The Lord is the Maker of all

"Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?" -Ex. 4:11

During my youthful years in college I took a summer biology course at an Arizona local community college to get ahead in units. (Woop woop on community colleges) It was an exciting course and I learned a lot about the laws and phenomenon of nature. When the textbook chapters "evolved" to the human life section, I found it quite fascinating to learn how our bodies are designed. My class got familiar with genes and DNA. We discovered that "accidental" defects in humans were a result of DNA mutation. For example, when the coding in a person's DNA gets messed up it complicates the rest of the DNA strand causing health issues. I.e. missing an organ, deformation, and a diseases similar to Down Syndrome.

It is interesting to note that the language used to describe the victim's symptoms were a mere "mistake" in nature's design. A child born with Down Syndrome is a result of a "chance" occurrence in the "normal" human race. In a normal human body, we are all made up of 23 pairs of chromatids. All of these pairs tell the body what color of hair, skin, sex, eyes, etc, you'll have. A person born with DS would have an extra chromatid in one of the pairs. Hmmm. Interesting you say? It is...

Modern medicine has not come up with a solution to cure this disease, therefore leaving the sorrowful parent(s) to decide whether they will keep the baby. Adoption and even abortion are common alternatives. Majority of the time the child would be admitted to a children's home to be taken care of by the state. Pro-choice activists arguing "economic weight" these people bring, have opted for aborting children with defects. Their reasoning would be that it "isn't fair" for those children to grow up with their differences. It would be less painful for the parent and child if the pregnancy was terminated, making the number of the disabled lower. Hmmm....

In one study, CDC used data from the U.S. Department of Education and the Social Security Administration to find the number of people with mental retardation in the United States in 1993. The study showed that about 1.5 million children and adults (ages 6-64 years) had mental retardation.

As Christians, let's not forget that all things are God's creation. He is the Maker of all things, nothing is a "mistake" or by "chance" (see above verse). But what about salvation? If we are to be saved by confessing Jesus and believing in our hearts, how can someone who can't think or talk like us be saved? Let's see what the Word says...

3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” -Mark 2:3-5

Ok, let's now consider the circumstance. Obviously, the paralytic couldn't walk so men (maybe relatives) had to bring him in through the roof (due to the mass crowd). When they lowered the man, it says that Jesus saw the faith of the men and forgave and healed the paralytic. If it was the men's faith that Jesus saw and acknowledged, it seems that the man could probably not talk or even think. Since he was on a bed, his case was probably severe (although I am no expert on the medical practices of the biblical Jews). The men had to carry the paralytic down to see Jesus.

Now applying this to modern disabled. Honestly, we do not know what is going on in the hearts of these people. Obviously since we serve an all Soveriegn Lord, their salvation is ultimately in His hands. However, God uses preordained means to accomplish His will. What if reading the Word and singing worship songs to the disabled, the Lord will look on our faith and forgive their sins? What if while sharing Jesus with these people, that in their hearts they believe unto salvation? We don't know, and it obviously isn't for us to know. And I do not think that it is necessarily "unfair" for those people, God has His ways of making things up to those "cheated." (See 1 Peter 4:19) But instead, I think that those people are created for us who are normal. What if it is a test of God to see if we are going to do what He has commanded us and preach to every person?

Life is the Lord's. He gives and He takes away. The heart belongs to Him, and salvation through His Grace by Jesus Christ. Next time you see someone who is in a wheelchair, or suffering from mental disability, meditate on these passages in scripture and be reassured no one is a mistake.