A philosophical question
So I am reading the old testament and God's pretty upset half the time with a lot of people. He destroys villages like no tomorrow, and many characters are killed by God directly because of their sins. even his beloved moses is killed by god because of a particular sin at some point! So I am wondering how direct the relationship is between sin and disease? you sin, boom you get covid? you sin, oops here comes the flu! Then in the bible many times God tells some ruler or king to kill a bunch of people. philistines here amanites there. So here comes my next questoin; whats not to say God told Hitler or Putin or Stalin to go and kill a bunch of people?? Would God really allow it if these people did not mean to die? its a hard one for me to wrap my head around, but if you would say he did not, then by defenition he made a mistake, which makes no sense either since he is perfect! thoughts??
Posted Dec 8, 2022, 2:34 AM UTC
Disease goes both ways. One time in the ministry of the Lord Jesus people asked him, "who sinned, this man or his parents?" and he replied that it wasn't the result of sin but simply foreordained to show off his power. Another time in the ministry of the Lord, he was going to heal someone and instead of saying "get up, take your bed and walk" he said "your sins are forgiven," implying that in some sense it was his sin that got him there. James also says that if you're sick and have unrepentant sin, have your elders anoint you and pray for you so that you can be healed. In the same vein, belief that all sickness is caused by sin is akin to prosperity gospel. Sometimes people just get sick because of the fallenness of the world.
Secondly, God tempts no one. He cannot by his very nature say to Hitler, "go kill people." However, he does use crooked sticks to draw straight lines. That's a big question of the latter prophets: how can God righteously use evil people doing evil things? The answer given is essentially that though God isn't culpable for their evil, he foreordained it to accomplish the good of punishing evil, and he will in fact punish the evil that they commit in accomplishing his sovereign purposes.
That text is not making that implication.
I think you’re mostly spot on. I would say that there are some people who get sicknesses as a response to their sin. As an example:
1 Corinthians 11:27-34 (NASB95) 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. 33 So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgment. The remaining matters I will arrange when I come.
It refers to some who are sick, weak, or dead as a result of taking communion improperly. Now, I’m definitely NOT saying that we have the revelation as Paul did to discern what sickness is and arrested, but only that it’s clear it can be the case. I don’t say that to disagree, but as a matter of clarification.
Adding to that, I’d say that we all tend to underestimate the grievous nature of our own sin before a Holy God. Many try to “defend” God from what He has taken credit for thinking that one sin might be too small for sickness but another might deserve it. Biblically, any sin against the Lord earns death. The fact that any of us breathe in our sinfulness is a showcase of God’s mercy, grace, and forbearance and not because our sins aren’t so bad as to warrant death. This is precisely why we can (and do) face sickness even when God is perfectly just and entirely in control of things like sickness and disease.
Job rightfully acknowledged this. Note that it’s specifically stated that Job did not sin in giving God credit for his illness. In the other chapters of the book, he gave God credit for giving and taking away his children and servants (even though outsiders came in and killed them) and it’s also stated that he didn’t sin in what he said. Notice that he gave God credit for it but did not blame (find fault) with God in it.
Job 1:20-22 (NASB95) 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.
Job 2:10 (NASB95) But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Even more fun here is the fact that the word used for “adversity” in 2:10 is literally the word for “evil”. Mind blowing, isn’t it?