theophiles.org - Born Blind for the Glory of God

Written by holmegm

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 14:51

From Desiring God:

Last week we addressed the issue of racial harmony and diversity and justice by offering eight biblical ways parents can help their children love people who are different from them. This week we address parents and the rest of us about how we can love those who are different from us, namely, don’t kill them.

Comments

emperorbma

|2010-01-28 19:36:10

Of course you realize that this article answers this other one. Explaining myself: not all disability is the result of "evil" and some of it may well serve the glory of God. Cure or no cure, the prayer does have its answer.

laika

|2010-02-03 00:37:35

emperorbma wrote:

Cure or no cure, the prayer does have its answer.

a yes or a no?

it strikes me that we might be as bad at judging what glorifies God as we are at divining his messages through earthquake. not discounting the possibility of glorification through seeming disability, of course, but how would we know?

emperorbma

|2010-02-03 13:24:10

At the resurrection all things shall be as they should be and this includes the sight of the blind. Of course, I'll grant that this answer is probably little comfort for those who want sight for this child right now. Alternatively, perhaps God will permit medical technology to supplement that timeline since medicine seems to be making breakthroughs in the arena of restoring vision. In either case, the answer is a "yes, but wait."

holmegm - re:

|2010-02-03 15:19:21

laika wrote:

it strikes me that we might be as bad at judging what glorifies God as we are at divining his messages through earthquake. not discounting the possibility of glorification through seeming disability, of course, but how would we know?

Do you mean in any individual case?

We know that God receiving glory via disability does happen, since Jesus explicitly says this is the reason that the man was born blind:

Quote:

And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

{emphasis added}

laika

|2010-02-03 23:43:50

holmegm wrote:

We know that God receiving glory via disability does happen...

but that was a unique case, and it was said by someone with authority to be an instance of glorification. and the glory wasn't the disability itself.

metallurge

|2010-02-04 15:06:20

A good point. However, 1 Cor 1:18-31 / 2 Cor 12 (esp v. 9) would also seem to be relevant.

There is a strong Biblical record of God having chosen to work through flawed and imperfect people, and the passages I cite seem to explain why. God's glory and grace can be seen best in worldly weakness.

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Our valuable member holmegm has been with us since Thursday, 03 April 2008.

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