Medicine and Theology

It is impossible for me to recall exactly how the topic arose, but somehow I was explaining the difference between being agnositc and atheist to some of my co-workers. Now, I am usually one to avoid such conversations in the workplace, but knew I could elaborate without ruffling any feathers, neither theirs, nor mine.

One person says, "Ok, let's start from the beginning so I can understand what you're saying."

"Genesis, then eh?"

"Yeah. Let's start there. Do you believe in Adam and Eve?"

"I don't know. What I do know is that it is terribly hard to think that two human beings, such complex machines and intricate works of art, were created from dirt."

"Graaaay! Eve was made from Adam's rib."

"Ah yes. Even more complex. How is it that even with all this stem-cell research, we can't even create a whole human, but one can be created from differentiated cells, that being Adam's rib?"

She looks at me for a while and then manages to say, "That's why I think God did it".

"Oh really...and when you were on your morning drive to work and got stuck in traffic, did God do that too? Or was it simply because as humans we are non-nocturnal beings and in order to get in a full-day's work, society has made this rule that will start our shifts at a certain time in the morning and end at a certain time in the evening?"

Have I said too much? I can see the wheels turning...ever so slowly. Honestly, I don't want anyone abandoning their religion, but I do think it wise to play "devil's advocate" every one in a while to make people, including myself, think about why they honor their beliefs.

"Ok fine. Back to Adam then. How is it he lived 930 years?"

"Oh people lived much longer in those times."

"Wrong!" I hated having to educate her and everyone who was now forming a crowd around us. "The calendar we use today...who invented it?"

"Uh...uh....I dunno."

"Julius Caesar invented the Julian Calendar in 45 B.C. Since then, it has been used. Before this date, lunar months were counted as years. So Adam would have only been 77 years and 6 months old. Doesn't that seem more plausable?"

Silence. No one can say a word. It's absolutely impossible for a hospital unit to be quiet enough to hear a pin drop, but right now, you can. The entire day and night crew are stunned in total disbelief.

"You can look it up for yourself, if you like. Knowledge is power. Peace"

And with that, I leave to make rounds on my patients, ensuring that they have not gone to see God.

-Gray