Why God doesn't heal Dementia,Paraplegia etc?

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I mean no respect but this isn’t realistic though.
It accounts for some illnesses such as Fetal alcohol syndrome,Paraplegia-/quadraplegia in car accident due to speeding or drinking,alcoholic related brain damage and some other instances but it makes no sense for Dementias,Down Syndrome,Mental illnesses,Intellectual disorders etc…

For example a couple may have two children and one may end up with severe Schizophrenia and the other have no cognitive or psychosis symptoms at all.
If it was the mother or fathers sin that was the cause,you would expect that both of their children would have the “effect” (the illness manifestation).
 
TK421 said:
Our suffering is a way of imitating Christ
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Wait – we are imitating Christ only when we suffer persecution. We are not imitating Christ when we suffer as a consequence of our own sins.

This also means that is quite wrong when we say we are “carrying our cross” when we are struggling with our own sinful tendencies (e.g. addiction). Such suffering is a part of the Christian path, to be sure, but it is not yet the Way of the Cross. The latter only begins when you have become innocent and the world condemns you for that.
 
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Rozellelily said:
If it was the mother or fathers sin that was the cause,you would expect that both of their children would have the “effect” (the illness manifestation).
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This is a good counter-argument, but you are overlooking something. I cannot tell you what it is, because that will take us to an apparent (not a real) flaw in RCC theology. And if I clarify/correct that flaw cogently and compellingly (as I have before), reasoning from verifiable sources of excellent standing within the Church, the whole thread will still get flagged and removed. I’ve tried before, and that was the result. Sorry.
 
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what are you talking about?

the mods are sound asleep

what is it you want to say?

don’t be afraid ; you may speak openly…
 
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brian_custer said:
don’t be afraid ; you may speak openly…
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I’m not afraid. It’s just that the mods have made it clear, both through their action and through a brief, civil exchange I had with them through PM’s, that they don’t want to see the matter discussed on the forum, regardless of how cogent the argument is – or perhaps because the argument is cogent. Anyway, it’d be stubborn of me to present the same argument and expect them to tolerate it this time. So I won’t.
 
We all have moments of doubt in our lives more so when our God given reason and logic demands an answer to a question that seems not to be there, so what do we do? do we say humbug it’s all rubbish and walk away or do we say I will pray for an answer and be patient?
The options consist of this the first is that our faith was not fully grounded we failed to develop a relationship with God and looked for earthly answers, that in itself is fine as long as we know that we are not fully mature in our faith and need direction hence you come here asking your questions. The problem is not all here are mature enough in faith to answer.
So
you don’t find a satisfactory answer, now what? do you walk away? or do you take the second option?
The second is this God has not ever said he will cure everyone, some he said can only be cured with fasting and prayer, some demand sacrifice and some demand the participation of the person.
It is at this point I would direct you to the Saints there are some today curing and healing and my personal favourite miracle worker is Padre Pio.
I live in Ireland and have seen the glove of padre pio ( I think there is 3 here in Ireland ) cure a 2 year old boy of a brain tumour, his family sat at his bed side to say goodbye as it was thought he would not make the night and just by chance the glove was in the hospital as it was requested by another, the owner/minder brought it to the boy laid it on his chest and prayed to God, that boy sat up and is alive today, his family all lapsed Catholics are now devoted to God, so which Miracle do you think was greater? I would say the conversion of the family as for the boy he would be safe in the arms of God now if he had died.
simply it is never black and white it is never given fully to us the workings of God but we are to try and see things with what knowledge we have and even Christ our Lord could not cure people who had no faith, maybe you should meditate on this and an answer may come, if it does come back and tell us.
 
To be honest I suffer from paranoid psychosis and a couple of personality disorders also deafness but I thank God for making me like this as I am using my disabilities to help others who suffer from the same disabilities.
 
Rozellelily said:
The Catholic view is usually abut suffering,but what about when that suffering is no longer redemptive and just lead the individuals away from God instead of closer to God?
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You make a good point in principle, but I’m not sure you have the right view of what suffering is redemptive, and what isn’t. You seem to be saying that sufferings due to severe physical ailments are not redemptive – but I believe they are if left to their natural course. Suffering due to treatment is not necessarily redemptive, because it resists the natural course, i.e. it is an unnatural suffering that arises from not accepting one’s natural suffering.

