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the good ol' days (or not so good ?)

THIS IS A PHOTO FROM THE "OLD DAYS" AT FULLER SEMINARY top floor old library i needed 3 carrels for all my stuff,

-- JESUS SAVES !!

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

(fuller sem also accepts gifts from Lilly) IT CONCERNS ME THAT CALVIN SEMINARY & CRC ACCEPTS "GRANTS" FROM the LILLY ENDOWMENT (ie pharmaceutical company)

...
maybe no strings attached, but the tendency is for those who receive such donations to look more favorably upon this pharmaceutical company and the use of medications in general than they might otherwise. 

That is, pastors ( & others, in some cases also seminary professors) normally are probably  more inclined to to preach & advise trying to deal with illness, pain, & other medical issues via spiritual channels  (ie God, Jesus, prayer ) and find a higher meaning for the pain, illness, etc . 

But medicine wants to take away all the pain mostly with pills. Consciously or unconsciously, pastors may be more lenient or apathetic about medication due to donations from medication companies. Or may even go so far as to start promoting such medication companies in some cases. 

There are times when medication is valid & legitimate for medical issues. However, there are other times when it may not be, or not so much so. Sometimes God does give us "trials" that may seem to  manifest itself in the form of medical problems. And if we just "drug it away" or "numb it away" we may be missing something God wants us to address spiritually. In fact, the Catholic church actually even goes so far as to say that sometimes the pain we carry may have a higher purpose. 

"Launched earlier this year, the three-year Financial Shalom project was made possible through a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.'s National Initiative to Address Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral  
Leaders..."