[ JBEM Index / Volume 2 / Number 2 ]

Editor’s Note

In an interview in this issue, Dr. Lewis Hicks states that he puzzled to develop his present way of dealing with patients who are considering abortion. “I could find no sources to guide me, ” he says. I was intrigued with his method of using a Doppler and a tape recorder to save lives. Not exactly Yutopar, but I imagine he has saved many more lives using his simple sound apparatus than he has with the drug. I wouldn’t have developed it in a century. Though I don’t manage pregnancies, I do diagnose them and I plan to copy him at my first opportunity. Much more is involved in his effort than audible heartbeats, of course, including especially his close association with pro-life groups in his area who are key in all pro-life work.

The development of the Christian mind is a collective effort. It is absurd and inefficient for each Christian physician to function as a unit isolated from others who are working on the same issues. We are pleased to be one of the means of distributing the thoughts of those who have studied Scripture and applied it to medicine. We are only scratching the surface, however, of what needs to be done. In footnotes, Dr. Payne offers a couple of subjects which need development.

The process of developing the Christian mind will necessarily involve some dissonance among the contributors, since we have not all arrived at the same hermeneutic, have unrecognized presuppositions which differ, and do not always function logically. Chances are the article by Dr. Neumann regarding professional licensure will be iconoclastic for some readers. If so, consider his arguments carefully. To quote Dr. Hicks, “Previous to my conversion I had a carnal mind which thought conservatively.” After conversion, the putting off of the carnal mind and its worldview is a process. All of us harbor many unquestioned remnants of our prior ways of conceiving issues. Professional licensure was one such issue for me until I was privileged to hear Herb Titus, Dean of the Law School at CBN University, address the topic at the 1987 meeting of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Though I still could not agree with an overnight abolition of present licensure, it seems clear that our “protected” status has played a part in some of our profession’s problems.

A similar version of Dr. Neumann’s article will be published in the Journal of Christian Reconstruction.

[ JBEM Index / Volume 2 / Number 2 ]