Why doesn't God cure amputees?

[TerranIV]

Remember how Jesus healed the ear of the Roman soldier that was cut off by one of Jesus' followers.
If we had enough faith (which has many ramifications) we could do just about anything. It is probably not within our reach in the current state of our condition.
Prayers can heal and again there are conditions that we don't fully understand.
Thoughts are things and have an effect on us in many ways. imo.

Wow! Great example!! I would argue we don't know if Jesus actually made the guys ear grow back or if he just stopped the bleeding, but that is a good example of a possible cure of an amputee!

I do have an issue with a God who implies you can do anything with faith and then limits what you can do with the faith a human is capable of. So moving a mountain and parting the Reed Sea is fine, but re-growing a hand is not? Even if humans don't have enough faith, you would think Jesus could come down and one or two amputees over the centuries who had ALMOST enough faith.

 

[TerranIV]

You're amazed? You don't get around much, do you? That's got to be the atheists' favorite question. The fact that there is actually a website by that name is hilarious. I don't know which is the most obnoxious, fundy Christians or fundy athiests.

What is the Christian's favorite response to this then?

And what does "fundy" mean?

 

[Storm]

And what does "fundy" mean?

It's short for "fundamentalist." You reall are new to discussing religion online, aren't you?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I do have an issue with a God who implies you can do anything with faith and then limits what you can do with the faith a human is capable of. So moving a mountain and parting the Reed Sea is fine, but re-growing a hand is not? Even if humans don't have enough faith, you would think Jesus could come down and one or two amputees over the centuries who had ALMOST enough faith.

It could just be a matter of it not being God's style. Maybe instead of praying for their hand to be regenerated, amputees should ask God for a horde of locusts to do what they used to do with their hand.

 

[TerranIV]

It's short for "fundamentalist." You reall are new to discussing religion online, aren't you?

Yeah, I was used to discussing religion in church and in people's homes. I was a Mormon missionary in the American South a few years ago. I got a lot of experience talking about Christianity and the Bible but I'm not hip to all the new phrases the kids are using these days.

 

[Storm]

Well, we're glad to have you.

 

[TerranIV]

Friend TerranIV,
Did god ever say he has powers to cure/heal anyone?
Its all imagination of human mind even the existence of god.
Love & rgds

Good point. I guess being raised in a Christian household made me bias to a the Jesus-god of the Christians. HE did say he had powers to cure people and supposedly did miraculous cures 2000 years ago and supposedly gave this power to his followers when he ascended into the sky.

Of course there are other ideas of god which don't make the claim to heal people and so the question of amputees would really not apply to them. As Richard Dawkins likes to say - "Most people are atheists of all other religions but the one they believe in."

 

[TerranIV]

One could sensibly, and possibly poetically, argue, within the context of a "God" that exists (in whatever form), that God does cure amputees, every one of them, everyday. "God" is the doctor who treats their injury; "God" is the phychologist who talks to them; "God" is the craftman who creates an artificial limb, and the craft by which it comes into being and gets attached. Seems to "me" there's a lot of healing going on.

Only if you apply the broadest of definitions possible for the term "god". Sounds more like you are just talking about humans at this point, or maybe "the universe". If god is everyone, then no one is god.

If everyone is god, then no one promised to heal anyone, so your answer could also be. "Who ever said God would heal anyone." and I would say, "Well he did in the Bible." and then we would know we were talking about different gods.

I guess you could argue God (of the Bible) is working through people as his agents - but then it gets back to my question about people who are not in a country or time period with doctors who could cure them.

 

[painted wolf]

The god of my faith doesn't do curses or cures.
Maybe Creator has better things to do, or maybe Creator is just boring. Who knows?

wa:do

 

[Spiritone]

Wow! Great example!! I would argue we don't know if Jesus actually made the guys ear grow back or if he just stopped the bleeding, but that is a good example of a possible cure of an amputee!

I do have an issue with a God who implies you can do anything with faith and then limits what you can do with the faith a human is capable of. So moving a mountain and parting the Reed Sea is fine, but re-growing a hand is not? Even if humans don't have enough faith, you would think Jesus could come down and one or two amputees over the centuries who had ALMOST enough faith.

I have a strong feeling that we are co-creators with God and in time will be able to do incredible things. We need science, as part of our creating, to get together with spiritually oriented people. Maybe we are going to reach the level of Jesus in having power but not until we earn it. God would not give great power to greedy or destructive people so we have to evolve spiritually. There are sure to be different "types" of time in other dimensions that exist with ours. My almost belief (a possibility) is that we are creating ourselves with spiritual help.
Having belief in our ability to do something has tremendous power.

