He Was Right

BRUCE  SCHOOLEY

Bruce, why do you believe in God? There is no empirical basis for your irrational belief. It just makes you happy.

I had come to know and like the gentle, elderly man asking about my belief in God, forgetting for a moment that Peter Singer is the most influential philosopher and atheist in the world. His views on animal rights, late term abortion, and euthanasia of disabled human beings are extreme.  But he is a kind person, and his question was sincere.

If I tell you the story about how God saved my life, will you admit my belief is rational?

Yes, but I doubt you can do that.

My wife and I were out celebrating her birthday.  I went to the bathroom before heading home and saw blood in my urine. I immediately went to the urologist, who ran a battery of tests.

You passed a kidney stone.  There is nothing wrong with you.

Are you absolutely sure?

Yes.

As I walked out of his office, I heard a voice.  It wasn’t my voice or my urologist’s voice.  I had never heard this voice before.

You have cancer.

I froze in the doorway. Then I returned to my doctor and said, “I have cancer.”

Get out!

Test my urine again for blood.  I’m not leaving until you do.

The test came back positive.  He assured me it meant nothing,  just another kidney stone and I most certainly did not have cancer.

I asked my friend, a significant donor to the most prestigious University hospital in California, if he could get me in.  They ran another battery of tests and found a lesion in my kidney but no indication of cancer.

You probably just passed a kidney stone.

Take it out.  I know it is cancer.  I need it out now before it spreads and kills me.

We will not take out a perfectly good kidney just because you believe it is cancerous.

Major donors have incredible influence over medical decisions. The hospital’s legal department had me sign a stack of forms and releases, then scheduled surgery to remove the kidney.  My surgeon’s last words to me as they were wheeling me into the operating room were, Tomorrow I am going to call you and tell you we took out a perfectly good kidney and you are going to apologize.

Not the call I got.

Bruce, you have stage 3B transitional cell carcinoma.  I don’t know what to say other than you need to start chemotherapy immediately, but your chance of survival is very low.

Dr. Singer was shaken.  You needed better doctors.

Peter, these are the best doctors, using the best equipment in the best hospital in California. They got it wrong.  God got it right.  I am alive today because I believed what God said to me.

He knew what my next question was going to be.

Is my belief in God rational?

I must admit that for you it is.

I gave him a hug.

Thank you, God, for twenty wonderful years.