<BR/><BR/>As I said in my May 21 post, I think it's a good thing if we work from as broad a definition of "healing" as possible. Most of us, when we read one of the healing stories in the New Testament, immediately focus on the physical, when in fact whatever happened that day likely involved every aspect of the person's being. I think we can still speak of experiencing God's healing, even if the physical symptoms of illness continue.<BR/><BR/>May you know God's healing, in many and varied ways.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-52118689280916912172007-06-07T09:13:00.000-04:002007-06-07T09:13:00.000-04:00During my first diagnosis I thought I was the Chri...During my first diagnosis I thought I was the Christian Poster Child for faith and believing in the healing powers of God. When my 5th year anniversary rolled around I was convinced that God had healed me. Six months later I was diagosed with a reoccurance. It wasn't so much the reoccurance itself that knocked the wind out of my lungs; I was devasted that I had not been healed (my preception of healed) by God. Since that time and several years later with a diagnosis of bone mets, my relationship with God has grown. Thank God that along the way ministries such as yours have crossed my path...I believe God hears our prayers and sometimes an answer is learning about "A Pastor's Cancer Diary". Thank you. In the midst of intense pain, I began to fall back imto the ole monkey on the back.....thank you and God bless.Kayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06540041774407631505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-50962330855271090622007-06-06T08:58:00.000-04:002007-06-06T08:58:00.000-04:00I find, Tom, that some forms of Christianity are a...I find, Tom, that some forms of Christianity are a closed system. Such a rigid theological system resists being penetrated by any actual human experience.<BR/><BR/>Erect such an impregnable fortress, however, and you can perish inside it, from hunger.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-55528387637936963002007-06-06T08:53:00.000-04:002007-06-06T08:53:00.000-04:00Thanks, Vicky, for sending it. It obviously got m...Thanks, Vicky, for sending it. It obviously got my thought-processes going!<BR/><BR/>I'm glad you're finding the blog helpful.Carlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00540884672406337833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-88835307511845346562007-06-05T07:23:00.000-04:002007-06-05T07:23:00.000-04:00Me thinks that "Dr. Piper" needs to walk through t...Me thinks that "Dr. Piper" needs to walk through the children's ward of a cancer hospital and sit down and think before he starts writing such dribble.<BR/><BR/>And isn't that a major problem in all of society today? People use a use "facts" the way a drunk uses a light post--for support, not for illumination.<BR/><BR/>TomTom Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11788054294444777398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-66491326594115831872007-06-04T18:01:00.000-04:002007-06-04T18:01:00.000-04:00Bravo....still here, still reading and also prayin...Bravo.<BR/><BR/>...still here, still reading and also praying for youAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802617.post-9187253133757722692007-06-04T17:42:00.000-04:002007-06-04T17:42:00.000-04:00Carl - I'm so glad you blogged on Piper's article!...Carl - I'm so glad you blogged on Piper's article! (And I don't know why, but I had it in my mind that Piper was also a Presbyterian.)<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I so appreciate your thoughts and insight into this piece - I've had some difficulty over the idea that my cancer was designed by God "just for me." And I admit to that "monkey on the back" dilemma as well - feeling that it's due to unconfessed, unrepented sin in my life.<BR/><BR/>Thanks again. By the way you have a beautiful blog here.<BR/><BR/>Peace and health to you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com