A newborn baby died because his parents believe the Bible is the word of God and the Bible promises Christians that they can heal through faith healing. This problem needs to be corrected.
A Christian couple, Dale and Shannon Hickman, were found guilty of second degree manslaughter for the death of their newborn premature son, David. The parents believe in the Bible promises of healing through prayer and anointing with oil. This is repeatedly shown not to work with the deaths of many, many innocent children.
When the prosecutor stated, "When you recognized he was dying you still did not call 9-1-1," Dale Hickman replied, "I did not."
When asked why he didn't call 9-1-1 Dale Hickman said, "Because I was praying."
Doctors testified that David had a 99.9 percent chance of surviving if he had received medical care.
David's mother, Shannon Hickman, made it clear that she would not do anything without her husband's approval because she follows a biblical directive. In this situation, she would not call 9-1-1 to save her son's life because of her deep belief in the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches that women are inferior to men. For example, when the Bible god was putting monetary value on people he always put less value on women and girls than he did on men and boys. Leviticus 27:3-7 claims that the Hebrew god said, "And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. And if it be from five years old even unto twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. And if it be from sixty years old and above; if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels." This is raw materialism at it lowest level.
Shannon Hickman, being a good Christian woman, would also know about the anti-women and anti-reason Bible instructions such as 1 Timothy 2:11-12 which teaches, " Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." There are many other cases of the Bible attacking women. Since there are many women who are much more intelligent than their husbands, these ancient and foolish teachings can only cause problems.
The Root of the Problem
Dale Hickman revealed the true root of the problem when he said, "I put my faith in God. . . "
The Hickmans' belief that God wrote, or inspired "holy" men to write, the Bible and that the Bible is the word of God is the root of the problem. If they and billions of people like them can be shown that God gave us reason and not religion, horrific tragic deaths like that of David and many other innocent children would no longer happen. For our God-given reason tells us the majority of claims in the Torah, Bible and Koran are false and are nothing but ancient nonsense. These sincere "revealed" religionists need to be shown that when they believe in books written by men which violate their God-given reason, they are in fact turning their backs on this gift from God which is second only to life itself. It boils down to embracing God's gift or embracing books written by ancient men. It's that simple.
The American Revolutionary War hero and
Deist, Ethan
Allen, wrote in his thought provoking book, Reason:
The Only Oracle of Man, "Those who invalidate reason,
ought seriously to consider, whether they argue against reason with
or without reason; if with reason, then they establish the principle,
that they are laboring to dethrone, but if they argue without reason,
(which, in order to be consistent with themselves, they must do) they
are out of the reach of rational conviction, nor do they deserve a
rational argument."
Thomas Paine, an American founder and Deist, wrote in the very important book on God, Deism, religion, etc., The Age of Reason, The Complete Edition, (for the Kindle edition click here) ". . . in truth there is no such thing as redemption - that it is fabulous, and that man stands in the same relative condition with his Maker as he ever did stand since man existed, and that it is his greatest consolation to think so.
"Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally than by any other system; it is by his being taught to contemplate himself as an outlaw, as an outcast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as one thrown, as it were, on a dunghill at an immense distance from his Creator, and who must make his approaches by creeping and cringing to intermediate beings, that he conceives either a contemptuous disregard for everything under the name of religion, or becomes indifferent, or turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he consumes his life in grief, or the affectation of it; his prayers are reproaches; his humility is ingratitude; he calls himself a worm, and the fertile earth a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the thankless name of vanities; he despises the choicest gift of God to man, the GIFT OF REASON; and having endeavored to force upon himself the belief of a system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human reason, as if man could give reason to himself."
