What I believe about cause & effect

I believe that there is never an effect without a cause (Prov. 26:2). I believe that if the effect is an active, physiologic process, then when the cause is removed, the effect (the active process) will cease. I understand this to apply to most diseases. 

If the cause is the cutting action of a knife, and the effect is damage to the body, then when you remove the cause (the cutting action of the knife), you will remove the effect (the continued damage of the body). This does not mean that if you cut off a finger and then stop cutting, that the finger will grow back. 

If the effect was an active, physiologic process that resulted in the replacement of normal tissue with scar tissue, then when the cause is removed, the active process will stop injuring normal tissue and replacing it with scar tissue. That means that the condition will not continue progressing as it was. But it doesn’t mean that the individual will necessarily revert to normal function. They will still have the scar tissue and will likely remain at a lower level of function according to the amount of normal tissue that remains. There is a “point of no return” where the person is still alive, but outside of a miracle, they are still going to die, even if the cause is removed. 

Mark Sandoval