Who sinned, this man or his parents?

Today a friend of mine told me that she had been explaining to a group of kichwa indegenous people from a village called Porotoyaku about the reasons for disability.

She was telling them that alcohol use during bregnancy may cause a disability to the unborn child. They all agreed but they told her that it was because drinking alcohol is a sin.

And disability is a punishment for the sin.

Some people confess a sin a thousand times, I tell them to confess it once, then thank God a thousand times for forgiving them.

Maurice Horn

The people went through the list of things that could cause a disability with my friend. Things like alcohol and drug use, abuse of medical substances, physical abuse, battering, all sins.

In our earthly eyes, it's easy to think that disability is a punishment for the sin that the parents have comited.

My friend told them the story of the blind man that Jesus and His disciples met at the street.

1 As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.… John 9:1-3

When she told them that the disciples asked if the man's sin was the cause of his disability the people looked around them to each other and shaked their heads.

When the disciples asked if it was the parents that had sinned, the people nodded and agreed in loud voices.

When they heard Jesus' answer they did not know what to say.

Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2

The New King James Version

It is true that sin has direct consecuencies here on earth. It is true that we suffer those consecuencies.

But we should not interpret God's will without knowing it for sure.

No one can really know God's mind or His thoughts. He is just too great for us to grasp who He really is.

We can only ask to understand a bit more every day.

To take all that we are and have and hand it over to God may not be easy; but it can be done; and when it is done, the world has in it one less candidate for misery.

Paul Scherer