Check the Facts

I drowsily greeted the 6-West nurses at Children's Hospital Los Angeles while pulling out my list of patients that I was supposed to see during morning rounds.  I was in my last year of pediatric gastroenterology training, and was charged with making sure that all the patients on the list with various digestive concerns were receiving proper care.  After seeing several youngsters with various intestinal issues, I stopped in front of the room of a 4 year old Armenian boy who recently had a liver transplant, and scanned through the nursing documentation.  I noted that he had a mild fever the night before, and that the recent laboratory results suggested a mild acute rejection episode.  As I continued to review the records, I checked his fluid intake, urine output, and diet, and saw that he ate only half of his scrambled eggs, one small pancake, one bite of sausage...and a cup of coffee.  Coffee for a 4 year old boy?  A kid who just had a liver transplant?  I couldn't believe what I saw.  Most parents wouldn't give children coffee...I mean, wouldn't it like, stunt children's growth?

I entered the room, greeted the little boy and his mother, washed my hands, and as I examined the child, I checked with the mother to make sure that the documentation of coffee intake was accurate.  The mother smiled, replied that her son normally would drink some coffee (but not too much) every morning, and that in the Armenian community this is a culturally acceptable practice.  I finished the examination, and after discussing the day's plan for the child, thanked the mother for the cultural eye-opener, but was still a bit incredulous as I continued on my rounds.

Over the years, I have encountered other parents who intentionally gave young children coffee to drink, either to improve their attention spans or as a laxative, but I no longer regarded this as an oddity.  What about this thing about coffee causing stunted growth?  I eventually checked out the facts many years later, and confirmed my suspicions that it is simply a commonly accepted myth or old wives' tale.

We often accept as the gospel truth certain widespread claims that are simply incorrect and unsubstantiated, because if enough people say that they are true, that they must be true.  For example, nearly everyone heard the statement of "fact" that each person needs to drink 8 glasses of water a day.  It turns out that this is not true.  Among the Chinese, it is believed that eating crabs and persimmons together is lethal.  My mother, my wife and all my relatives believe this with all their hearts.  As I tried to check out the facts, I came across several recipes for crab and persimmon salad (with beautiful photographs of the finished products).  I don't think that the concoctions are meant to be weapons of mass destruction, but I'm not quite sure whether I should prepare it for our next family gathering.

Similarly, many who claim to be Christians have ingrained doctrine and beliefs of the nature of God that are not accurate.  They hear about these from their family, friends, books, movies, rock stars, famous actresses and talk show hosts, and with sufficient exposure these beliefs become accepted without question.  The 1st Century Jews of Berea were notable exceptions:

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.  (Acts 17:11)

We need to check the facts.  Now, there's this other one about death caused by eating shrimps with oranges....