(There are many other forms of unredemptive suffering. Anxiety over whether one will be able to make one’s mortgage payments, is a straightforward example.)

P.S. Lest someone condemn me for proposing that we let all sufferers of severe ailments suffer without treatment, let me make the following point: I believe no suffering is redemptive if you don’t understand it to be redemptive. So for anyone who is incapable of experiencing their natural suffering (i.e. due to the disease, not to the treatment) as redemptive, I would recommend treatment. But sooner or later you had better come to understand your natural suffering as redemptive, because most of us do ultimately die of some ailment or another.
Rozellelily said:
Christianity talks about hope but why give people hope if it’s unrealistic?
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A Christianity that is largely or completely about prayer with the aim of improving one’s worldly circumstances (e.g. recovery from a disease), is a superficial Christianity, and indeed it’s likely to lead to disappointment. I personally wouldn’t recommend this type of God-please-cure-me type of prayer. When I speak to people faced with a serious disease, I recommend that they pray for strength, wisdom, courage, etc., in the face of whatever course the disease takes. Or if they are terribly afraid, I recommend that they offer or promise God something in exchange for improvement. This works because it puts the supplicant in a position of humility, awareness of their sins, etc., which is just what God responds to.
 
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Rozellelily said:
I mean no respect but this isn’t realistic though.
It accounts for some illnesses such as Fetal alcohol syndrome,Paraplegia-/quadraplegia in car accident due to speeding or drinking,alcoholic related brain damage and some other instances but it makes no sense for Dementias,Down Syndrome,Mental illnesses,Intellectual disorders etc…

For example a couple may have two children and one may end up with severe Schizophrenia and the other have no cognitive or psychosis symptoms at all.
If it was the mother or fathers sin that was the cause,you would expect that both of their children would have the “effect” (the illness manifestation).
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We have a biblical example to contradict this. David’s first child with Bathsheba suffered because of his parents sins but their other children did not. One of them even succeeded David.
 
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On the dementia point, it has been noted, including in a past discussion on CAF, that it’s possible God has cured this in some cases, but it is not an easily quantifiable “cure” so there tends not to be recorded instances of it. It’s easier to document a “miraculous” cure for something like cancer. This doesn’t mean that God has never cured a case of dementia as it may well have happened but we’ll just never hear about it.

https://forums.catholic-questions.o...t-not-for-dementia-or-other-incurable-things/
 
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Im very sorry to hear that.
That’s pretty inspirational though that you are able to use your circumstances to help others.
 
My mother succumbed to dementia and my MIL to Alzheimer’s. My impression is that it was their purgatory - or the bulk of it.

Secondarily, the love of family members was tested, which is God’s absolute right to do.
 
Rozellelily said:
I know a few people will point to Catholic Miracles but these are far and few in between,and to be honest I have never heard of something incurable being healed like Dementia.
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My family has experienced the healing of my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s Disesase. My grandmother was dying of Alzheimer’s Disease. I am not speaking of an infection or illness related to her hospice care, but directly from the disease. She had forgotten how to eat and swallow to the point where she once almost drown in her own spit. It had been a long time since she had remembered how to speak. She had absolutely no recognition of anyone.

My mother, aunt and uncle had not been together since they were teenagers and my uncle had run away. My aunt had somehow found my uncle and convinced him to visit grandma when the nurses had told her and mom that grandma wasn’t going to live much longer as they were scared that her involuntary reflexes like heartbeat or breathing were going to go next.

My aunt and mom were in the room with grandma when my uncle walked through the door. Immediately, grandma sat up and began to speak to them. She recognized each one of them and knew exactly what had happened around her during and before the time she had Alzheimer’s. She asked about her grandchildren and my uncle’s life. She asked to receive the Anointing of the Sick and spent a good four hours talking with her children. My uncle, thinking that grandma was not as sick as he had been told, then left for his hotel for the night. As soon as the door closed, she fell back on the mattress of her hospital bed and reverted to her comatose state. When Mom and my aunt left my grandma’s room, the entire staff of the nursing home were outside praying and quietly praising God. One pulled aside my mom and the nurse told her that although she was agnostic, she could not doubt that God had worked a miracle in their midst.

