What would YOU choose...

OK, moral, ethical hypothetical kinda situation question...

Say you were given the choice between one of the following 2 powers/abilities and you HAVE to choose one... which would you choose and why:

1. When you're sick or injured, you can touch anyone and transfer the infirmity from you to that person.

2. When you touch someone, you are able to recieve their illness from them and you have to suffer instead of them.

Think this through before you answer... and remember, you're in a position where you HAVE to choose one or the other.

Tricky tricky tricky.



I think I would probably go for the 'power' of being able to take
someone elses sickness, although I'd have to be very careful as to how
and when I would use it. As I'm in my 30's I could take away illnesses
from older people who have difficulty fighting them off, where I would
be able to fight them off quite quickly.

If I chose the other one I'd be forever worried that I'd be passing illnesses to ones I love and would end up living as far away from them as possible....

Fundy

I would have to take the 2nd power, and be very careful who I touched.

When I was younger I was sick quite a bit.
I still get several "colds" a year, and seem to catch anything that my kids get. So if I'm gonna get sick anyway, it would be nice to alleviate someone else from the sickness.

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Good answers so far... would it make a difference if the power was completely controllable (ie. you could activate the power at will rather than an accidental "bump") ?

I guess I would have to be the dork that would take the first one. I don't think I could handle taking someone's pain from a broken arm or their cancer into myself. Sure, they would recover, but you would eventually use your own power and kill yourself from something terrible.

Just because you had the first power doesn't mean you have to use it. Sure, getting rid of a cold or something of that nature would be cool. Give it to the guy who messes with you at work all the time. But, I'd still want to keep my big ailments to myself. I wouldn't want to give away a heart attack or cancer to someone else any more than I'd want to take theirs into myself.

Quote :

Give it to the guy who messes with you at work all the time

apologetixfreak wrote:

Good answers so far... would it make a difference if the power was completely controllable (ie. you could activate the power at will rather than an accidental "bump") ?

Nope, don't think that would change my answer. I would actually make it easier, if you could control when it happened. I would probably feel guilty for not using it often enough.

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alldatndensum wrote:

I guess I would have to be the dork that would take the first one. I don't think I could handle taking someone's pain from a broken arm or their cancer into myself. Sure, they would recover, but you would eventually use your own power and kill yourself from something terrible.

Just because you had the first power doesn't mean you have to use it. Sure, getting rid of a cold or something of that nature would be cool. Give it to the guy who messes with you at work all the time. But, I'd still want to keep my big ailments to myself. I wouldn't want to give away a heart attack or cancer to someone else any more than I'd want to take theirs into myself.

I must applaud Alldat and his honesty here. I think I would say the same thing. I have dealt with health issues most of my life and honestly don't think I could physically or spiritually handle any more. There are times my daughter has been sick that I wish I could alleviate her distress but I just don't think I have what it would truly take to take someone elses affliction. I also see what Alldat is saying that you could end up killing yourself by doing so. I would choose the former but never use it because I wouldn't want anyone to ever have my afflictions either.

I have to say that's got to be one of the weirdest 'super powers' ever though.

I'd much prefer being able to fly or something!



Fundy

Teleportation and invisibility would be super cool too.

It is weird. But it also has moral, ethical and Christian ramifications to it. I presented the question to Non-Christians and they all wanted to give their illness to someone else. It all goes back to our sin nature that says "why me ?" which really means "why not someone else ?" To be able to "take" someone's illness/injury away from them and suffer it yourself reminds me of the Cross and how Jesus willfully did that for us. Then He asked us to take up our cross.
I'm soft, and whine whenever I have a problem or illness. But I would take my wife's and kid's suffering for them any day.
And yet Jesus took the suffering due to even His worse enemies... whew !