Dr Paul Brand, the son of missionary parents, was a world-renowned orthopaedic specialist and leprosy surgeon. He devoted his life to helping those suffering from this terrible disease and was the first physician to appreciate that leprosy is essentially an affliction of the nerves. It is the loss of the sensation of pain which makes sufferers susceptible to injury and leads to terrible tissue damage.
In his fascinating autobiography, Ten Fingers for God, Dr Brand says that one of the tragic consequences for those suffering from leprosy is that often damaged limbs have to be amputated. But their loss can be compounded if they develop the phenomenon ‘phantom limb pain’. Phantom limb pain occurs when the patient’s brain acts as though the limb still exists, even causing the amputee to feel terrible pain in their non-existent extremity.
Phantom guilt
Phantom limb pain provides a wonderful insight into phantom guilt pain that haunts the lives of some believers. Christians can be fixated by the memory of some sin committed years ago. It never leaves them, stunting their spiritual growth and destroying their inner joy.
