Better theological response to "why doesn't God heal amputees?"

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The underlying theme in my thread is why we haven’t seen an amputee healed in modern times. Even if just once.
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That’s a legitimate question. But even if such a case could be documented, the atheists would be unmoved. They may find God’s existence more credible but they would still find Him irrelevant to their lives. Even Christ, who was Truth, could not convince the Pharisees and certain sinners. Christ told those who watched the resurrection of Lazarus that some of them would not believe.
 
Two answers:
  1. Redemptive suffering.
and
  1. Healing is not needed. We do not cease to be useful, lovable, productive human beings because we are missing a thumb, an arm, a leg, an eye, an ear or any other body part that results in a disability.
Our value in God’s eyes is not related to how perfectly our body or our minds function. Nor should that be how we humans judge each other’s value.

As a poster stated early on, many of the disable find they have gone through great personal growth and become better people because of their disability. You dismiss this as someone just “making the best of a bad situation.” So what? Why is healing still necessary? They are going through their lives and are content with what they have.

I anticipate the response would be “but their lives could be better- why should they have to go through this hardship.” For that I direct you to answer number 1: Redemptive suffering.

God never said life would be easy. In fact, in my family there is a saying “If your life is easy, you are doing something wrong.” The longer version is “If your life is easy, you must be neglecting one of your Catholic duties.”

You must understand most disable do not look at themselves as broken. Your question is a bit insulting because it implies that they are.
 
I find this thread rather confusing.
First of all Post number 1 is an atheist asking for a “theological” answer as to why God does not heal an amputee.
First of all an atheist according to the dictionary is one who does not believe in God or a god or denies it. But asking for a “theological” answer which has a meaning of “based upon the nature and will of God as revealed to humans” (emphasis mine) is sort of an oxymoron, don’t you think? If one does not believe in something, why is he looking for an answer that naturally would be derived exactly from what that person refuses to believe? So any answer would obviously be meaningless to that person.

Also I never heard of an amputation to be considered an illness. Yes, there may be an illness associated with the amputation, but as such an amputation is a removal of a digit or limb and not a disease in itself. Remember Jesus said if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off (amputate) and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Another thing, we know that ALL knowledge comes from God. God has given man the knowledge to be able to sew back fingers, hands, feet, legs, arms, etc., in many instances. God IS working through those doctors since they got their knowledge from God.

BB, already has said that even if he were to read about or witness the re-growth of a limb that will not convince him there is a God but he
I can’t answer. After all, I don’t know the mind of God.’
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I don’t understand, you don’t believe in God but yet you state you don’t know the mind of God. Rather confusing.
I understand that you can not tempt or test God. Indeed, it’s laid out clear in the Bible: “Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah” (Deuteronomy 6:16). I’m a former Catholic, so I know the “do’s and don’ts”. It’s because of this verse in Deuteronomy that I disagree with fellow atheists that we should subject prayer to an experiment; as in, test the efficacy of prayers in laboratory conditions. It doesn’t work that way
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So then you agree that the existence of God cannot be proved scientifically but still you are asking for a theological answer which of course you have already made up your mind will not accept any =theological answer which of course precludes a belief in God.

You don’t believe in God but yet you are quoting from the Bible which we claim is God’s word. Reminds me of this story I heard many years ago. People were asking a professed atheist why he would make the sign of the cross every time he passed in front of a Catholic Church if he didn’t believe in God. He answer was “Well, just in case.”

I think you DO believe in God, but you are angry because you didn’t get your prayer answered in the way you wanted and now you are striking at him. Reminds me of the movie “Amadeus” where Salieri didn’t get his way and was upset at how God could give a despicable man like Mozart such talent and he had prayed and prayed God to make him well known and didn’t get his wish so he then decides to do battle with God thinking he would win. Well, when we chase God from our lives that only leaves us with only one destination.

You are in my prayers.
 
Bohm_Bawerk said:
I just finished reading an article about a carpenter who accidentally sawed off his thumb. Thanks to modern science, surgeons were able to graft his toe onto his hand. The carpenter - fortunately - will be able to carry on with his livelihood.