Five days later, grandma died as she lost the involuntary reflex to breathe.

God healed my grandmother for a short time of Alzheimer’s to give her children a remembrance of the mother who raised them, not the deteriorating woman on the bed. My aunt had been an atheist for the past twenty years. After she got over her grief, however, she has since been more open to the presence of God and his work in her life. She points to that experience with grandma as one of the reasons why she now acknowledges God again.

Christ does not simply heal for our own sake. It is a physical sign for the world of his power and love for man. He alone knows what will and will not turn the heart of those who look upon the miracle. If that heart could be turned no other way than through the miracle, then it takes place. If there is, however, another way, then it does not.

Ultimately, healings have nothing to do with the physical condition of the people, but the spiritual condition of their souls and those around them.
 
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CRM_Brother said:
Ultimately, healings have nothing to do with the physical condition of the people, but the spiritual condition of their souls and those around them.
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Thank you for this. It makes me see Matthew 9:5 where Jesus says, “Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” in a new light.
 
I don’t think the lesson that victory does not come cheap is void of redemptive value. Did not St. Paul compare Christians to soldiers? A soldier must suffer greatly in his training in order to develop his mind and body to endure the rigors of combat. Then, on the battlefield, he must endure many hardships and the danger of death in order to attain victory. So it is with chemotherapy- the patient must endure brutal side effects in order to defeat the cancer.
 
Roguish said:
Suffering due to treatment is not necessarily redemptive, because it resists the natural course, i.e. it is an unnatural suffering that arises from not accepting one’s natural suffering.

(There are many other forms of unredemptive suffering. Anxiety over whether one will be able to make one’s mortgage payments, is a straightforward example.)
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It should be noted that this is your individual, personal belief.

It does NOT comport with any sort of Church teaching on suffering I have ever read, which does not differentiate between types of suffering. You just offer suffering up, whatever it is, give it to God. I sincerely doubt that God is sitting there with a big bin and deciding whether to throw your suffering in the accept bin or the reject bin.

I am quite sure those who suffer due to chemotherapy, an amputation, or anxiety over paying their bills can offer all of that to God and He will accept it with open arms and apply it where needed to accomplish his designs upon the world.
 
Roguish said:
Wait – we are imitating Christ only when we suffer persecution. We are not imitating Christ when we suffer as a consequence of our own sins.
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Where did you ever get that idea? I have to completely disagree with that whole premise. I’m completely baffled by it.
Roguish said:
This also means that is quite wrong when we say we are “carrying our cross” when we are struggling with our own sinful tendencies (e.g. addiction). Such suffering is a part of the Christian path, to be sure, but it is not yet the Way of the Cross. The latter only begins when you have become innocent and the world condemns you for that.
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We imitate Christ through accepting our own sufferings, of any kind, and offering them to Him for the salvation of the whole world, just like He did. Period. The entire reason Jesus suffered His Passion was in reparation for our sins. So, He invites us to “pick up our cross” and follow Him, by offering all of our own sufferings to Him, every day, as a way to help Him carry His cross. We, first of all, suffer for our own sins. Then, anything else we suffer that is more than necessary to cover our own sins, will be applied to other souls, through Him. That’s how the economy of salvation works.

When we struggle against our own sinful tendencies, it inflicts some of the worst kinds of suffering on us. Those sufferings are also some of the most efficacious for our souls, because they can eventually lead us to overcome those horrible sins. Do you really believe that God would not accept any of those sufferings, as a means for us to draw grace from something that takes so much effort to overcome? Wouldn’t that be wasted suffering? Wouldn’t that tend to make us less likely to put all of that effort into overcoming sin if there was no reward for it? All of those struggles are a huge part of carrying our cross every day.

I’m sorry, but I can’t even fathom where you got the idea that, “the Way of the Cross”… “only begins when you have become innocent and the world condemns you for that.”. I have no clue what it even means. Can you, please, explain where that idea came from and what it’s supposed to mean? As far as I’ve ever known, “the Way of the Cross” was to follow Jesus in everything that He ever taught us, or did, and especially whatever He commanded us to do. So, your definition seems to be very specific and quite limited. :confused:
 
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