If God created all of us in his image, why do so many people have physical problems?

Question

Someone could be born blind, or someone deaf, or someone with only 4 fingers...

What's the deal there?

Answer 1

maybe dirt and ribs wasn't the best material...

Answer 2

In response to "king" - it also has to do with what the father has done in his life time, and what genetics he passes on also. Do your research before you automatically blame the woman. You men are in it for fifty percent at the point of conception, and are responsible for your actions from that point and forward. Quit taking your drugs and drinking as though there were no tomorrow, and your sperm might not be so ****** up when it hits the egg so as to cause defects. Also, you men have a way of causing stress to a woman that you will never understand, and stress leaves the body in a physical sense - think before you speak and act.

To answer the original question, examine the idea that god created us in his image. What does god look like? Why do you assume that god is a person? Where are you getting this statement? Is it from a valid source (ie not the bible)?

Answer 3

Selnyk,

We need to know how we are created in God's image and I think your question is a good one.

To understand this better chart it out or use a diagram of two triangles of equal proportions like the Star of David. This allows an easier understanding of the relationship between the Essence and Existence of a thing. The words following should be distinguished in the following categories: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual. These three words encompass everything in the Universe and make up the CREATIVE PROCESS to help describe the Creator, creatures, and creation.

God is spirit. He cannot be seen. If you were to examine all the creatures, the CREATOR has made a pattern emerges: angels and demons are intellectual creatures without a body; plants and animals do not have an intellect but a body and mortal soul. IT IS ONLY LIVING, HUMAN, BEINGS, that have a MIND, BODY, and SOUL. Only human beings have all three. Now, living, human, being is the existence of man. Those words describe the essence of man's mind, body, and soul. The Body is living, the Mind makes us human and distinguishing us from animals, and our Soul makes us the being that we become (good or evil).

Now, even Muslims will agree Allah is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (ever present). These words describe the existence of God. So, what is the essence of God? I will hold off answering this question till the end.

Now, if you think about the existence of a person they have a triple existence: physical (body), mental (mind), and spiritual (eternal soul). In fact, whenever we create something it has all three of these parts. When we cook we have a recipe (in our mind), we gather all the raw ingredients, and we cook (don't burn it, ha ha) what it is we are making. Cooking has the physical, mental, and spiritual parts. Same with engineering or technology it has three parts: the blueprints (to convey an idea), the raw materials (physical), and the workmanship (spiritual). If something goes wrong investigators will look for a design flaw, material flaw, or faulty workmanship. THIS DEMONSTRATES CREATION HAS THREE PARTS LIKE THE CREATOR.

Now, in the Bible it says Jesus is the visible likeness of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15) The ESSENCE OF GOD IS: Father (mental), Son (physical), Holy Ghost (spiritual). ONE TRUE GOD IN THREE JUST LIKE A PERSON. THREE PARTS ONE PERSON. When you are sick you send for a doctor; when you are mentally troubled, a psychiatrist; when spiritually seeking you seek out a holy person.

I can go into a lot more details and have charts and diagrams to explain these concepts. This should do for now.

Answer 4

Theists are going to tell you it is because of sin. If you ask how a child born deformed has sinned, they are going to counter that it's the parents' sins that caused the deformity. (Technically possible in cases of drugs, alcoholism)
So the next question becomes 'If sin is the cause of children being born handicapped/deformed, why are the children of some of very worst sinners (sadistic people) born healthy and fully formed and functional?"
At which point they'll tell you that you are crazy and God wouldn't give a child handicaps because the parents are sinners.

Clear as mud, yes?

Answer 5

The creation part has to do with our inner spirit, that our true essence is the essence of God, only that we have forgotten our true nature and are ignorant of it. Man is still ignorant of his separation with every being and does not treat other beings the way he would treat himself.