The thought occurred to me of the age-old question of “why doesn’t God heal amputees”? The common, universal response I’ve seen to this question is that it “infringes upon the free will of nonbelievers”. But this makes no theological sense, and seems even against Church teaching if I have understood it properly.

The Church teaches that faith is a theological virtue. In other words, faith is a virtue that comes only from God’s grace. A person can not “develop” faith; faith is construed to be a gift from God. Therefore, even if a person witnessed the greatest miracles, it doesn’t necessarily follow they will have faith in God. Of which must mean that witnessing a great miracle doesn’t infringe upon the free will of a nonbeliever - the nonbeliever will still not believe.

This begs the question of why there is no recorded case of an amputee that has been healed in the modern era. I’m sure there are amputees who have prayed to God for him to physically heal them. I’m not accepting “God answers prayers, but not in the way we expect” because I’m sure that there would at least be one recorded amputee being healed in modern history, even if it means many others will have to make do with emotional healing.

It’s also important to take into consideration that the amputee is not testing God. The amputee desperately wants his/her situation to be resolved, and has placed his trust that God will answer the prayer favourably.

What’s a better theological response? Serious answers only please.
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BB:

Assume for a moment that God exists: do you think that our God, as we (generally) know (about) Him, might prefer the company of each of his creatures with him in that place we call Heaven? Do you think that, in light of the eternality of our souls, God might want each and every one of his unconditionally loved produce to spend eternity with him? If you answered the first question with, “Most likely” or, “Probably,” a reasonable answer to the second question should follow.

Do you think that God’s most fervent desire for the objects of his unconditional love is the dearth of time they get to spend on Earth, or the immeasurable abundance of time his creatures will spend with him? Does it make any sense that he wills according to that heuristic and not to each of ours?

It is clear that some humans are loathe to accept any part of their earthly lacerations. On the other hand, it is also clear that some humans fully accept and even embrace all of their earthly lesions. Perhaps if all men were of the same mind God might find more significance in the desires of some individuals. But, alas, we aren’t.

God bless,
jd
 
God does not owe any man for his lost limbs, so why should he heal them?
 
My Sister had both her arm’s amputated after a car crash last month. We are praying for her to have strength, salvation and for her protection. We will not pray for her limb to regrow.

Although my Sister is a Catholic and has appeared to follow the teachings of mother church, she has clearly brought this upon herself by some sin known only to her and God. As Jobs comforters chided him, God does not punish the unjust.
I however have tried to comfort her by explaining that we shall be reborn with new and perfect bodies and she must accept this as part of our lords plan. She responded to this with great anger and a lack of understanding.
Please pray for her.
 
Kingbear said:
My Sister had both her arm’s amputated after a car crash last month. We are praying for her to have strength, salvation and for her protection. We will not pray for her limb to regrow.

Although my Sister is a Catholic and has appeared to follow the teachings of mother church, she has clearly brought this upon herself by some sin known only to her and God.
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This is antithetical to Christian teaching, Kingbear. We don’t believe in karma.
 
Kingbear said:
My Sister had both her arm’s amputated after a car crash last month. We are praying for her to have strength, salvation and for her protection. We will not pray for her limb to regrow.

Although my Sister is a Catholic and has appeared to follow the teachings of mother church, she has clearly brought this upon herself by some sin known only to her and God. As Jobs comforters chided him, God does not punish the unjust.
I however have tried to comfort her by explaining that we shall be reborn with new and perfect bodies and she must accept this as part of our lords plan. She responded to this with great anger and a lack of understanding.
Please pray for her.
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Why do you think that this was God’s punishment?
It seems more likely that it is the natural consequence of someone elses sin, e.g., someone else driving drunk, or distracted, and causing the accident.
 
Bohm_Bawerk said:
I just finished reading an article about a carpenter who accidentally sawed off his thumb. Thanks to modern science, surgeons were able to graft his toe onto his hand. The carpenter - fortunately - will be able to carry on with his livelihood.

The thought occurred to me of the age-old question of “why doesn’t God heal amputees”? The common, universal response I’ve seen to this question is that it “infringes upon the free will of nonbelievers”. But this makes no theological sense, and seems even against Church teaching if I have understood it properly.

