TRUE STORY
I was talking with a dear sister from Sudan the other day and she showed me the scars on her throat and arm. When I asked what they were she told me.
"The scar on my throat was from a hot metal poker that the doctor used to burn my throat to make my cough go away when I got the flu. It took three months for the burn to heal. The scars on my arm are from the burns of a hot iron to keep me from getting malaria. All of us were forced to do this in Sudan. It didn't work, but it didn't matter. It made the people feel like they were doing something to fight the disease and it was expected that everyone pretend it was working."
"Wow that's crazy," I said. "Everybody doing something that they know doesn't work, but makes them feel better about doing it anyway."
"Like wearing a mask?" she replied.
WOW! Puts it all into perspective. She deflated my western pride. In some ways we haven't advanced so much.
My Sudanese friend is a medical doctor and now lives in America.
@sinbach if we all did what we know works(faith)and convince ppl that it really does work we could move mountains and walk on water. This testimony has my mind spinning in so many different directions... Like would I allow someone to burn me or burn myself knowing it is for nothing and a whole lot of pain.
How lost we are without Jesus.
@sinbach Wow. My first reaction to her burns was "how appalling; how primitive", and then I got to the mask part...now masks don't leave physical scars, but I think they may be leaving paychological scars on many people. Especially children.
@sinbach sobering and what a testimony