Fields: Miracles, Gabby Giffords and St. Wasserman Schultz
BY SAM FIELDS
Guest Columnist
The latest declared miracle was not propounded by the Pope or Billy Graham. It was neurosurgeon Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr. He is the treating physician for wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D – AZ). Only days ago, she was thought to be on death’s door.
Happily, her recovery has moved along faster than anyone could have reasonably hoped for. But rather than admit his and science’s current limitations, he threw out the supernatural word miracle.
Since the beginning of civilization, until just a couple of hundred years ago, disease and cure were seen in supernatural terms. These days a 104 fever brings a doctor with medicine and not a shaman with incantations.
Tragically, these shamans and their political allies limited 10,000 years of scientific progress.
Dr. Lemole should simply admit that his personal skills and diagnostic tools are also limited.
Dr. Lemole should just say: I don’t understand?
Hey Doc! This recovery is not a miracle contrary to the laws of nature. It’s just that science is still in the infancy of unraveling the laws of nature that you and your co-workers do not yet understand. In fifty years, your best techniques will be viewed like “bloodletting with leeches.
Instead. if we are to believe the newspapers, Gifford’s recovery was a result of the faith healing of people around her channeling for a god. Included in that group of channelers is our own U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston).
“Saint Debbie of Weston could join a long line of Jewish woman who became saints. Beginning with the Virgin Mary, and most recently Edythe Stein, they have been declared Catholic saints because of “miracles attributed to them.
Currently in charge of declaring saints is Pope Benny XVI who is fast tracking his predecessor John Paul II. The latest miracle attributed to the late Polish Pope is curing a nun of Parkinson’s
But that’s nothing compared to Pius XII who is also on the road to sainthood. Using the sound of silence, he helped make six million Jews disappear.
Right now I suspect more than a few readers are wishing it was six million and one.
January 22nd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Let’s not forget that St. Eleanor of Hollywood would never have ascended on high without Cardinal Mendelsohn’s special blessing on her Senate race.
January 22nd, 2011 at 5:39 pm
A lot of people use the word miracle to mean the unexplained, not to attribute it to some God. When fans say it was a miracle the Dolphins won on Sunday, I don’t believe they mean God was involved. When someone says it was a miracle they didn’t miss the plane, they aren’t crediting the supernatural. Miracle can mean an unexpected fortunate outcome, such as winning the lottery. The word is just an expression to most and not automatically an expression of belief in anything.
January 22nd, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Sam Fields is a mean-spirited person.
January 22nd, 2011 at 7:14 pm
Nah..Sam you missed it
January 23rd, 2011 at 10:58 am
Sam:
The only thing that I can suggest, is that you retain good counsel for judgment day. One more thing: when you see St. Peter, keep your pie hole shut and let your lawyer do the talk’n…
January 23rd, 2011 at 1:42 pm
I am a pastoral theologian. It’s what I do for a living. Among my other responsibilities is to help people recognize the presence of God in their lives. I am not a literalist or a fundamentalist. I have a friend, Ram, who is a Hindu , who believes in a monkey god. I think that is ridicoulous. But I have come to a maturity of faith; that, hey, if he believes in this monkey god and that belief system and religious paradigm helps to frame and structure his world view and life, then so be it.
What I find laughable about Mr. Fields is not that he believes in no god (other than “hisself” at times), but that he feels so impelled to yell, rant and scream at others of us who do. He behaves as if he believes that if he does it often enough, loud enough, it may aytually be true. Sounds to me though, as if he’s only trying to convince himself. Yawn.
January 23rd, 2011 at 1:45 pm
BTW, my apologies for the typing errors in the previous post….
