Post by rmcdra on Jun 25, 2014 21:00:22 GMT -5
Sickness and Forgiveness (by Robert Wood)
It has been (and with some still is) a common belief throughout human history that if one is sick then one is being cursed or punished by God or the Gods. Even in the Old Testament, when Job begins to be afflicted the first thing his friends say to him is, “You need to ask for forgiveness.” So it is with any belief system that equates nature with God, if you are sick then you must be sinning or blaspheming God. Even though we know that sickness is caused by microscopic organisms that cause the body to malfunction or there is already a malfunction in one’s body to begin with by design, we still have people that think that either the afflicted committed some great sin or that the parents of the afflicted committed some sort of sin.
The passage quoted is a slap in the face to the concept that God makes people sick to punish them. We are to offer kindness and mercy to those who are suffering and ill, not scorn and looking into the nonsense that is fate about how the sick are responsible for their illness. While most of us do not have the gift to heal with touch, we do have the ability to show mercy toward the ill and not think in our hearts that they got what they deserved. Thinking that the ill got what was coming from them is not mercy, but vengeance; and that is not the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ is not condemning, but merciful. It is not peaceful by any means because the spirit of Christ brings internal change which leads to external changes. Change is never peaceful but the results that come is peace.
When one equates God with nature we are bound to think such superstitions that the sick get what they deserve because they allegedly offended God. The following passage demonstrates that God is distinct from nature, by showing that though the people of the world believed the person was sick because he committed a sin; Christ looked past the alleged sin and healed the person demonstrating that illness is not a result of God but of the dysfunction of the world itself.
If we want to heal those who are sick we cannot be thinking that they deserved what they got, because if we believe they deserve what they got, then why should you go against God by healing them? So it is with any affliction. If you believe they got what they deserved, then why try to stop the affliction. You would be going against God if you tried to stop or heal the affliction in whatever shape it manifests. The point of all this is that God is not the cause of the affliction, the affliction is because our world is imperfect. What is of God though is the compassion and desire to correct the affliction and to not think in one’s heart that they are getting their just deserts.
We have the medicines and cures because we have begun to cast aside the superstition that illness is a curse from the gods. We know that illness is the result of tiny creatures that we cannot see with our naked eyes. We know that there flaws in our design that allow us to get sick when the body is not maintained a certain way. None of these are curses from God, but from nature and life in action.
What is from God is our ability to act in God’s image; to show mercy and kindness to those that are suffering and ill. This spirit is within us and is a seed waiting to be cultivated. The kingdom is like a mustard seed that grows into a great tree. It spreads like weeds when it does grow. But like any seed, it must be cultivated and nurtured before it can grow. What seed are you growing within yourself? Are you growing a seed of spite and vengeance or are you growing a seed of mercy and forgiveness? Take a look at your fruits. Good fruits come from good trees.
From AeonByte
And they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” And some of the scribes said to themselves, “This fellow blasphemes.” And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, “Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” And he got up and went home. But when the crowds saw this, they were awestruck, and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
Matthew 9:2-8
Matthew 9:2-8
It has been (and with some still is) a common belief throughout human history that if one is sick then one is being cursed or punished by God or the Gods. Even in the Old Testament, when Job begins to be afflicted the first thing his friends say to him is, “You need to ask for forgiveness.” So it is with any belief system that equates nature with God, if you are sick then you must be sinning or blaspheming God. Even though we know that sickness is caused by microscopic organisms that cause the body to malfunction or there is already a malfunction in one’s body to begin with by design, we still have people that think that either the afflicted committed some great sin or that the parents of the afflicted committed some sort of sin.
The passage quoted is a slap in the face to the concept that God makes people sick to punish them. We are to offer kindness and mercy to those who are suffering and ill, not scorn and looking into the nonsense that is fate about how the sick are responsible for their illness. While most of us do not have the gift to heal with touch, we do have the ability to show mercy toward the ill and not think in our hearts that they got what they deserved. Thinking that the ill got what was coming from them is not mercy, but vengeance; and that is not the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ is not condemning, but merciful. It is not peaceful by any means because the spirit of Christ brings internal change which leads to external changes. Change is never peaceful but the results that come is peace.
When one equates God with nature we are bound to think such superstitions that the sick get what they deserve because they allegedly offended God. The following passage demonstrates that God is distinct from nature, by showing that though the people of the world believed the person was sick because he committed a sin; Christ looked past the alleged sin and healed the person demonstrating that illness is not a result of God but of the dysfunction of the world itself.
If we want to heal those who are sick we cannot be thinking that they deserved what they got, because if we believe they deserve what they got, then why should you go against God by healing them? So it is with any affliction. If you believe they got what they deserved, then why try to stop the affliction. You would be going against God if you tried to stop or heal the affliction in whatever shape it manifests. The point of all this is that God is not the cause of the affliction, the affliction is because our world is imperfect. What is of God though is the compassion and desire to correct the affliction and to not think in one’s heart that they are getting their just deserts.
We have the medicines and cures because we have begun to cast aside the superstition that illness is a curse from the gods. We know that illness is the result of tiny creatures that we cannot see with our naked eyes. We know that there flaws in our design that allow us to get sick when the body is not maintained a certain way. None of these are curses from God, but from nature and life in action.
What is from God is our ability to act in God’s image; to show mercy and kindness to those that are suffering and ill. This spirit is within us and is a seed waiting to be cultivated. The kingdom is like a mustard seed that grows into a great tree. It spreads like weeds when it does grow. But like any seed, it must be cultivated and nurtured before it can grow. What seed are you growing within yourself? Are you growing a seed of spite and vengeance or are you growing a seed of mercy and forgiveness? Take a look at your fruits. Good fruits come from good trees.
From AeonByte
