Hippocratic Oath

I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and the other day when I was in the doctor’s office, I spotted a copy of the Hippocratic Oath framed on the wall. I was amazed when I read it. Although Hippocrates was a pagan who believed in Greek gods and goddesses, his medical students had to take an oath that they would never give any poison to a patient who asked for it and they were forbidden to ever induce an abortion. Um, times have changed, though, and so has the oath.

To me, it’s amazing that Hippocrates was a pagan who lived in ancient Greece, yet he recognized and obeyed the moral law written on his heart. Too bad that modern medical schools ignore that law. Let’s not follow their lead. Hippocrates may not have known the God we know, but we sure can follow his example — today, listen to the law that God has written on your heart. That’s a little ‘diamond in the dust’ for today.