WHERE: Pharmacy
WHEN: Late Saturday Morning
WHY: Getting my RX to fix Sinus/Ear infection
MOOD: Miserable and soon to become angry.
So there I sat in the pharmacy, waiting for my name to be called so I could get on with the rest of my day. All I wanted was to get my RX, eat some food, take the meds and go to bed. I couldn't breath and my ears hurt so much that I was down right miserable.
All the good magazines were being read and my iPhone battery was down to a single red bar, which kept me from tweeting, emailing, or looking up fabulous and obscure facts on the Internet.
I spied one of those spin-ee, book carousels thingies with inspirational/feel good reported bests sellers for my viewing/reading/purchasing pleasure.
I thought maybe I could find something that would help me out of my funk. I scanned the titles and nothing moved me enough to actually pick it up and start reading.
And then, sitting on the third shelf, I saw it. I could feel my ears turn as red on the outside as they most likely were on the inside and I was not happy.
I'm talking about THIS:
I grabbed the book and sat down, I flipped through it and found the following page:
NEWS FLASH: Don Colbert, M.D. If the bible actually cured diabetes, every single PWD (Person With Diabetes) would have jumped on this cure years ago.
HOW DARE YOU PEDDLE PEOPLES FAITH AS A CURE!
I'm not against God or people who find comfort in the bible - I get it. Where ever one finds comfort; hope, and or inspiration is alright with me. Some find it in the bible, Koran, or teachings of Buddha. Some find it in nature or in poetry. Many find in in their child's smile.
I am against pimping your "miracle cure" in the name of God. I consider it false advertising,and I feel that your book adds to the perpetuation of blame for not being "good enough" that most PWDs struggle with every single day,24X7.
I also think that your book will illicit false hope to a population desperate to find a cure, and I know that a belief in prayer over insulin could cause people to ditch their meds w/ the hopes that if they just pray hard enough, they will be cured. Those people won't be cured, but they will go to heaven much sooner than they should have- thanks to you and your book.
If you want me to get all religious - I consider you a false prophet using God & the bible as a way for you to make a profit off my disease.
I hope God forgives you and me, because I'm really having a tough time with the concept of forgiveness right now. I'd like to tell you face to face, to "go to hell!"
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28 comments:
Totally irresponsible to use God and a miracle to sell books.
Sigh. I totally believe God has the ability to heal my diabetes. And would do so if He so wished. But I also know that there is no known cure for T1 diabetes. And until there is one, I need to do what God asked of me, which is take care of my "temple". And I do that my managing my diabetes to be best of my ability.
It is so easy for me to feel conflicted about paragraphs like the one in that book. I know of 3 Type 1 people in my church, including myself. We've all be faithful for years. And we are all still diabetic. Paragraphs like that make me feel like a "bad" Christian, when in all reality, I know that God chooses to do things in His time and in His way. Not mine. Or the timing of some author of a book. :(
Oh HELL no!!! The really funny thing is that he says, "God can totally heal either one (type of diabetes) without effort or difficulty. I've known many people who have been completely healed of diabetes by God..."
But he left out one very important fact - how many of THOSE cured people were type I's??? How many??? I'd love to meet them! I, personally, love God... at least what I think God is. I, however, hate this guy. Shame on him and the people who published that sh*&.
I'm so mad I could spit. Seriously???? I am a person of faith, but I'm also realistic. I wouldn't use this guy's book as toilet paper.
The other cardinal sin from this book is when it states "- perhaps you ARE (emphasis mine) one of these types of diabetes". News flash: I am not now, nor have I ever been, and I never will be diabetes -- no more than someone with cancer is a cancerian, or someone with multiple sclerosis a multiple sclerosisian. This book will probably say I will go to hell for using the Lord's name in vain, to which I would say that for violating the Jewish holiness code, they will also be in hell for wearning a cotton-synthetic blend of fabric, but Jesus Christ ...
Do a search for Don Colbert on Amazon, and you learn he has apparently written Bible Cures for a whole range of problems (everything from thyroid disorders to menopause to cancer to yeast infections. seriously). It really is a shame to use people's faith as a way to get rich off of their problems. Despicable.
Once I had a friend of a friend tell me that if I didn't believe that God could cure my diabetes then I didn't really believe in God. I haven't spoken to that person since then. Seriously, w.t.f.? If God wants to cure my diabetes, he will, by giving us a cure for EVERYONE. Til then I'm not going to disregard my health and depend on the supernatural.