January 23rd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Dear Real Miracle,
My editor took out the dictionary definition of “miracleâ€. The primary definition relies on the supernatural even if it is occasionally used to explain the otherwise inexplicable such as the Dolphins winning another Superbowl
mir·a·cle
noun \ˈmir-i-kəl\
Definition of MIRACLE
1
: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs
2
: an extremely outstanding or unusual event, thing, or accomplishment
3
Christian Science : a divinely natural phenomenon experienced humanly as the fulfillment of spiritual law
Doctors love to use miracle as a alternative to : “I dunnoâ€
January 23rd, 2011 at 4:56 pm
It is a Miracle that Buddy still lets you poison his website with your hateful diatribe.
It is a Miracle that you have not gotten your clock cleaned several times by now considering the number of people you offend.
It is a Miracle that you still have gainful employment, otherwise who would ever hire you when every other word out of your mouth (or your keyboard) demonstrates your hate, intolerance and stupidity.
January 23rd, 2011 at 5:07 pm
U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents the district I reside in (but rarely represents me) has made a spectacle of herself trying to gain political value through this tragic event: “My dearest friend Gabby,” “we’re very close,” “watching her open her eyes…” blah blah blah. This is the very first Sam Fields post I’ve ever agreed with…
January 24th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Dear Senator Blutarsky,
Wasserman-Schultz and Giffords have been buddies long before the shooting. There families party and vacation together.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Debbie had a very good Tucson massacre.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:32 am
The other event of interest is that as a Congresswoman, she has excellent Guvmint ins. We should take a look at what would have happened to her if she did not have coverage or substandard coverage.
What about long term therapy coverage and if she hit her lifetime cap now. Also, was she uninsurable under previous “pre-existing conditions” portions of health care policies. What about the other people who were shot? Is it possible for an insurer to issue a policy that excludes gun shot violence the way many insurers in small print deny cancer treatments and screenings, autism and other things?
Sam, take it easy about miracles. Let people enjoy her recovery. You sound like Steve Kane and Brian Craig kvethcing about Martin Luther King day on cheap AM radio.
January 24th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
When I created the universe and all of its marvelous creatures I purposely created enough atheists to protect civil society from my believers. Sam just gets carried away with his appointed role to the point that even I want to put a sock in his pie hole. Imagine though faith based sewer treatment plants or traffic engineering. So accept that Sam plays a useful role.
January 24th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
“Look out for Lightning”, you’re assuming Sam can find a lawyer in Heaven. I’d call that a miracle.
January 25th, 2011 at 8:40 am
Dear Christine,
One atheist promotes his beliefs and you freak out. Christians are required to witness and evangelize. Do you denounce them for pushing their ideas on TV and just about everywhere else?
I would love to see all your writings denouncing the Pope or fundamentalists for attacking atheism. I suspect they are few and far between.
I hold to a belief system that is held to by 85% of the winners of Nobel Prizes in science.
I am available to meet you face to face to discuss our respective ideas.
Apparently I am more frightening than Daniel in the lions den.
January 25th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Sam you don’t need to apologize…
January 25th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Sam,
I am hardly “freaking out”. You give yourself way too much credit.
You rant and rave so much jumping up and down in this cyber living room, that it is just getting tired. You don’t believe in God or gods. Ho-hum. You made your point, numerous times. Have you nothing crisp or new to say?
January 25th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
Sam,
That being said, you SHOULD take me out for a vamilla bean Frappichino! Face to face and all….
January 25th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Sam Fields is a sad man looking for meaning to fill his life. He can ‘t find his answers in a test tube or a telescope so it doesn’t exist to him at all. One who has no faith that something could be unknown and greater than us is alone in the world. I feel sorry for him and I’m sure he will lash out at me because that is the only way he can interact with others.
January 26th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
IT has always struck me funny that when I worked a ambulance in hells halfacre of NYC I responded to several suicides. The part that always struck me odd was the ones who did jump hollered,” Oh My God” all the way down..The ones who were saved said the same thing…Dear author explain to a very tired old man what keeps the ground down and the sky up?It sure is not Washington?
January 26th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Sam , at least you got the last line right !