“You don’t go to the hospital looking for healthy people…”

I’ve heard it too often through the years. You don’t look for healthy people in a hospital, and so you shouldn’t look for perfect people at church. There are several issues with this. For starters, no one is going to church looking for perfect people. Good people, kind people, honest people, caring people, friendly people… but not perfect people. For seconds, the statement is far too often used as an excuse for why Christians are NOT good, kind, nice, honest, or caring.

However, the juxtaposition of hospital and church is illogical, too, because I don’t go to a hospital looking for healthy patients, but I do expect healthy, knowledgeable, caring doctors, nurses and staff. I don’t go to a hospital expecting to be brainwashed, abused, robbed, condemned, and thrown out for objecting when I am. I wouldn’t ever go to a hospital where I was told never to question my doctor, or that no matter what, I’d better not talk to or see any other doctor or any other doctor’s nurses or even another doctor’s patients without my doctor’s permission. And would never, ever go to a hospital where I was told that once I’d checked in I’d better grow where I was planted and never leave, and that if I did any of the above I’d die some extreme tortuous death forever. Because obviously if I left the hospital it would be because I was very sick. (Couldn’t be because I was getting better.)

As a matter of fact, when I go to a hospital, I do expect to find healthy people. I expect my decisions about my treatment to be respected whether anyone on staff agrees or not, even in matters of life or death. I expect to be treated no matter who I am, and to be treated just as any other patient would be treated. I don’t expect doctors or staff to play favorites. I expect to be able to get a second opinion. I expect my confidentiality to be maintained. I expect to be released when I want to be, even if the hospital disagrees that I should be. And I expect to be given the best care, no matter who I am, what my background is, no matter what my beliefs are, and no matter what my choices have been or are.

So, no, I don’t look for healthy PATIENTS at the hospital. However, the statement that I wouldn’t look for healthy PEOPLE at a hospital so I shouldn’t look for PERFECT people at church is incredibly flawed.

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