A son’s faith lost in belief

Whenever the wife invites me to watch an episode of her favourite soapy it is for one of three reasons. She either wants me to cry, laugh out load, or raise my hackles.

The recent one, during Youth Day, nogal, did the latter.

A hospital scene in which a pretty little girl is wheeled in suffering a serious affliction that will end her life without immediate surgery. Including blood transfusion.

The mother belongs to a disillusioned religious group disallowing medical help in any form. They believe in divine intervention. Only God’s will prevails.

Enters the pastor of the sect, well typecast as a sanctimonious individual who takes control. He files out against the surgeon, insisting the girl is released forthwith. The mother is in tears, obviously torn between her belief and the well-being of her beautiful child.

The surgeon, also well portrayed, goes bananas and tells the pastor where to get off.

That’s where the chapter ends, leaving me livid.

My wife is aware of my feelings about religious fanatics who brainwash the vulnerable.

To prove their point, they quote disjointed pieces of scripture and a lot of mumbo-jumbo by their founders.

They claim medical care has no place in religious life. It’s God’s will, no matter the consequences.

In this case, the life of an innocent girl without a say.

I personally know of a true-life story in which a young boy suffered from chronic earache since birth. His father was a pastor of a church also on the divine healing bandwagon. Even wrote books on the subject. They never took him to a doctor to sort out the problem, preferring to “lay hands on him in prayer”.

The one ear deteriorated and in later life turned cancerous. It was only then that his wife and children insisted he visit a doctor.
Sadly, it was too late. After 18 months of intense pain he succumbed.

His cancer was not hereditary, as the family had no history of the curse It was simply neglect, and through skewed religiosity the man died prematurely.

I know. He was my dad. So far I’m outliving him by 25 years.

Can’t wait to see this self-serving pastor get his just desserts. Then I’ll laugh out loud. Even shed a tear of thankfulness when the girl’s life is saved.

And the mother sees the light.