DUH.
I saw this SAME book on Friday!! I was coming back from chaperoning a week in Washington DC with 150 of my eighth grade students and saw it at a rest stop. Crazy.
I am somewhat new to your blog (diagnosed Type 1 in March)....thank you! I love reading!
Elizabeth
I can not get over that page. "God can heal either one with little effort."
I have a lot of faith and I am so disappointed...and offended. To me, it's just another scare tactic.
A coworker once suggested she had found the cure for cancer AND diabetes: multiple daily enemas. At least she didn't try to sell me a book about it.
This just feeds into all the mis-information out there. It's one more reason why people will think that as long as they don't eat too much sugar, and apparently pray fervently, they won't get diabetes.
I once had a woman tell me that yoga would control my daughters numbers and lessen her need for insulin, and she gave me a magazine article to prove it. What my friend failed to realize from the article, was that the subject was a diabetic in denial and with extremely poor habits. When the subject began yoga, she also drastically changed her eating habits, started testing her bg more often, and overall began living a healthier lifestyle. Yet the article TOTALLY credited yoga - as if no other actions had been taken.
I do pray for my daughter, and then I bolus her for dinner.
Hey there, I have stumbled across your blog while "blog hopping".
I started reading your blog because my BFF is 42 and has been insulin dependant since 12 yrs old so diabetes topic's always pull my attention....
Anyhow, In regard to God curing diabetes... I can understand it to a point ( don't worry I am not a religious person - I am undecided about religion at this moment, organized religion anyway ) I have been researching alternative healing for a couple months now and came across "energy healing" I would highly recommend you research it yourself, particularly something called "The Reconnection" with Dr Eric Pearl - youtube it.
I can understand it (The God curing) because in essence it is a person's energy and thought that is placed in a particular direction, they are just attaching God to it. Like, for instance prayer lists work because it is a group effort of positive, well wishing, healing thoughs directed to an predetermined target. It's fascinating to me and I wish someone had mentioned it to me years ago, so just a suggestion, I felt compelled to share it with you - take it or leave it :)
Good luck, I will check in periodically to see if you decided to check it out.. Dawn
To Dawn...So, just a question. Why isn't your friend cured? Do you not love her enough to implement your energy healing on her? Is she not faithful enough? (Are the other type 1 commenters here who talked about their love of God not faithful enough???)
You're welcome to your beliefs. And I really am sorry if this sounds angry, because you sound like you really are (albeit misguidedly) trying to help. But putting responsibility on people who struggle every day to take care of themselves and stay healthy, saying they can actually cure themselves if they just try hard enough, is insulting.
(Show me one, just ONE clinical trial where a type 1 diabetic was cured through faith, and I'll eat my insulin pump.)
I saw the SAME book on Wednesday! I'm glad you blogged about it, because I didnt even have the ability to "go there"
I think God's greatest gift is freedom. Freedom to choose to believe in God or not. If God were to go about doing favors for those who believe (like cures for people who buy stupid books) it would be real obvious. That would make it compelling to believe and so take away the gift of freedom. That seems infinity stupid, petty and un-god like.
Oh Kelly, what a find! 'WWJD about a book like this?' This man is a little off the wall and plays into the whole hope/religious cure aspect of any disease. I feel like you could substitute any disease and it would read the same. Pray hard, it will go away and all be better. Maybe we just don't believe hard enough? Hardly.
I love Pam's response, that she prays and then boluses for dinner. Right on Pam!
This looks like the old "Chicken Soup for the Diabetic's Soul" thing! Doesn't everybody need chicken soup? Hey, i consider myself a person of deep faith. And guess what?...i, myself, have battled cancer...and my little girl has type 1. my circumstances don't dictate my faith. there are bad things in the world. period. it grieves God as it does all of us. He can work good even through the muck of it all...my life is living proof. if He wanted to "poof," heal every illness, He could...totally believe that. His plans...i don't fully understand...but someday i will.
and, Dawn: i'm sorry, but i feel waaaaay better about putting my trust in insulin than a bunch of people's energy...it keeps my daughter alive on a daily...even hourly, basis. i thank God for it!
