A lot of atheists make the argument that Christians should put their money where their mouths are. If we believe in God, why do we use doctors, hospitals, and drugs? Why don't we just pray the sickness away? (And indeed, there are a number of professing Christians who genuinely do act this way, to their shame and detriment).
Family Guy has never been a fount of wisdom when it comes to theology, and so when my brother brought the 10th episode of season 12, "Livin' on a prayer", into my bedroom and requested to watch it, I was strongly tempted to deny him. But I didn't, and as it turns out, the episode has a surprising amount of wisdom in it.
In the episode, a little boy named Scotty comes to play with the Griffin's baby, Stewie. Scotty faints, and Lois takes him to the hospital, where she is informed he has cancer. She apologetically explains this to Scotty's parents, who tell her that they already know, but because of their religious beliefs, they are refusing to treat Scotty, instead placing him in the Lord's hands.
It was at this point I was expecting the entire episode to be dedicated to bashing Christianity and mocking God, and not surprisingly there were a few scenes that do just that. But the conclusion, to the credit of Seth McFarlane, was probably the highest point of the entire Family Guy series. Rather than using this episode to argue against Christianity and conclude that God does not exist and Christians are just a bunch of scientifically illiterate numbskulls, Lois actually makes an excellent point.
For centuries, human beings have been praying for answers to things like disease. Who's to say that modern medical advances aren't answers to those prayers? There is, after all, nowhere in the Bible that condemns medicine. In fact, Colossians 4:14 tells us that Luke, the very same disciple who wrote the Gospel that bears his name, was a physician! A doctor, much like we have today, only without the medical advances he would likely also have prayed for.
What's more is that, ironically, while atheists try to take credit for all medical advances, the entire concept of science owes its origins to Christianity. This historical fact is so inescapable that Evolutionary anthropologist Loren Eilsley once wrote "It is surely one of the curious paradoxes of history that science, which professionally has little to do with faith, owes its origins to an act of faith that the universe can be rationally interpreted, and that science today is sustained by that assumption." (1).
In the 16th century, a movement began within the Church known as the Reformation. The goal of this movement was to go back to God's word, reading it as it was intended to be read, getting rid of as many myths as possible. With the invention of the printing press, this job became a lot easier. It is no coincidence that the scientific revolution coincided with this movement. Put simply, when people started casting aside the myths they were taught about God, they did the same with nature. They began seeing science as a method of glorifying God. Most scientists, from the Reformation until the invention of Evolution, took a view similar to that of Nobel Prize winner, Sir William Bragg: "From religion comes a man's purpose; from science, his power to achieve it. Sometimes people ask if religion and science are not opposed to one another. They are: in the sense that the thumb and fingers of my hands are opposed to one another. It is an opposition by means of which anything can be grasped." (2).
So, is it really fair to say that if Christians really believe in God, we should cease to believe in modern medicine? Absolutely not. I never thought I'd say this, but Seth McFarlane is absolutely right. There is no point in having faith that God will heal you if you're going to see a chance to get healed in a completely ethical way and reject it. Or, to put it as Lois did in the episode, "What's the point in praying to God if you're just going to wipe your butt with His answers?"
When Jesus walked the earth, He did perform a number of miraculous healings. For a time, He even passed on this power to His disciples. However, these were not intended as the general rule for Christianity. They were signs of its authenticity. Imagine a world in which Jesus' genuine miracles could simply be passed off as something that anyone can do. It just wouldn't work. Christianity would not have spread as far if Jesus' healing abilities were not unique. But they were. They were so unique that only God could do them.
But the point of Jesus' life wasn't to cure a few illnesses. Jesus had a much greater purpose: the healing of the soul. Through His death on the cross, Jesus effectively took the disease of sin (i.e. our naturally evil desires that make us incompatible with God, the source of life) upon Himself. Through belief in His resurrection, we can be reconciled to God forever.
References
1. Eiseley, Loren. - Darwin’s Century: Evolution and the Men who Discovered It, Doubleday, Anchor, New York, 1961
2. Salam, Abdus - “The Art of the Physicist.” New Scientist. Vol. 35 (20 Jul 1967): 163