Does God make mistakes?

[GMan]

A co-worker and I had a discussion recently, and I am interested in other’s opinions on the subject.

The pretext of the discussion was that a teacher in a school district near where we live announced that he was going to have sex reassignment surgery in the near future. (that’s a whole separate discussion…) In preparation for this, he was to live as a woman (dress, makeup, use women’s restrooms, etc.) at the start of the school year and all students, parents, staff, etc. were to address him using the female pronouns.

democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060825/NEWS01/608250395/1002/NEWS

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=110529

This naturally led to several lunchroom discussions. I stated that my beliefs were that sex reassignment was morally wrong. I also stated that “God doesn’t make mistakes” and one should find contentment in how God made you.

My co-worker (a fellow Catholic, by-the-way) rebutted my statement and asked about those born with physical birth defects. Since God makes all of use in the womb, are these mistakes? Shouldn’t we use surgery to correct these types of defects? And wouldn’t this be the same for those born the “wrong gender,” shouldn’t they use surgery to correct those “birth defects?”

I still feel that God is perfect and does not make mistakes, but I did not know how to answer the questions raised by his birth defects rebuttal.

What are your thoughts?

Yours in Christ,
Gerry

DeColores

 

[HailMary]

Original Sin destroyed our “Image and Likeness” of God. One reason Jesus was able to sweat blood was because His adorable body did not suffer Original Sin and was much stronger than ours.

It is even said in the Bible somewhere that birth defects tell of the Glory of God; it is somewhere in the first five books, the Torah or Pentatuech. In any event, the original sin explanation makes sense and is very sensible. Concupiscence is the spiritual effect of the Fall and birth defects can be viewed as a physical effect.

 

[apricot_yogurt]

Didn’t Jesus answer his disciples by saying that the blind man was born that way, so the work of God might be displayed in him?
My ds has Down’s syndrome, and his only impairment comes from how others perceive him.He has an innocence and a purity about him which helps me see God in him-how blessed we were to be given him.

 

[Liberian]

G-man,

Your co-worker is wrong; God does not make mistakes.

My oldest brother is severely retarded and has never committed a sin in his life. When he dies, he goes straight to Heaven. I should be so blessed!

• Liberian

 

[SiR_SaVaGe]

^ Lol.

 

[Durendin]

If I were being cynical, I could suggest Humans haven’t been his greatest sucess!

 

[Blackbog]

God does not make mistakes, in that He never wills for something to happen and then something else happens other than what He willed to happen.

I don’t think whether or not God makes mistakes is really the issue here. If someone is born with asthma, you don’t say, “Oh, well God doesn’t make mistakes, so don’t use an inhaler.” Or if someone is born with a cancerous growth on their head you don’t say, “Oh, well God doesn’t make mistakes, so don’t remove it.” God’s will maintains this reality in which he allows suffering to occur.

I don’t know that there is necessarily anything implicitly morally illicit about the act of having a sex change itself. I’d love to hear the arguments on both sides.

 

[Magicsilence]

^ Lol.

You do not believe, for you have not been taught or shown the way.

God creates those with physical ‘defects’ that we might see His Glory.

Some people are too superficial to see it, but its there.

Peace and God Bless in Christ Jesus.

 

[Valke2]

A co-worker and I had a discussion recently, and I am interested in other’s opinions on the subject.

The pretext of the discussion was that a teacher in a school district near where we live announced that he was going to have sex reassignment surgery in the near future. (that’s a whole separate discussion…) In preparation for this, he was to live as a woman (dress, makeup, use women’s restrooms, etc.) at the start of the school year and all students, parents, staff, etc. were to address him using the female pronouns.

democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060825/NEWS01/608250395/1002/NEWS

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=110529

This naturally led to several lunchroom discussions. I stated that my beliefs were that sex reassignment was morally wrong. I also stated that “God doesn’t make mistakes” and one should find contentment in how God made you.

My co-worker (a fellow Catholic, by-the-way) rebutted my statement and asked about those born with physical birth defects. Since God makes all of use in the womb, are these mistakes? Shouldn’t we use surgery to correct these types of defects? And wouldn’t this be the same for those born the “wrong gender,” shouldn’t they use surgery to correct those “birth defects?”

I still feel that God is perfect and does not make mistakes, but I did not know how to answer the questions raised by his birth defects rebuttal.

What are your thoughts?

Yours in Christ,
Gerry

DeColores

What about the platyupus? But in all seriousness, I;ve yet to find a satisfying answer to that question.

