Faith, Health, and "House"

One of the few shows that I watch on a regular basis is House. It, like 24, is one of those shows that I avoided for a while knowing that I would love it but didn't want the TV schedule to control my life. Anyway, a couple years back Anita and I had just finished watching American Idol (she loves it and it's something we enjoy talking about) and didn't get the TV off before House came on. As I guessed, I was hooked ... something about that biting sarcasm that keeps me coming back.

This past Tuesday the sarcasm was aimed at faith, specifically, faith healing. They had this teenage kid with the power to heal get sick and have to spend a few days in the hospital. In the end it turns out he had a raging case of genital herpes that caused a number of other issues.

Anyway, as the show went on the kid was sure that if he had enough faith, God would heal him. This pitted the healing powers of God against House, a battle that ended in a 3-3 tie (giving God more credit than I initially expected).

Two interesting things that caught my eye in the show. One was my issue with the kid and the idea of "having enough faith". The problem here is that it makes faith a work ... it's something we have to do for God to act. This takes something intended to be Gospel, what we receive grace through, and turns it into Law. Moreover, it removes what's really important about faith ... the object of it. You can have loads of faith in anything, but if the object of your faith isn't Christ it's pointless.

The other thing that hit me was the kid's rejection of House's treatment because "God will take care of me". I wonder if that played out in the rest of his life? Does he not only reject doctors but firefighters and police officers who are there to care for people? Or how about farmers? We can't deny their role in caring for people by growing the food that sits on our places.

In the First Article of the Apostles' Creed we learn that God not only creates but sustains the world. But how does he do this sustaining work? Read Genesis 2. God didn't grow plants in the garden because Adam wasn't there to tend them but when Adam was made he was placed in the garden to do just that. God sustains his creation through vocations which includes doctors, firefighters, police officers, and farmers (along with many other callings) even if the ones being called don't realize God is using them.

God 3 - God (thorough House) 3