Catch me if you can. Photo: Andre Moura pexels.com
Recently a sad ‘medical mishap’ was reported through a media outlet in India.
Murray Smith
Evidently a seriously unwell 15-year-old boy in the northeastern state of Bihar was rushed to hospital vomiting violently. The boy’s grandfather asserted during a New Delhi television interview that a doctor started operating on the boy without parental consent. The doctor had sent the father off to attend to other matters, while he proceeded with an operation.
The family was soon told their teenage son had a stone in his gallbladder that needed removing. Things spiralled for the teen following the ‘operation’. An ambulance had to be called to take the young patient to another hospital. It was alleged he died in transit with the doctor abandoning his patient and ‘disappearing’. It is claimed this “doctor” was a fake practitioner and did not have medical qualifications.
“He conducted the operation by watching videos on YouTube. Our boy died later…” a family member said. At face value this tragic incident appears to be the result of an unqualified person attempting surgery that went badly wrong. It brought to my mind a movie, titled “Catch Me if You Can,” directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. Based around a true story, actor Leonardo DiCaprio played the part of 19-year-old Frank Abagnale Jr, a con artist, who posed as an airline pilot, doctor and a lawyer and cashed forged cheques worth millions of dollars before his 21st birthday. A relentless FBI agent eventually nailed this fraudulent conman bringing him to justice. If Frank Abagnale had been actually asked to fly a passenger plane, or attempt a medical procedure, it would have been a disaster. He was totally unequipped and unqualified.
Imagine the precarious situation that could develop with someone falsely claiming to be qualified or eligible to pilot a passenger plane and getting approval to fly. I became friends with a man who emigrated to New Zealand after piloting international flights in the Gulf states for years. He entered ‘re-training’ to fly for our national airline, but his grasp of English was considered inadequate and the doors closed. Skilled in aeronautics, he turned to building and flying solo micro-light aircraft. But he remained disqualified from pursuing his real dream of returning to piloting passenger aircraft.
Learning we’ve been ‘disqualified’ from anything, can be terribly disappointing. There’s one circumstance where disqualification will prove beyond disappointing – more like, devastatingly tragic. I’m referring to a basic assumption many of us carry of considering ourselves ‘qualified’ to enter heaven.
Most people think of themselves as a ‘good’ person and optimistically imagine, (‘should heaven exist’) that they’ll hopefully ‘make the cut’ Heaven is real – so is having the assurance of knowing that you are in fact ‘qualified’ to go there… because it’s not by trusting in your own goodness, rather in what Jesus has done on your behalf. He alone has met every requirement to ensure we are eligible.
God’s qualification standard for entering into all that He has prepared in heaven, requires us to fully trust in Jesus – He alone has atoned for our sins and can impart the gift of righteousness we need to receive eternal life in heaven.
Catch me if you can. Photo: Andre Moura pexels.com
