why are people born with disabilities, both mental and physical, according to christian/Jew/Islamic faith?

Question

I was trying to help my friend the other day, with all his troubles, but all I can tell him is to keep faith, and that one day God's Grace will liberate him from it all. But he argues back with,

"I was born Bi-polar, Schizophrenic, *something else I cant remember*, and gay. God has damned me to hell from my birth"

He is a really good guy, even though his parents detested him since birth; constantly putring him through gruesome labors and telling him he is a nobody and will always be a nobody, He was the laughing stock in society, he can't get a job because of his disabilities, he doesnt have friends from it all, He fights with He's mind everyday so as to not cause a sin...

Yet he still had faith, through it all he kept believing, but its been 19 years and he's givin up, and I dont know what to tell him. What could I dare say that will justify 19 years of that magnitude of cruelity?

I'm open to any answers you might have from those 3 religions. Serious commentors only

Answer 1

No it is not his fault. Jesus was asked this very question.

John 9:1, 3 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

I believe that Jesus is saying we are each born unique so that we can each display God’s work in our own unique way. No matter the disability or personality, we all have opportunities to serve God, each in our own way. It sounds like your friend has experienced a lot of abuse at the hands of his parents and should seek counseling, preferably from a Christian counselor who is comfortable with gay issues. Yes, such people do exist.
You said that he tried very hard not to displease God each day and I suspect this is related to the abuse, he is afraid of doing wrong. Sit down with him and explain that Christ died for him. He loves him as he is, although his Spirit is always guiding us to heal our wounded souls. I think he is very wounded and he needs to know how much Christ loves him and wants to be there to help him feel whole again.

Answer 2

Ask your friend how he knows that God has damned him. I don't see it that way at all. As for being bi-polar and schizophrenic, if he has not been cured of them, there has to be a reason for it. He needs to ask God why. I've had to do that many times, and God has always shown me why.
As for being gay, that doesn't damn him to hell any more than me being a liar and a thief curses me. What curses me is if I lie and steal. But we're all born with a predisposition towards sin.
Perhaps the only reason he's had to suffer it is because God knew he could handle it. Is your friend extraordinarily emotionally strong and resilient? Therein lies your answer, if it's yes. I think it is, if he's already survived nineteen years of being afflicted.
I'll pray for him, and I'm not dismissing you OR him by saying so. I really mean it. I pray that you'll have the wisdom to answer your friend, and that your friend be able to understand why, if for whatever reason God won't heal him. But I have FAITH that God CAN heal him.

Answer 3

god doesn't hate you because your gay. if anyone says that being gay is a sin tell them only because the bible was altered from it's original text.
second all of those conditions can be caused by a simple malnutrition disorder what's your point? if you were diagnosed under the age of 19 by a mental health professional guess what, the accuracy rating is not very high. 21.5 million men after the age of 20 find that "mental health" conditions are caused by other physical illnesses. this is why most patients on the pills never respond, you cant respond with the wrong medical treatment.

bad parents just don't talk to them. but being gay is not a sin in the original biblical texts, this is a prejudice that goes back to king james the II altering the text for his version of the bible. he should watch an A&E special called love and sex in the good book which discusses the fact that homosexuality is never mentioned in the scrolls that the bible came from and were added in the church literally refuses to admit into the church any acknowledgment of this into the church.

Answer 4

In Islam, when we are judged for our deeds then God will take into account who we are. For example, you have borderline personality disorder and you don't behave like a good person.
Well, God will consider this and He will know that you couldn't help it. Of course, it helps that you repent your misdeeds, because God is a forgiving God.
As for your friend's past, I don't know why he had to suffer like that. Just remember that we all suffer in one way or another. Some more than others, but suffering is suffering.
Tell your friend to never give up on life. He can overcome his last 19 years of life. He can become somebody. It's just up to him to change his life. I would suggest therapy to help deal with his past combined with his faith.
Anyways, I hope this helps. I'm sorry to hear what a tough life your friend had. I will pray that it becomes better.