The Church teaches that faith is a theological virtue. In other words, faith is a virtue that comes only from God’s grace. A person can not “develop” faith; faith is construed to be a gift from God. Therefore, even if a person witnessed the greatest miracles, it doesn’t necessarily follow they will have faith in God. Of which must mean that witnessing a great miracle doesn’t infringe upon the free will of a nonbeliever - the nonbeliever will still not believe.

This begs the question of why there is no recorded case of an amputee that has been healed in the modern era. I’m sure there are amputees who have prayed to God for him to physically heal them. I’m not accepting “God answers prayers, but not in the way we expect” because I’m sure that there would at least be one recorded amputee being healed in modern history, even if it means many others will have to make do with emotional healing.

It’s also important to take into consideration that the amputee is not testing God. The amputee desperately wants his/her situation to be resolved, and has placed his trust that God will answer the prayer favourably.

What’s a better theological response? Serious answers only please.
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I just found this thread and have not read all nine pages, so forgive me if this has been said already.

My personal response to this question, is that God works through creation, i.e. He is present in the mystical Body of Christ and acts through mystical the Body of Christ. As individuals in the mystical Body of Christ, it is not in the nature of our human bodies to re-grow limbs. And so limbs do not re-grow. This is also why there are no instances of human beings flying or becoming invisible or any myriad of other things we might wish. God does, however, act within us and through us as our nature allows, which is why other miracles such as curing of disease, have happened.

The real question for me is, why does God spare some people with a miracle and not others. That question, “Why?”, is so painful as is the answer. The answer must be, our ways are not His ways, and we must trust in the Lord always.
 
Bohm_Bawerk said:
The thought occurred to me of the age-old question of “why doesn’t God heal amputees”? The common, universal response I’ve seen to this question is that it “infringes upon the free will of nonbelievers”. But this makes no theological sense, and seems even against Church teaching if I have understood it properly.
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Kingbear said:
My Sister had both her arm’s amputated after a car crash last month. We are praying for her to have strength, salvation and for her protection. We will not pray for her limb to regrow.

Although my Sister is a Catholic and has appeared to follow the teachings of mother church, she has clearly brought this upon herself by some sin known only to her and God. As Jobs comforters chided him, God does not punish the unjust.
I however have tried to comfort her by explaining that we shall be reborn with new and perfect bodies and she must accept this as part of our lords plan. She responded to this with great anger and a lack of understanding.
Please pray for her.
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A disability or loss of limb is not a punishment. It is a difficulty, a challenge and a cross that the disable must bear. But it isn’t all that different from all the other problems people have. God puts challenges in our lives to help us (or our families) grow and become the holy people we are met to be.

By your logic, the loss of my hearing due to illness was because of some sin. Yeah, I was two when I got sick. I could be wrong but I really doubt God stuck me deaf for my baby sins while he lets murders walk around in perfect health. 🤷

Please show your sister some kindness. She is going through a difficult time and needs support to learn to adapt to her new circumstances. Not to be told she “deserves” it.
 
danserr said:
Well, this is just a more specific version of the problem of evil, ie, “why does God let bad things happen?”

