A Pilgrim's Journal

Except for an odd illness. Strangely, the people of this town tended to get severe lung illnesses, which would kill them within 12 to 18 months. Nobody knew why the number of cases were higher there, or what caused the illness.

Then one day a doctor, about 50 years old, came to town and started to investigate. He studied the evidence. He compared it to known diseases. He figured out why tuberculosis treatments weren't working.

The answer? It was the land and the rock itself. There was a mineral in the rock that, when inhaled, became worse than asbestos. The only solution was to leave town.

At such news, the housing prices took a bit of a hit. Tourism started to decline a little as it became known as a 'cancer town'. Some people didn't believe him, and wanted him to go away. Why let him affect their livelihoods with his theories?

Thirty years passed by, and the rates of illness remained as high as they ever were. Some people wanted to leave, but they were poor, and believed that they were trapped by economic circumstances.

What if you were stuck in such a town? Would you leave everything and start fresh, without any money or home, in a new town, based on one doctor's evidence? Would you wait 30 years, and raise a family first, and hope that perhaps a government program would come along to help?

I don't know what I'd do, but in retrospect, it would seem like a tragedy if there were people who got sick needlessly just because they felt trapped.

As you might have guessed, this is a true story. I heard it on CBC radio on my way home from work. What a story: good and bad news all wrapped into one. Finally, the answer why people were dying, but that answer basically took away everything they had. And such consequences for disbelief.

You can read more about this town here.

The Bible is right when it tells us to "Prove all things" (1 Thes. 5:21). I'm sure the doctor would have been happy to show people the scientific evidence and prove that it really was the rock dust that was killing them. According to the CBC radio report, he's in his 80's now, and he's still trying to get people to move and leave the town deserted.