The Earth Is Flat and Other Facts

          Now that we are weeks beyond the immunization discussion, I would like to share here some of the things I learned from that tense and rather thorny dialogue.  It was good for me.

          The first thing I was forced to realize was that there are wonderful parents in my world who do not get immunizations for their children. Oh yes, I knew there were a few “odd ducks” out there who opted out; but I had no idea how many people who parent carefully at many levels, yet are not immunizing.  It was mystifying to me. Please bear with me.

 I am not generally a shaker or a mover outside our home, but this time I wanted to “change the world”!  I could not believe what I was hearing. Words like aghast, horrified, and baffled come to mind. It did not take me long to figure out that I was a voice crying in the wilderness. I wanted to sit down and cry.

          Before making a complete fool of myself with the people that God has placed in our social circle, I decided to research the subject.  Lesson number two: the Internet is full of unscientific nonsense concerning health, immunizing, and allergies. Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, but it is killing Truth. Before too long, the earth will again be flat unless we start blowing the whistle on it. 

          Before you give me up for a lot of noise I want to hurry on to say that I did find information based on proper scientific research that was informative and helpful, and I found it online.  The trick is to be able to tell fact from fiction.  And that is no easy feat because sometimes the “flat earth” sites seemed less confusing and more readable than the real deal sites.  Besides, medical science is corrupted by money and power which hurts their credibility. In a perfect world, real science would take the time and money to meet with the alternative medicine world shedding light and truth, unencumbered by politics. 

          But back to what was I to do to be light and truth in MY world.  I decided early in the discussion that what I knew to be true was not really what was needed for the relationships where I live. I kept asking myself and God, “What can I safely and constructively offer to this discussion?” Keep in mind I would rather have cracked a few heads together. My attitude was not so negative, though, as it was a frantic searching for ways to make them see.  Lesson number three: I am not Galileo. The only profitable thing I could offer was GRACE. 

          As per my desire to be a gracious person I could be kind and understanding and even silent when needed as questions of pertussis (whooping cough), shots, and quarantine came up from time to time. So, I found that I did not have to agree with them, nor they with me and we could still love and respect one another. Moreover, this room of grace allowed me to settle down and really listen and hear the other side with a calmer attitude.

          Lesson four, I found in my research that the medical field folks did over step themselves a bit in offering immunizations for simple childhood diseases like chicken pox and mumps.  Fortunately, any and all immunizations are still our personal prerogative.  Moderation and common sense should still be the order of our lives in all of these decisions. 

          And my fifth lesson: there were responsibilities of teaching that were laid on my heart in the course of this discussion. The first was that if we are going to embrace the possibility of the return of life threatening diseases we also need to take up the responsibility thereof. We need to relearn what is involved in a proper quarantine and to be committed to doing it. Most of us do not know how quarantine should be done.  

          Finally, we MUST teach real science, health, and hygiene to our home-schooled children. Apologia, and Abeka Book are two among many educational resources that I would recommend to use for Biblically sound teaching on Creation and Science. Do your children know about germs? Are you sure? Have you taught them? This sounds silly, but such a simple truth can be lost in one generation if it is not taught.  We fail in this area of our home schools and we subject ourselves to the lies of the darkness of this age. We cannot afford it. The tides will win unless we are solidly moored in Truth and teaching it every school day to our children.