If your child was in constant agony from a physical handicap and you had the power to heal them, would you?

Question

Yes or no.

Feel free to add your religious affiliation.

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Answer 1

Of course. And this illustrates an enormously powerful argument against the existence of a loving god. If god exists, then he/she is either evil, because he/she allows evil and misery, or he/she is not able to prevent it, in which case he/she is not worth considering.

In response to this argument, theists do nothing but rationalize and spin nonsense:

> "Free will" is a gift from god which allows us to make bad decisions -- some gift, huh?

> In order for goodness to exist, evil must also exist -- again, is it a loving god who plays out our lives on an emotional roller-coaster?

Answer 2

Yes, I would heal them.

You've asked for a simple answer, but your question is not necessarily simple. Unfortunately, (like it or not), we learn from pain. What if, (without this affliction), the child would grow into a Stalin, Hitler, Nero.......you get my point.

I'm not God, I lack that perspective, maybe that's why I don't have the power to heal whoever I choose.

What have you learned from this experience?
How has the child influenced other lives?

Has ANY good come from this affection? (now we're into why does God allow pain in the world, related, but different question).

I'm Christian, I've seen some of the job requirements for God,
Don't want the job. Anyway, I wouldn't qualify.

Answer 3

That would depend on the handicap, and what purpose it would serve. I know this sounds really cold-hearted, but it's not. What if, by one child's pain, millions more are saved from the SAME pain? What if that child causes people to do what is right? What if that child is going to have a more-than-average life, and benefit loads of people, because of their pain?

I knew a boy once who had Batten's disease. He was blind by the age of five, and died over five years ago, at the age of sixteen. He was bound to a wheelchair from the time he was twelve, and his ability to think quickly deteriorated after that. However, this child brought joy and happiness to SO many people. He was one of the best Christians I've ever known. He reflected Christ SO WELL, in fact, that many people who met him became Christians soon after they were acquainted with him.

When this boy's health really started to go downhill, he had only a few lucid moments. But it seemed that there was a golden light that just RADIATED from him. It's partly because of him that I started researching religion again.

While I would weep for my child, I would only heal them if I saw that there was NO reason for their pain. How horrible it would be to have to make that decision!

And I'm a Christian.

To clarify my position a little:
I am only referring to diseases that CAN'T be cured with the medical research that's been done already. If all it would take to cure someone is to take them to a doctor, of course I would do that.

Answer 4

YES!!! Who would want their child to remain in pain & agony when there is a way to make them better? I am nondenominational when it comes to religion. I believe in God & that's all that matters. The religious affiliation is not important. I know there are parents that do not take their children to a dr. due to religious concerns & I just don't understand that at all.

Answer 5

God is the only one with the power to heal anyone. What we do have is what kind of power we have behind our faith in God's will to heal ourselves or our loved ones,by how much we trust in God's will and purpose for that experience your loved one or yourself maybe going through. We are to praise God for everything in ourlives, hard times as well. What ever we do, do it for the Glory of God. Put Him first in all things.

No matter what you ask God for, ask for His will in your life and not yours, and you shall be blessed, because you are making it a practice to place God'd needs above your own.

James 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.


1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Answer 6

Yes; And God heals his children too. 1 Peter 2:24

Answer 7

Of course without a doubt. No one wants to see their child in pain. That's not coming from a religious perspective eventhough I am a true believer but from a mother's perspective.

Answer 8

If you were asked to sell your car to buy a smaller one and give the rest of the money to people who are poor around the world, would you do it?

What if you were asked to sell that small car and to buy a bicycle and donate the rest of the money to a cancer foundation would you?

If asked to eat just three times a day instead of 5, and give the rest to some homeless people, would you do it?

Or would you prefer to teach those people how to cook how to work so that they can appreciate what they have?

What you say you may do is not always what you do.

Answer 9

I'm christian, and I can't imagine anyone saying no. This is why we take our kids to the doctor, to heal them. If there was some guy down the street who could heal my sick kid and the doctor couldn't, sure, I'd try it.

Answer 10

Yes.

But why would a God of love allow the suffering to continue so long?

Have we benefited because he has allowed it until now? “Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9) If God had immediately executed Adam and Eve, following their sin, none of us would be in existence today. Surely that is not what we would want. Moreover, had God at some later time destroyed all who were sinners, we would not have been born. The fact that God has allowed this sinful world to exist until now has afforded us the opportunity to be alive and learn his ways, to make needed changes in our lives, and to avail ourselves of his loving provisions for eternal life. That Jehovah has granted us this opportunity is an evidence of great love on his part. The Bible shows that God has a set time to destroy this wicked system and will do so soon.—Hab. 2:3; Zeph. 1:14.

God can and will undo all the harm that may come upon his servants in this system of things. God is not the one who is causing the suffering. But by means of Jesus Christ, God will raise the dead, heal obedient ones of all their illnesses, root out every trace of sin, and even cause former grief to fade from our minds.—John 5:28, 29; Rev. 21:4; Isa. 65:17.

The time that has elapsed has been needed to settle the issues that were raised in Eden. For details, see pages 363, 364, also 428-430.

We personally are anxious to have relief. But when God takes action, it must be in behalf of all who love what is right, not just a few. God is not partial.—Acts 10:34.

Illustrations: Is it not true that a loving parent may allow a child to undergo a painful operation because of beneficial results that can come from it? Also, is it not true that “quick solutions” to painful ailments are often only superficial? More time is frequently needed in order to eliminate the cause.