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by Charlie Wolcott

Earlier this year, I had someone approach me on Facebook with all sorts of doubt about the existence of God and especially about miracles. This person said he was raised in the church, but he revealed that it was a “Word of Faith” church that emphasized “miraculous healing.” He observed that what he saw was fake and became disillusioned. However, instead of going to Scripture to test what he was seeing, he dismissed God and religion all together. One of the sources he gave me to showcase his claims was one called “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?”.

I knew immediately that there would be all sorts of problems with this page and the book it is based on, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that we as Christians need to be able to give an answer to this question. I did not read through the whole website because it turns out it’s basically just this author’s book. But in the parts I did read, I could see where it was going.

The opening described a school shooting and how a teacher prayed for safety only to be shot and killed. His conclusion? That God didn’t answer her prayers because He doesn’t exist. The premise of the whole thing is: Prayer is just an emotional feel good blanket; because science has shown that prayer can’t work and miracles don’t happen because there’s no evidence for them, therefore God doesn’t exist. In another section, the author goes through over twenty explanations that Christians have given to why God doesn’t answer every possible prayer out there and he attempts to dismiss each one. The whole notion is foolishness and horribly devoid of logic in my opinion. It showcases a lack of understanding of prayer, a lack of understanding of God’s sovereignty, and a lack of understanding of who God really is. It says God is a liar because He promised that whatever we ask in Jesus’ name, it will be given to us… but anything major like restoring a limb or something obviously miraculous is not in the realm of possibilities.

In this post, I am going to the real heart of the issue. The REAL issue is not: “Prove to me that God exists through authentic miracles like restoring a missing limb.” The REAL question being asked here is: “Why would a good God allow people to suffer and not fix them when they ask for help?” When the cliché goes, “God, it’s no wonder you have so few friends considering how you treat the ones you have,” we need to be able to give a reasonable answer for this.

Joni Eareckson Tada was 17 years old when she dove into a pond that was too shallow and broke her neck, paralyzing her. She has spent the rest of her life as a quadriplegic, yet she is an outspoken artist with her mouth and a public speaker. I’m sure she had many people praying for her to be healed that she could live a “normal” life. But I have never heard her complaining about the injury, and instead she has praised God for the life she has had.

Nick Vujicic is an Australian man who was born with no limbs except for a small stumpy foot. He went through a lot of problems growing up, both physically and emotionally. But he has a wife and at least one child last I heard, is a public speaker, can swim without limbs, and like Tada, he refuses to play victim to the circumstances he was given. Why doesn’t God do a miracle and give him limbs? Why didn’t God heal Tada? Is it because God is inept or because He doesn’t exist, or is there much more to the picture?

I have a nephew and niece whom were adopted, and they suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. It’s permanent brain damage. Could God heal them? Sure. Will He? I don’t know if He will in this lifetime or not.

A skeptic may say that I’m trying to just give God excuses, but the skeptic is not exactly being honest in his evaluation either. God is a sovereign God. That means more than just God is in control of things. It also means that everything that He allows to take place or cause to happen is for His goals and His purposes. I’m going to make this very clear: God does not exist for us. He is not out there to make us happy or to fulfill our wishes and dreams. God created us for HIS purposes. He let Bartimaeus be born blind for the purpose of showcasing Jesus’ authority as the Son of Man. God’s ways our not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He sees the whole picture and we don’t. Who are we to judge Him?

Voddie Baucham has another answer to this and it’s very powerful. The author of this “Why doesn’t God heal amputees?” site suggests that because God doesn’t do the miracles he wants to see in the timing or manner he would prefer to see them, then God must not exist. That’s terrible logic. Baucham turns it around and I’ll use his tactic. This author is asking the question wrong. To ask it properly, he needs to ask it this way: “How could a holy, righteous, loving God, look at what I did, said, and thought upon yesterday and not kill me in my sleep?” If we are concerned about God not restoring a limb or making the truly lame walk today, should we not be even more concerned about how God is letting us live AT ALL? What right do we have to live? I’m serious about that. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all committed treachery against the Creator in defiance of His will. There’s only one thing any of us deserve and that’s death. We deserve the wrath of Almighty God. Who are we to accuse God of not letting our lives be just fluffy and rosy and giving us everything our sinful, selfish hearts desire? Where is the flaw? Is it in God or is in us? If you want to indict God on anything, you best make sure your life is completely perfect. Good luck with that.

The issue of why God doesn’t heal amputees is only one specific example of what skeptics are using to deny God His place of authority. I’m going to explore this issue a little further over the next couple of weeks, but not in great detail. I’ll address how praying for a miracle should look like as well as what the Doctrine of Suffering entails.

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