Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: celit!daemon@ucsd.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Healing Message-ID: Date: 10 Nov 90 13:25:16 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: FPS Computing Inc., San Diego CA Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article ASC105@psuvm.psu.edu writes: ... > > There are reasons for people getting sick. The bible mentions in John 5 >about a person healed by Jesus. Jesus told him to stop sinning, or else >something worse may happen. Unrepentant sinning is a reason. If a person >gives Satan a foothold, Satan can overcome him with sickness. >(List of sins: grudges, lying, unforgiveness, stealing, and PRIDE) > Another reason is lack of faith. When Jesus went to his hometown very >few were healed because the people just did not believe. It was not that >Jesus would not heal them. The bible says that he COULD NOT. Under the >conditions of disbelief, a sickness, even on a true Christian, cannot >be purged. > > Praise God! from > Allen S. Cheung > (Disciple of Christ) This is the most truly and absolutely evil explanation of sickness that I have read. Why do you end a message that accuses your God of such petty cruelty with "Praise God"? If your God really does let people get sick as a punishment for "sin" or for "lack of faith" you should condemn and fight Him with all your strength, not praise Him. It is hard enough that bad things do happen to good people, without having sickness blamed on the sufferer. As for "COULD NOT", does this mean that you deny that Jesus was omnipotent God? (I should add, that although I am an atheist, I do not see the problem of evil as being a particularly strong problem. Along with everything else, it can always be explained with "God moves in mysterious ways" or whatever your favourite explanation is. It is just the blaming of sickness on the sin or lack of faith of those involved that angers me. It is not reasonable, since simple observation shows good people suffering and evil people in good health as well as the other way round. It is cruel, because it feeds on and encourages the human tendency to always wonder, is there something I could have done differently?) -- Patricia Shanahan ps@fps.com uucp : ucsd!celerity!ps phone: (619) 271-9940