Hrmph. As a christian, and not one of those scary ones, this does bother me. I have a healthy belief in God, but my answer to the people who suggest you can pray something away is simply, "so why did God allow Banting and Best, and others, the ability to discover the healing properties of the medicine that keeps me alive?" I pray,sure, who doesn't? But praying ain't going to cure me of this insipid disease I've had since I was 7. Nor will it give me the pony, puppy or HUGE lottery winning I'd like. Amen.
Oh my gosh! I can understand why you were upset! That is totally irresponsible and completely disgusting.
If I see that book, anywhere, I'm marching up to the manager of that store and giving him/her a piece of my mind. SO WRONG! ON SO MANY LEVELS! How can this "doctor" who wrote this trash sleep at night??
Kelly, that God can cure you thing really really gets my goat. We live in Ghana, W. Africa; my 9 year old dd was dx 2 years ago. I can't tell you how many ignorant people insist that if we went to church more, prayed more, donated more (you get the drift, right?) then God would cure Alexandra. I always ask them, tell me, what could this little girl have done that was sooo bad that God gave her this disease in the first place?
Bah, this book needs to be burned. And possibly the pharmacy too for stocking such junk! :P (kidding, of course)
Have you considered contact the author and/or publisher? I'm sure if you asked for support (maybe a petition?), the whole D-OC would be right behind you :)
o.k. people, I'm not sure how this happened or why if it was God or not, but here's my story and if anyone can explain it to me I would be grateful.
My younger sister was 5 years old, she went into a diabetic coma, my Dad gave her a needle every day. And than it stopped, she was on no medication at all. She eats sweets all the time and to this day she has normal blood sugars, no sign of diabetes at all. I don't get it and no Doctor has been able to explain it to me! It boggles my mind.....
Guys:
Your comments are outstanding - thank you all so much! Like you all, I find that book to be filled with false hope and I find that Dr to be making money off others fears. He's dangerous and his words could cause many to harm themselves or their family members.
I know for a fact that having a chronic illness like Diabetes doesn't make you any less loved or less worthy in this life or the next.
God, Buddha, Allah, The Goddess -whoever you find comfort in isn't punishing us because we have a disease- it's absurd.
As far as praying- people with diabetes and parents of cwds prayer more than anyone I know! We pray for strength, acceptance, good health, and the ability to pick ourselves and forge ahead every day!
Dawn: I have to say, thanks for your comment on my blog, but your way off base here. Do you know anything about Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes?
Are you aware that the pancreases in those of us with Type 1 no longer make insulin and that our bodies no longer possess the area (The Islet of langerhans) in the pancreas that actually makes insulin? Our own bodies actually destroyed the Islets because they thought it was a foreign body. We have an autoimmune disease - like it or not.
In order to live, people need insulin.
We don't make insulin, so we must inject
Type 2's have a metabolic disease & develop a strong insulin resistance. I wont even go into type 1.5 or gestational diabetes as Im limited on my characters.
We PWDS are a positive people who make lemons into lemonade every day of our lives. We do have millions using "positive energy," it's called, RESEARCH FOR THE CURE!
Dee: I don't know how old your sister is now (I'm guessing she's over 50) or when she was diagnosed, but it sounds like she was misdiagnosed as a child. maybe Pancreatitis, or hyper/hypo thyroidism. Im not an Endocrinologist or Research scientist- those are the people who could give you the answers your looking for. I am glad your sister is healthy.
Thanks again for all your comments !!
Kelly Kunik
There's a story about a guy who's trapped on the roof of his house after a hurricane (or some other natural disaster). He prays to God to help him out and save him. A neighbor with a boat comes over, but the trapped guy refuses the help, saying that God will save him.
The water rises and rises, and a few different people come by with boats to offer their help. Each time, the guy turns them away, saying God will save him.
The guy finally ends up drowning, and when he meets God, he asks why he wasn't saved. God replied, "I sent multiple boats, but you refused their help."
Insulin (or other meds/treatments) is the boat here. I'm all for prayer (baptized, confirmed, and married Catholic here), but as I wait for a cure, I'm using insulin to keep me alive. Besides, people living with diabetes for 10, 20, 30 years...that's a miracle in itself.
If we include thoughts of God in relation to diabetes...it needs to be, "God is saving our lives through the gift of insulin." Are there any "amens" out there?
Hi Kelly and Faye, I've been ranting about this topic, and hope you don't mind me linking to your blog and Faye's comment. Best wishes, Andrew
www.bigswifty.blogspot.com
Um...wow?
I've seen some crazy things in my time, but this one ... well, leaves me speechless.
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