Healing, Demons and Disabilities

Okay, so I am currently leading this small group with church. It is me and a few other college girls and we started about a month and a half ago. It's been awesome. The girls are so great and I love them dearly. It's definitely a humbling experience as I have no idea what I'm doing, but I just keep praying and the Lord keeps showing up, so all is well. I have been so encouraged by the girls and their hearts for the Lord. It is seriously awesome. A couple weeks ago we got talking about reading the Bible which led into the girls wanting to make a commitment to be in the word everyday. They are so great. So we decided to go through the New Testament in 40 days. It's been great. Hard, but great. It definitely takes me a long time to read, but am plugging away and I've really been enjoying it. As I've been reading through the gospels all at once and all after each other, I've definitely been learning a lot.

One thing that has really stuck out to me is how often Jesus heals people. It is all over the gospels. And the healing that has had me thinking a lot lately is when Jesus would cast demons out of people.

There is part of me that thinks our science and technology of today has reasoned out the power of healing. I definitely believe in the power of healing. I don't know that I have ever personally witnessed it, or been healed myself, but I know it is possible. There are hundreds of stories of people being healed in todays age and I have a walking sister to prove it as well. But with our advancing science and technology, we seem to reason too quickly. Since it can be explained, we can treat it in a certain way and because of the norms God has put on this earth, we will get a certain result.

The people in Jesus' day didn't think this way. If you were sick you were sick, if you were born a certain way, you would stay that way. Of course unless you could get close enough to Jesus or even one of his disciples. Then you could be healed. And all over the gospels Jesus constantly turns people back to their faith. It is their faith that heals them. Has science taken over our need for faith? Do we reason past faith?

Sorry if this seems all over the place. There is cohesion in this blog somewhere. I'll try to find it.

As a special education major, I have had many conversations in classes about disabilities; how they come about; why people have them; how we are supposed to view them; etc. Now I don't have my opinion on this one completely fleshed out, but I believe that disabilities are a result of our fallen world. It is not because of the parents sins or anything like that, but because of sin, the condition, and because we live in a fallen world, things happen in the womb and as a result, some people have disabilities. Now I absolutely think these people are amazing gifts from God who have exceptional talents and are children of God, just like me. The way we utilize their gifts and abilities as well as care for their disabilities is for another whole blog. Not the point for right now.

Anyway, I distinctly remember having this conversation in one of my special education classes last year. One argument was that God intentionally created people with disabilities. That God purposed for them to have a brain dysfunction or a chromosome missing, or an extra chromosome. I don't know. Part of me isn't thoroughly convinced. Did God initially create us as sinners? Was that his originial intent? I think the answer is no. Which would then lead me to the conclusion that I am not even created as God had originally intended. His original intent was for us to be without sin. But that changed in the Garden. Which is why I would argue that disabilities are the result of a fallen world. People with diabilities are absolutely created in God's image, just like I am. They are to be loved and cared for with the utmost patience.

So then I think back to Jesus' approach. How am I to view people with diabilities? What did Jesus do? Well first off, Jesus loved them. He was drawn to them. But then the stickler...he also healed them. Does there need to be something "wrong" in order to be healed? Are we to heal people with disabilities as well?

I'm not convinced that all people with disabilities should be healed. There is so so so much that we learn from people with disabilities that I'm not sure we would learn otherwise. But at the same time, we are to be like Jesus, and God did give us the Holy Spirit and the ability to heal people. Even though it seems to be a rarity.

But at the same time we read a story in our class about a man with a disability. He and his mom were contstantly praying for healing. His church was praying for him and his pastor just kept telling him to have more faith. He needed more faith in order to be healed. To prove the faith he had in the Lord's healing, the man stopped taking his necessary medications becuase he believed God would heal him. He ended up dying as a result. So then what do you do with that?

As I've been reading the New Testament, when I come to a story of casting out demons, I wonder why this doesn't happen today? Have demons become extinct? I don't think so. The devil is still alive and still all over the place. Spriritual warfare is still prevelant. So then, my question is, what were these demons? Maybe our science and technology has labeled it something else. The convulsions that Jesus describes in demon possessed people, what were those? Would we label it epilepsey? or a brain dysfunction? Are we to be "casting out these demons?" Do we have an explanation, so don't feel the need to pray for healing? Do we just try to fix things with medicine or certain treatments? We look at someone who has Down Syndrome and explain it by an extra chromosome in every cell of their body. Would Jesus have looked at it differently? Did the people of that day look at it differently? Maybe we're too passive in accepting our scientific reasoning. Maybe we're not.

I don't know. This is just something that I've been thinking about. I've been wrestling with it in my head. I don't have the answers. Just lots of questions. I'd love any thoughts.