Dialogue: Undeniable Spirit defies the Godless

By GARTH GEORGE

So the Government won't stump up more money to support the hospital chaplaincy service. That's no surprise, for the Labour-Alliance Administration is led by and composed of people who live two-dimensional lives - body and soul - and give no recognition to mankind's (and thus their) third dimension, the spirit.

Helen Clark never misses an opportunity, even at the risk of making a fool of herself, to insist that New Zealand is a secular society. She is wrong. What we have is a secular state; our society, in which more than 600,000 people profess some sort of belief in God, is not secular - and never will be.

Among others, Stalin and his successors and their satellite henchmen did their damnedest to snuff out the Spirit; Mao's successors are still trying. They will not succeed, and nor will Helen Clark and her minions whose philosophy of life is the atheistic humanism common to most of those of hardline socialist persuasion.

And they won't succeed because, no matter what they say or do, men and women will remain spiritual beings. We are all born with the spark of the Spirit of God in us. In some it flares into the flame of belief, in others it lies dormant.

And as long as there is a handful of people in this nation who believe in God, who set out to love him, trust him, obey him and serve him, the salt and light of the Gospel will continue to be sprinkled throughout the land, slowing down the social putrefaction and driving out the darkness of pride, greed and immorality that we see around us every day.

And that's what terrifies, albeit subconsciously, the people who would have us reduced to the same two-dimensional existence they have chosen for themselves.

The body of man (and woman) consists of the five senses - sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. The soul of man consists of the intellect, the emotions and the will. The spirit of man consists of conscience, intuition and communion (the ability to communicate with a power greater than ourselves who, by one name or another, is called God).

The only exceptions to this basic fact of human life are psychopaths, who are born without a conscience and are incapable of developing one, just as some of us are born physically or mentally incomplete.

All three dimensions of man are intimately connected, as those of us who are in touch with ourselves, spiritual or not, readily recognise. When we are physically ill we tend to be mentally and emotionally down, too.

When we are mentally and emotionally disturbed, our bodies tend to create sympathetic symptoms such as headaches and other pains. And if we are spiritually bereft, or even just down, we tend to be less able to cope with physical, mental or emotional setbacks.

Which brings me back to the hospital chaplaincy service. We hear much these days of "holistic" approaches to medicines and therapies. And if that word means what I think it means, then our health service should set out to treat the whole person.

Which means that the spiritual dimension, which can play such a hugely important part in recovery from physical and, particularly, mental illness, cannot be ignored, especially by those who are suffering potentially fatal diseases.

I contend that the spiritual counsellor, be he or she a hospital chaplain or not, is as important to the recovery of many, if not most, patients as is the physician, surgeon, psychiatrist, psychologist, nurse, physiotherapist or social worker.

And since hospital chaplains are working for the state in its capacity as provider of the public health service, the state should pay for them.

However, because so much tax money is wasted on trivialities and political manipulations, the state will not provide the wherewithal to sustain even a barely adequate health system.

Thus, as we well know, cuts have to be made in all areas. The chaplaincy service is one of them and I have no argument with the Government declining to increase its funding.

What does make me uncomfortable is that the non-denominational church organisation that runs the chaplaincy service is bleating about it, using as an excuse a fall-off in church attendances. That might be a reason, but it is certainly no excuse, for the churches themselves are wholly to blame for people walking away in droves.

Perhaps it is time for the churches to set an example by not spending their money on trivialities and religious manipulations and putting it, irrespective of the sacrifice involved, where it really does some good - healing the sick.

That would please our Lord no end.

* garth_george@nzherald.co.nz will be on leave for the next three weeks.