“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 14
As we study the world around us, and how that world relates to medical practice, we should study in the light of biblical rules of evidence. But it may be objected that to require biblical principles of verifiability in this realm is to confuse categories. How can we take judicial principles and apply them to the phenomenal realm? But actually we have no choice in the matter. Either we will apply sound judicial principles to our investigation of the natural world, or we will apply poor judicial principles. But in either case, we are requiring that things be independently confirmed or we are not. And this principle of independent confirmation needs to be honored whenever the stakes are high.
If someone comes into the house and announces that the rain (that all had anticipated) had started, it makes no sense to announce that every fact must be confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses, and all troop outside to verify. The stakes are not that high. Go ahead and take the man’s word for it. But if someone is on trial for murder, then it is not enough to have one witness see him run from the scene-you have to have two, or perhaps three. If someone suggests that you take a little something for minor skin rash, then it is no problem to go through an ordinary day on the basis of anecdotal comments. I would rub orange juice concentrate on a rash if a reasonable person suggested it. Think about all the hiccup remedies you have heard of, and have tried. And keep in mind the “placebo effect,” which reveals the body’s ability to heal itself by means of anything so long as so long as the practitioner is reasonably convincing. The placebo effect is noticeable in about thirty percent of ordinary cases. But if you were diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, this is the medical equivalent of the murder trial. You should want independent confirmation, and practitioners who are convinced of the need for independent confirmation.