God imposed the law of karma in order to teach us that we truly are not separate from God and all beings. Whatever we put out, comes back to us. If we put out love, love returns. If we harm another in thought, word or deed, it comes back to us that way. These are the fruits of our actions. So all the sufferings and diseases that we all experience are a result of that in order to teach us the things we need to learn and to gain strengths. Let me quote Swami Satchidananda on what he says about karma:

"All our continuous ups and downs, coming into this world and going out, birth and death, are due to our karma, and the necessity of accepting the reaction to our actions. We can't escape from it. Once an action is done, either we face the reaction in this life itself or we may have to take another body to do it. It is the reaction that binds us to take it, the reaction that uses a body and makes us experience it."

Since we are too limited to see the big picture of our past lives on what caused one to have physical imperfections, we should not place importance on it, rather we should place importance on what have we learnt from having these physical imperfections and how has it made us a better person.

I've been deaf since toddler age. To me my body is just a temporary shell for my soul. So what if it is imperfect. I just make do and learn from my experiences in a positive way. I have learnt that it is just an illusion that if we lack something in our physical body it would equate to suffering, sorrow or less happiness. This is totally untrue because it is our attachment to our physical body that causes us to suffer. When I am detached from my lack of hearing, I am as happy or maybe even more happier than most hearing people. True happiness lies within our spirit. This is what God is trying to teach us who we really are, that we can always have this constant state of happiness and bliss despite any physical limitations.

We truly are not our body because our body did not exist before we were born and nor will it continue to exist after we pass on; however, it is our Soul that has always existed before, now, and will continue to exist therafter as it is eternal, indestructable. It is our spirit that truly defines who we are:

"For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain." The Bhagavad Gita, Ch.2, v.20

If you study Hinduism, not to practice but to read it, it is a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and provides great understanding in the greater Cosmic plan.

Answer 6

You are not forcusing on the whole picture. The body is only a cocoon for the soul, which was created in God's image. This is why it is called the Holy Spirit, not the Holy Body. You must have bad to compare good to or you cannot learn the difference. We are here in this body as a small phase of a much larger learning process. What we learned before our soul was placed in the body is called natural instinct. Here we learn the natural instincts to allow us to survive in the next phase of learning, which some refer to as the spiritual realm. Through prayer, which is common to all religions, we seek teaching from the God of our understanding. You have to ask, listen, and have patience for the answers, a kindergartener cannot understand physics. Peace of mind is the test of the validity of the answers you receive. This is not religion, simply the faith that all of the answers will be provided in time by the Great Teacher I call God.

Answer 7

Like most people you look at the physical god is a Spirit so the image he was refering to is our inner man not the fleshy man you see . That's why our world is such a wwerck today because people judge from the outward appperance. Get a relationship with God and he will reveal the truth to you. and allow you to see inner man of people

Answer 8

We look at people and judge each other. God looks at every person and sees someone beautiful. He didn't set the standards that you have to be pretty, thin and so called "normal". We did. He looks at each person and sees something he created to be perfect.

another way to look at it is that each person makes up one part of the body of christ. each person has a gift to offer. some people are better in this area and some in this and what not. If you ever talk to a deaf person, or a blind person, they are fine with being who they are. They don't wish they can see or hear. They live life as it comes.

Answer 9

We are all created in God's image...but we are not created equal...God knows some people are born stronger, special...and they are the ones who are born with special qualities that we call "problems"...they were born and will take more than their share in this life...and be rewarded in the next...=)

Answer 10

Since God’s Son stated that his Father is “a Spirit,” this rules out any physical likeness between God and man. (Joh 4:24) Rather, man has qualities reflecting, or mirroring, those of his heavenly Maker, qualities that positively distinguish man from the animal creation.

Answer 11

Thermodynamics and lack of regenerative powers.

Before Adam handed over the reins to this world to satan in the Garden of Eden, there was no cripples in the human, animal, or vegetable kingdoms.

Jesus restored man's dominion over the earth. Men need to speak in faith to undo the manifestations of the fall.

Ultimately, the restoration will be complete. Romans 8:19-22 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.