I should say first, that I don’t fully know the answer, but I also think for others reasons that the existence of evil does not provide a reason for doubting either the existence or goodness of God. I say this because, I would like to try to offer some answer to your question, but do not necessarily think that my answer will be 1.complete, 2. totally satisfactory, 3. explain all cases of evil in the universe. I just want to suggest some ideas that might help make a little better sense of it. Don’t think I am doing more than I am.
  1. In order for free will to mean anything, we need fairly set laws of nature. I need to be able to predict the results of my actions. For instance, I need to know that when I try to insult someone, that the air will accurately carry my words. This requires fairly fixed laws of nature. But these same laws of nature also mean that if my hand slips while working with my saw, then the saw may cut off my hand. This concerns why one is amputated in he first place, not only your question; but it is related since if God simply undid all bad things it might render these laws, and therefore, the nature of our free will, pointless.
  2. If God healed every amputee who asked it (or a significant number or even possibly more than a handful), miraculously, this might interfere with people’s free choice to accept God. God might thereby be making His existence too obvious, and just as a woman does not freely marry if she knows that her fiance will kill her if she does not marry him, so too people might not be free to accept God if He made his existence too obvious
  3. God healing every amputee would lead to a mistaken conception of God. Prayer is not wish-fulfillment and God not a genie (or a soda machine). Heaven requires that people come into a right (personal) relationship with God, but if God answered every prayer so automatically, first, this would be more like magic than prayer (which is request); second, it might encourage people to follow God for the wrong reasons. They would thus not be standing in right relation to Him and their eternal happiness would be frustrated.
  4. Remember, the purpose of life is not happiness, but holiness. Suffering can have spiritual value, and and old spiritual principle is that “no one shall be crowned unless first he has struggled.” Eternal happiness depends on people coming into right relationship with God and recognizing their own insufficiency and dependance on Him. Suffering can help lead people to a greater dependance on God, especially when they realize that God himself also suffered and did not answer his own prayer for deliverance (Father let this cup pass from me) in the affirmative.
  • Elie Weisel, who wrote Night tells how the SS hanged two Jewish men and one boy in front of the entire camp. The youth died slowly in torment over a full half-hour. One man behind Elie asked, “where is God?” Elie said "And I heard a voice in myself answer: “where is He? He is here. He is hanging there on the gallows.” The German theologian J. Moltmann said of this: “any other answer would be blasphemy.”
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But has God ever cured any amputee?
 
Arizona_Mike said:
Bohm, in another thread you said that you would now no longer believe in God, even if he appeared before you. Would this kind of evidence convince you, or are your new beliefs so ironclad that no evidence could change your mind?

You also mention that no amputations have been cured in modern times. You may have read the other thread on this subject in which a well-documented incident of a cured amputation was described. The possible explanations offered on an atheist apologist site were pretty whacky. So, what constitutes “modern times” in your definition?

Does the miraculous healing of a completely shattered ankle bone count? Charlene Vance’s ankle bones were completely crushed to a pulp in 1986, to the point where there was no firm bone left to attach a pin. After a pilgramage to Medjugorje, it was completely restored. The medical documentation for this is excellent.

Rita Klaus, an former nun who lost her faith and became an atheist, suffered extreme physical deterioration from multiple sclerosis, to the point where her legs were starting to warp and had to wear steel braces attached to her wheelchair. After reading about Medjugorje and praying to the Virgin Mary in 1986vyingv, she regained full use of her legs overnight and the warping of the bones in her leg disappeared. She had about 30 years of detailed medical reports describing her condition. The doctors who examined her before and after ther miracle were completely unable to account for the overnight nature of the cure.

The more you read about the nature of the cures at Lourdes, Fatima, and Medjugorje, and the miracles attributed to the intercession of the saints, the more astonishing you realize some of them are. These aren’t people saying their migraines went away, these are cures that are exhaustively researched by medical doctors, many of them atheists, who were completely unable to account for the cures.
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Can you point me to this documented restoration of an amputee?
 
jmcrae said:
When Jesus walked the earth, He only raised three people back to life. Yet, there were whole cemeteries full of dead people. Why did Jesus not raise all of them back to life, instead of only three? 🤷

I am sure there are cases of amputees being miraculously healed. I am equally sure that they are as rare as every other miracle. Indeed, it is because they are extremely rare, that they are called “miracles.” If they happened every single day, we’d have a scientific theory to explain them, and people still wouldn’t need to believe in God, because science would “have an explanation.”
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Do you havve an example?
 
Faith1960 said:
Do you have an example?
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There’s no need to have an example because it implies God is obliged to demonstrate beyond all possible doubt that miracles occur. Then everyone would be compelled to believe He exists - which would defeat the purpose of creating us in order to choose what to believe, how to behave and who to love’’…
 
tonyrey said:
There’s no need to have an example because it implies God is obliged to demonstrate beyond all possible doubt that miracles occur. Then everyone would be compelled to believe He exists - which would defeat the purpose of creating us in order to choose what to believe, how to behave and who to love’’…
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Arizona Mike said there’s a documented case and jmcrae said s/he is sure it’s happened. I’d like to learn more.
 
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