We welcome Brian Lowther, Director of the Roberta Winter Institute, for part 2 of his series on disease eradication. For part 1, click here.
1John 3:8 as the Biblical basis for disease eradication
I Jn 3:8 states, “For the Son of God appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” As scripture portrays it, the foundational reason that Christ appeared and the purpose behind all of his activity—his teaching, his exorcisms, his healing and the cross—was to conquer the devil and his death-dealing works (Heb 2:14).
Given the prevalence in the New Testament of the assumption that sickness and disease are a work of the devil (Mt 9:32, 12:22, 17:14-18, Lk 13:10-16, Act 10:38), plus the absolute finality implied in the word eradication, the cause of disease eradication seems to resonate quite profoundly with Christ’s purpose of destroying the works of the devil.
However, Ralph Winter once noted,
There is absolutely no evidence I know of in all the world of any theologically driven interest in combating disease at its origins. I have not found any work of theology, any chapter, any paragraph, nor to my knowledge any sermon urging us—whether in the pew or in professional missions—to go to battle against the many disease pathogens we now know to be eradicable.1
Can it be true that there are no believers attempting to eradicate disease?
Truth be told, there are scores of individual believers who are at work in the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other public health entities. Their contributions are to be applauded and emulated. But the question is, can the world count on any coordinated, theologically motivated endeavor to eradicate the roots of disease?
A pattern to follow
A little known fact is that Rotarians have been at the forefront of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since it began in 1988. Rotary clubs have contributed huge amounts of money and volunteer hours to immunize children around the world against polio and to raise public awareness about the disease. In that time the number of polio cases worldwide has decreased by more than 99%.2 In spite of this remarkable progress, tackling the last 1% of polio cases has proven to be difficult and very expensive. The greatest threat to this program’s success: a $665 million funding gap.
To help address this gap, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated half of the amount needed.3 Rotary International responded by challenging its clubs to raise $200 million in three years. Amazingly, after only two years, Rotarians have raised 88% of that amount.4
The Rotary Foundation raised this impressive sum by challenging each of their 34,000 clubs to raise $2,000 per year, for three years. For comparison sake, there are about the same number of Methodist churches in the United States and three times as many Baptist churches.5 The Hartford Institute for Religious Research estimates that there are roughly 322,000 religious congregations (Protestant/Catholic/Orthodox) in the United States.6 If each of these congregations followed the Rotarian pattern and raised $2,000 per year, for three years, $1.9 Billion would be generated.
What do you think? Do you think followers of Christ should make disease eradication a priority? Share your ideas for how we can make this a reality in the comments section below.
Endnotes
1 Winter, Ralph D. 2008 Frontiers in Mission: Discovering and Surmounting Barriers to the Missio Dei. Pasadena: WCIU Press, 7.
2 On-line. Available from http://www.polioeradication.org/Aboutus/Progress.aspx, accessed 18 August 2011.
3 On-line. Available from http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/News/Pages/110614_news_gates.aspx, accessed 18 August 2011.
4 Ibid
5 On-line. Available from http://allchurches.com/, accessed 18 August 2011.
6 On-line. Available from http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.html#largest, accessed 18 August 2011.
Comments
Nov 21, 2011
Well, Brian, as you know 1 John 3:8 was the focus of my dissertation, the Johannine understanding of “the works of the devil” in 1 John 3:8. My dissertation is open access through WCIU’s online library: “A Socio-Rhetorical Investigation”. My conclusion was that the works of the devil are anything opposite God’s will, and anything to do with death—whether spiritual or physical, including cellular death as a result of disease.
I wrote this dissertation as a first step toward theologizing disease. Actually, maybe this was a second step. Because earlier I had done in-depth exegesis of Genesis 1:1,2, at Ralph Winter’s request. My conclusion was that Genesis 1:2 is the origin of a theology of disease: the earth was “tohu wa bohu,” topsy turvey, chaos, under judgment. That’s the way that term is used everywhere else in the Old Testament. Something had gone wrong in the world before Genesis 1 (or between verses 1 and 2) and Genesis 1 shows God overcoming evil with good: “and God saw that it was good.”
To me, that gives the theological reason for believers to be involved in disease eradication: as God’s stewards of the earth, we are to correct, in His name, distortions of His will.
Nov 21, 2011
I read an article in the LA Times that made me think of your post Brian: “World can beat AIDS but funding must increase, U.N. says” It talks about how the possibility of beating the AIDS epidemic is closer than ever, and yet now is when AIDS funding is actually decreasing.
I wonder if fatalism also has a big part to play in all of this. I think unfortunately westerners are sometimes fatalistic when it comes to Africa and disease. “There will always be AIDS or malaria” or “Africa has always been poor.” It’s not true, but I hear statements along those lines quite often. We need to combat fatalistic thinking about poverty, Africa, disease, etc. if we are going to try to eradicate diseases around the world. There will NOT always be malaria – we eradicated it in our own country! Africa has and will not always be poor. We really need to examine what we think and say.
Nov 29, 2011
You are so right on, Brian. It is remarkable that there is so little concerted thought and synergy toward the eradication of disease.
Nov 29, 2011
I agree and applaud your efforts. Remember that the Christian church has a long history of starting universities and hospitals, consistent with your initiative. It is only in the last century that the “life of the soul” has become the primary focus of many denominations, with less priority given to health and humanitarian goals (unfortunate, considering how throughout scripture there is the clear call to the seemingly ‘non spiritual’ goals of assisting the poor, the fatherless, the widow, healing the sick, etc).
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