 

[psteichen]

GMan:

Having a birth defect fixed is perfectly acceptable. A cleft lip, a bad scar, extra fingers, or a hole in the heart are all birth defects. God does not make mistakes. You are certainly correct in that. I wouldn’t presume to understand why he allows them, but I like to believe that it is to teach us all how to love. Without imperfections it would be easy to love and admire everyone we meet. But God gives us imperfections to help us to love as He loves. God loves us even though we are horribly inadequate in comparison. I also think that challenges like these can be blessings, as they help the sufferer to focus on what is important in life, rather than reveling in their perfection. For all we know that person could have been afflicted by a spiritually disfiguring case of Pride had they not been blessed with imperfections.

Of course there is nothing wrong with trying your best to fix a disfigurement or other defect. The struggle to better yourself can be positive. It can improve your ability to have a positive impact on the world. And if parents want to struggle to put together the money to help fix their child, more power to them, they do it out of love and selflessness. If you do it for selfish reasons, well, selfishness is always bad.

So back to the example: I think a distinction has to be made between the situation you describe, regarding someone seeking sex-change surgery, and the situation in which someone seeks to have a birth defect fixed. When a person seeks surgery to fix a defect, they are in no way wrong to do so. But in the example, the teacher is not suffering from a physical disfigurement or imperfection. His parts are all in the right place and most likely are capable of functioning as designed. He doesn’t have a physical problem. He has a psychological problem. Somewhere along his development something went badly wrong in his mind. Would it be wrong to try to fix this problem? Of course not. But the solution is not surgery, but rather counseling and treatment from a psychiatrist.

I feel bad for people in his situation just as I feel bad for people with any other handicap. But society has to get its head on straight and recognize that treating gender confusion with surgery is only attempting to mask the problem. In the end the sufferer is placated instead of being healed. Of course most of the supporters of gender changing surgery are the same people who would like to see many forms of sexual perversion normalized. While gender confusion is not necessarily related to a persons sexuality, supporters often lump it in with unusual “life style” choices, demanding that all “life styles” be accepted for the sake of diversity. By calling true gender confusion a life style choice, the sufferers are discouraged from seeking proper treatment. The school district in your example is doing this teacher a terrible disservice by playing along with his psychosis.

 

[Al_Masetti]

There is no way that we can understand God.

God’s ways are not our ways.

God is Infinite.

We are extremely finite.

Our IQ is 100.

God’s IQ is Infinite.

We cannot understand what He is working at or what His plan is.

We do the best we can.

And pray really hard about it.

 

[Tietjen]

A co-worker and I had a discussion recently, and I am interested in other’s opinions on the subject.

The pretext of the discussion was that a teacher in a school district near where we live announced that he was going to have sex reassignment surgery in the near future. (that’s a whole separate discussion…) In preparation for this, he was to live as a woman (dress, makeup, use women’s restrooms, etc.) at the start of the school year and all students, parents, staff, etc. were to address him using the female pronouns.

democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060825/NEWS01/608250395/1002/NEWS

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=110529

This naturally led to several lunchroom discussions. I stated that my beliefs were that sex reassignment was morally wrong. I also stated that “God doesn’t make mistakes” and one should find contentment in how God made you.

My co-worker (a fellow Catholic, by-the-way) rebutted my statement and asked about those born with physical birth defects. Since God makes all of use in the womb, are these mistakes? Shouldn’t we use surgery to correct these types of defects? And wouldn’t this be the same for those born the “wrong gender,” shouldn’t they use surgery to correct those “birth defects?”

I still feel that God is perfect and does not make mistakes, but I did not know how to answer the questions raised by his birth defects rebuttal.

What are your thoughts?

Yours in Christ,
Gerry

DeColores

Sorry, I feel that your friend’s argument is flawed. Since when is gender considered a “birth defect?” And by the way, which gender does he/she believe to be the defect? God made them male and female… so obviously this is not a mistake. Now when man thinks he/she knows better than God, therein lies the the defect. Even legit birth defects can hardly be considered “mistakes” on God’s part. This entire discussion is silly. If one thinks of it in terms of God being the creator and we being His creations, how can we even begin to think we know better than He who created us.

 

[psteichen]

As for God making mistakes, I always think of the old joke about after God created the platypus, one of the angels said to God “That thing is a mess, are you going to fix that?” This distracted God, causing him to put the kneecaps on the Flamingos on backwards.

That’s funny!