 

[Katzpur]

What is the Christian's favorite response to this then?

They don't have one -- which is why atheists love the question so much.

 

[Katzpur]

Yeah, I was used to discussing religion in church and in people's homes. I was a Mormon missionary in the American South a few years ago. I got a lot of experience talking about Christianity and the Bible but I'm not hip to all the new phrases the kids are using these days.

A Mormon missionary, huh? That's two Mormon missionaries turned atheist we have on the forum. So when did you decide there wasn't really a God, Terran -- before your mission, during your mission, or after your mission? Whenever... It doesn't matter. I'm just curious. By the way, "fundy" isn't really a new phrase and I'm definitely not a kid! Anyway, welcome to RF!

 

[Sententia]

Why would you think I said atheists are lazy? I just said that God would not want to promote laziness. And I also, never said you hadn't found the truth. You're assuming things that I never wrote. I wrote that if you truly search, you will find the truth. The truth is different for everyone and yet there's only one truth. If you have searched thoroughly, and truly, and you can look me in the eye and say "I have found the truth!" then I applaud you. If not, then continue searching.

The more I learn, the less I know.

 

[McBell]

The more I learn, the less I know.

Then you should stop learning before your IQ hits the negative numbers....

 

[Heneni]

Not if you are cut in half or if your head is cut off.

While we're at it, why don't people who are stabbed in the heart get cured? Why does god cure a cut in your finger but can't cure a cut in a vital organ? I guess you could say he invented doctors, but that was probably not very comforting to people dying thousands of years ago.

Battlefield 200 B.C.
Dying Man: "I just got stabbed in the heart, please, God, cure me!"
God: "I won't cure you, but I will invent medicine in a few thousand years and then if there is a doctor or paramedic around and that person prays to me I might cure them."
Dying Man: "Not helpful!"

If your head was cut off or you are cut in half, you dont need healing you need to be reconstructed and then raised from the dead. I think its simpler to be re-incarnated.

Heneni

 

[zenzero]

Friend TerranIV,

HE did say he had powers to cure people and supposedly did miraculous cures 2000 years ago and supposedly gave this power to his followers when he ascended into the sky.

Kindly let us not forget that Jesus was a human being and christian god is not as all gods of all religions are only that *imagination*. or mere *thoughts*.

Love & rgds

 

[Dezzie]

I have seen people say it is not a disease. Well... there are instances where a persons limb needs to be amputated due to a disease so it does not spread to that certain limb or part of the body. Lets just say someone got in a car accident and their arm or leg was so severily damaged it could not even be reattached? It doesn't mean God is not working per se... You kind of need to get rid of that dead limb before infection spreads and creates even more problems. It's natures way. You can't save something that is dead already.

Here are some reason's why a limb needs to be amputated:




Circulatory disorders

• Diabetic foot infection or gangrene (the most common reason for non-traumatic amputation)
• Sepsis with peripheral necrosis

Neoplasm

• Cancerous bone or soft tissue tumours (e.g. osteosarcoma, osteochondroma, fibrosarcoma, epithelioid sarcoma, synovial sarcoma, sacrococcygeal teratoma)
• Melanoma

Trauma

• Severe limb injuries in which the limb cannot be spared or attempts to spare the limb have failed
• Traumatic amputation (Amputation occurs actually at scene of accident, the limb can be partially or wholly severed)
• Amputation in utero (Amniotic band)
• Punishment/Torture (e.g in some countries, for example the Muslim world, theft is prevented by the threat of amputation of a hand, although the practice is highly controversial and some Islamic authorities are calling for a moratorium upon it, pending developments in Islamic law.)

Deformities

• Deformities of digits and/or limbs
• Extra digits and/or limbs (e.g. polydactyly)

Infection

• Bone infection (osteomyelitis)

Other

• Sometimes professional athletes may choose to have a non-essential digit amputated to relieve chronic pain and impaired performance. Daniel Chick elected to have his left ring finger amputated as chronic pain and injury was limiting his performance. Rugby union player Jone Tawake also had a finger removed. NFL safety Ronnie Lott had the tip of his pinky finger removed after it was damaged in the 1985 NFL season.

I believe that a limb needs to be amputated for the better good. Maybe if an amputation is not done, there could be other problems due to the disease that is spreading. Maybe the limb is not able to handle the disease and can not be treated.

There is one rationalization I liked the most from a website that was given in this thread. It is this:

Some people might say, "Everyone's life serves God in different ways. Perhaps God uses amputees to teach us something. God must have a higher purpose for amputees." That may be the case -- God may be trying to send a message. But, again, it seems odd that he would single out this one group of people to handle the delivery.

