Fish With Trish. Amputee Question And The Devil

[debrand]

If you've never heard the question it goes like this

Why doesn't god heal amputees? It is based on the fact that some Christians claim healing for all sorts of problems. However, you rarely hear of anyone asking for a miracle that includes growing back a body part. There is a site called-I think-Why does god hate amputees?

Of course, I understand that many Christians feel that the the question itself is disrespectful to their beliefs. They would either ignore the question or attempt to answer it with some thought put into their words.

Fish with Trish's answer fell short. Considering that it was an email question, she could have ignored it. Certainly, this crappy answer is more harmful to winning converts than just not saying anything. Saying that asking makes the questioner similar to the devil and those that hated Jesus is a pretty weak cop out. It also shows a disregard of someone who might read the article and be sincerely curious about her answer.

Thank you for writing, J.E. God does all things after the counsel of His eternal and immutable will. They asked Jesus the same question, 'Why can't He just deliver himself off that cross and ease His suffering?' Also, the Devil proposed the same sort of questioning when Jesus was fasting, 'Why doesn't God feed you or keep you from dying if you throw yourself of a cliff?'. So it sounds to me like you are in similar company with the Devil and those that hated Jesus Christ. The simple answer is that God only heals when it is according to His divine purposes

Sometimes the best answer is, "I don't know."For individuals who are discussing their own faith and not attempting to change someone else's, the answer is fine. However, if you are going to attempt to evangelize others, you should be able to provide answers for such questions. Most people are certainly not going to be content with being told that asking a certain question puts them in liege with the bogeyman of that particular faith.

fishwithtrish.blogspot.com/2011/12/why-cant-god-heal-amputees.html

[MamaJunebug]

debrand, hey! I'm not that familiar wtih fishy Trish - is she the one who points at too much exposed skin and says, "La!-la!" or something like that?

I don't grok her confrontational style of explaining my faith, but it must work with some populations. Which those would be, I have no clue.

Were I a blogger who received that question, I would've answered it thusly:

Who knows? I'm serious: only God knows why some diseases or injuries are healed and others, not.

The point of the question may be to poke at the reports of faith healing that punctuate some gatherings, with the "healed" person conveniently returning to the anonymous shadows after s/he's risen from the wheelchair .... or fallen backward, shivering, with the "healer" declaring that the cancer or the heart disease or the diabetes has come away, alleluia!

Not so easy - not possible! - to send a person off the stage with a new hand or leg or eye. And not helpful, in the long run, when the "healed" person dies, as every person does.

What's above is showmanship and most often, hucksterism.

The facts as we Christians see it are that God heals according to Her will. It sounds a little cold-hearted, and it can really feel cold-hearted when we have no more hope that a physical or mental illness will go away and leave our loved one, or ourself, to a healthy life.

The thing is: we believe God's will is always good. Heck no we can't see it much of the time. That's where the faith comes in. It's when we stop asking "why? why is this not working out in a good way?" and start asking, "what? what can i do to be of comfort or help or service to this hurting person?" that we ... still don't necessarily see the logic in God's "no" answer to our fervent prayers for a good outcome.

But we do, at that point, send goodness into the world. And my own experience is that when we do, even if we don't see the sensibility of God's will in letting a loved one die too soon, we do see good elsewhere, and it keeps me going, and it makes things better for those around.

Now, that kind of answer is pretty useless in too wordy for a confrontational, sidewalk-based witnessing scheme that apparently is the way Trish operates. And I know it. And I'd never try either (the sidewalk model nor trying to explain quickly what needs to be explained patiently). But Trish seems to feel it's her calling to do so. Whichever, I'm posting this just to give the answer as I understand it.

And looky at me, I haven't accused ONE person of being in league with the devil. Of course my The Spousal Unit hasn't awakened, yet .... ;)

Edited for accuracy :)

[Koala]

"Uh oh"...looks like Trish wasn't "ready with an answer for the hope that is in her".

Idiot.

(sorry. I can't stand Uh oh...I mean Trish.)

[debrand]

MamaJuneBug, thank you for that answer. Although I don't think that it would convert questioner, it would probably lead them to have a deeper respect for Christians like you. Trish's answer made it sound as if she is afraid to think deeply about her faith. She would not inspire anyone with respect for her religion

[GolightlyGrrl]

I'm going to be a catty bitch; someone should tell Trish that "chunking" is so 90s.

[Lainey]

Well...when I asked my fundie-lite friend this question, she told me that God does heal things like that. When her parents were in Mexico(?), they visited a church that had "proof" in the form of discarded casts, etc. No mention of why someone missing a limb would need a cast...