Faith Healing B.S.

Hi All,

Alright, I know that from my post about my health it is hard to tell how long everything has been going on. Well the appointment with the doctor who believed I had ALS to being positively diagnosed was about a month, and in that month my friends and family have had time to figure out how they would deal with the bad news.

My sister works at a spa and talked to some of the RMTs who work there, and they have offered to give me a massage at home on their time. She is also helping me with my wedding planning (the subject of a future post), and we hang out a lot just doing some fun things.

My mother doesn't live locally, but is there whenever I need to talk, and is making my wedding dress. She is also going to try to visit more often.

My fiance is helping out with the things that I need help with, drives me where I need to go, and is just generally helpful.

Some of my friends have been by to see how I'm doing, many of them have offered to help us move (we just bought a house.. with no stairs!), and some have even wanted to start fundraising for ALS research, and have also offered to keep me company during my appointments.

Then there is my father.... as I mentioned a while ago my father is very religious, a creationist roman catholic. Now I'm not sure how many people are aware of this, but Catholics believe in these things called relics. A relic is not just an old artifact, but according to the Catholics is the part of the body of an important religious person which is said to have some kind of spiritual power.

Why would I mention this? Well because my father wants me to see a faith healer who travels with the heart of the only Canadian saint (yes I'm Canadian). My father does admit that there are many faith healers who are charlatans, but he believes that this one will work for me. Because in his opinion God does not want me to have such a terrible disease.... right...

I have already told my dad that I don't believe in faith healers, and that I don't want to go. Apparently though, since this faith healer does not charge anything, my dad still thinks it would be worth while for me to go... despite the two hour drive to the church.

Another thing that I would like to point out to my father, but did not because I really didn't feel like having an argument was that he believes in an all knowing, all loving, all powerful God. So it is either God's will that I have this disease, or doesn't know, doesn't care, or was unable to prevent it. Which would cause some cognitive dissonance in my father... but I really didn't feel like getting into it.

Now the question... should I see the faith healer and ask him why he is only visiting churches, and is not doing something useful... like going to the Sick Kids Hospital and doing some real good?

That's all for now,
DD