I've had second thoughts about God even curing disease or sickness. Our bodies work a certain way. Everyone is different. People react to different medications in different ways. Is that God making it that way? Is God the one controlling whether we are allergic to something that is supposed to make us better? Why would God make a certain disease not treatable for some when a medication is used but then not for others that use the same medication? I kind of think that maybe it is not God doing that to us but that it is how our bodies work. Some of use are able to be cured... others aren't... it's the way of life. People don't live forever.

I don't know if this helps at all. It did make me think deeper into the matter. I appreciate this thread.

 

[Sententia]

Then you should stop learning before your IQ hits the negative numbers....

Is this:

1. An attempt at humor
2. Ad hom?
3. Ignorance of what IQ is or means
4. Ignorance of Philosphy
5. Boredom?

Perhaps you'd prefer the ancient greek version of the expression when socrates first uttered it?

When I said the more I learn the less I know it was meant to call into question the idiocy of claiming you will find the truth. Just keep looking and when you find something that speaks to you, then right there, give up, call that the truth and live according to the teachings of Yeshuas, Budhas, Satans or whoever you find as truth for you.

Pure lunacy to me. If you consider what is brought to bear as the truth and the why behind it then perhaps you'd see it more clearly. The men who crashed planes into our towers had the truth. They searched and they found that they must fly planes into our buildings for their truth. Needless to say I dont hold self professed truth without proof in high regard. (Obviously they did not have the truth but rather they thought they did as so many self deluded people neckup in the quicksand they call their religion will tell you about their faith and their truth)

If you want to prove to me genies dont exist its not on me to rub every damn lamp on the planet to prove it to myself. Its on you to show me the genie. (Jerry McGuire screaming) In general, you dont have to show me the genie just because you believe in them... but if you want to fly a plane into my buildings or change the way of life for my fam and peeps then you should probably come genie in hand rather then being merely self deluded and the forevermore optimist. (Pascal wager's lab rat?)

God doesnt cure amputees because amputees were born in a natural world where god is no more then Jack or Jill who went up the hill or a larger then life Ra sun god. Simply put... I wouldnt leave it or look to god to provide the answer... That seems to be lazy to me.

 

[McBell]

Is this:

1. An attempt at humor
2. Ad hom?
3. Ignorance of what IQ is or means
4. Ignorance of Philosphy
5. Boredom?

Perhaps you'd prefer the ancient greek version of the expression when socrates first uttered it?

When I said the more I learn the less I know it was meant to call into question the idiocy of claiming you will find the truth. Just keep looking and when you find something that speaks to you, then right there, give up, call that the truth and live according to the teachings of Yeshuas, Budhas, Satans or whoever you find as truth for you.

Pure lunacy to me. If you consider what is brought to bear as the truth and the why behind it then perhaps you'd see it more clearly. The men who crashed planes into our towers had the truth. They searched and they found that they must fly planes into our buildings for their truth. Needless to say I dont hold self professed truth without proof in high regard. (Obviously they did not have the truth but rather they thought they did as so many self deluded people neckup in the quicksand they call their religion will tell you about their faith and their truth)

If you want to prove to me genies dont exist its not on me to rub every damn lamp on the planet to prove it to myself. Its on you to show me the genie. (Jerry McGuire screaming) In general, you dont have to show me the genie just because you believe in them... but if you want to fly a plane into my buildings or change the way of life for my fam and peeps then you should probably come genie in hand rather then being merely self deluded and the forevermore optimist. (Pascal wager's lab rat?)

God doesnt cure amputees because amputees were born in a natural world where god is no more then Jack or Jill who went up the hill or a larger then life Ra sun god. Simply put... I wouldnt leave it or look to god to provide the answer... That seems to be lazy to me.

Bit sensitive, are we?

 

[Willamena]

Only if you apply the broadest of definitions possible for the term "god". Sounds more like you are just talking about humans at this point, or maybe "the universe". If god is everyone, then no one is god.

Just so. As no one thing is god, all is God.

If everyone is god, then no one promised to heal anyone, so your answer could also be. "Who ever said God would heal anyone." and I would say, "Well he did in the Bible." and then we would know we were talking about different gods.

Promise is another beast, not necessarily relevant. Mythology is, too.

I guess you could argue God (of the Bible) is working through people as his agents - but then it gets back to my question about people who are not in a country or time period with doctors who could cure them.

No, I just meant to present an argument from the perspective that god is them, as they are god.

I don't believe there ever was a time without people to heal other people.