Answer 5

i would first like to say that is a very sad story and i wish you friend well. i am one of jehovah's witnesses and i know exactly where you can find reliable help to help your friend. in your own bible look up revelation 21:4, isaiah 33:24. those are dealing with sickness and they tell of time when no one will be sick or sad now about god dooming him to hell or going to heaven think when god created adam and eve did he intend on them dieing or even going to heaven no remember they were going to live forever and inhabite the earth then satan tricked eve and we all inherited sin but some have more problems than others. satans the one 2 blame not god and certainly not himself. his parents should be utterly ashamed of themselves and dont deserve 2 b called parents because jehovah set them up 2 take care of children in a loving caring way i have this book called "what does the bible really teach"? and if you ever had a ? it will answer it with your bilble. if you email me at [e-mail] i can get your address and send it to you. you can also ask me any more ?'s and i'll be more than happy to answer. by the way im 15

Answer 6

Muslims believe that those people God loved them and chose for them the real life not our fiction life and they're created to remind the healthy people and remember them they control nothing and anytime they can be in that place.Regarding your friend i wish her all the best and if she is patient and accept what God gave her and thanks him for that she will see the god bounty over her and she 'll be the owner and never never can be looser, God already beside her and she was chosen for something spiritual and her place will be in the paradise sure because sufferance is a prayer and sufferance is purification and some religious people who already saw what we can not see and felt what we can't, feel the sufferance as happiness because this life is nothing and if you gaze carefully you can see the reality, what the meaning to eat and drink , spending time to get some distraction and have childrens or not, get old ,die or maybe you'll die anytime not appointment for that .My dear the Girl of 19 years thrust really God and he 'll show you your place in this great universe then you'll see your self prefect and you can help healthy people to see and help others looser to win and you'll be hero not in the media but in the heaven.
God bless you.

Answer 7

Starters-in the Christian faith, a person can "speak things into existence". So he must watch his tongue. He can begin to say that he is healthy and blessed with friends etc. Quit speaking negative!
Second-he will improve if he begins to say that he has the "SYMPTOMS" of whatever it is. Dont name it or claim it.

Take meds as prescribed. Develop a sense of humor that will bring the necessary laughter. Eat and sleep right. Laugh when you can and care about something enough to get involved-a hobby, a volunteer group, anything to tap into creativity-and thats a must.
Maybe he can have faith that if he _does_ hold on to his faith, that he can look to Heaven if he just hangs in there?

Gay? There is evidence that gender identification takes place around age 3 or before. Which gender he identified with had EVERYTHING to do with his parents. B/C it was around age 3 or so, kids feel like they have "always been that way", for lack of a conscious memory. A father who rejects his son is setting him up for homosexuality in which, among other things, son looks to males for that acceptance his father lacked to give him.

Lets see, my background-child abuse, child sexual abuse x 3 different men, rape victim, continued physical abuse, neglect of mother, abusive husband, losing custody of kids, raising a stepchild w oppositional defiant disorder who tried to poison me with Ambien, living in a haunted house ( a bone chilling and extremely frightening experience) also having symptoms of bipolar, having charge of my legally blind and deaf brother, bankruptcy, losing every possession I had twice-the first time when my husband came home to tell me to move out b/c he found someone else (we had already divorced and tried to reconcile so I had no choice) once again when I moved across country to be near relatives while in a profound depression and had to leave everything, and now, finally, currently putting up w a stalker and living in a racially biased neighborhood in which I am quite unwelcome (we've been there 17 years!) and unsafe as the crime index went up. (MLK Jr would be disappointed .)
On the other hand, God answers my prayers, but only after I got off the pity pot (sorry) expecting that my maltreatment was punishment enough to get into Heaven. He has given me money and things in time of need. He has directly answered prayers when I was lost on the expressway, or frightened, or needed correction quickly to change my ways. I asked Him to help me see the positive and I realized He did when I passed the same house every day and this time saw the nice curtains and the landscaping instead of the broken bikes and rusty car.
Friends? Dont preclude that Satan could have a simple 'spirit of rejection' around him. Not saying thats the case but continual rebuke of it and reclaiming the ground Satan gained by it will be of great benefit. God took away my friends and gave me new friends who share my faith.
I've had a counselor many times and it boils down to how you see yourself is how you are going to be treated.
Everyone has difficulties in their lives. That we dont know what they are does not mean that everyone but us is suffering.
I would beg to have the spritual strength of Anne Frank-to survive and die with the belief that everyone has goodness.
Take heart. We were made to survive.
If he's suicidal, believe him and get help soon!

Answer 8

Pain and death are part of the world because of sin. We do not know the reasons for the afflictions in our lives, the only thing that we can do is trust in the Lord. God uses our afflictions for the good of all people, even if we cannot see it.

Answer 9

I hope u take this for the truth it is..but over the generations of incest and other sexual mishaps ever since adam and eve....the dna and genes have become an alphabet of soups... those soups sometimes spells the rightly made human when other times it misses... I was also one that took a miss...I to am wheelchair bound.... but it is not God or the Devil to blame....it is imbreeding;; mostly

Answer 10

According to the NT, it is either the sins of the child's parents, or else the sins of the child in the premortal life.

"Master, who hath sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born like this?"