S02, Ep. 10: Disabled People Need Healing
Mandi tells you why people with disabilities need to be healed, but not cured, in this controversial view of biblical disability.
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Transcript
Mandi: Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.
Mandi: Hey Beauties! Today's episode will again speak to my faith community, but I know it can also help non-believers too. Many non-believers arrived where they are because of negative experiences with with the church or individual believers. Many disabled people have turned away from God for similar reasons. Listen to this experience I had.Mandi: Mandi Frantz here welcoming you to my podcast - Find Your Beautiful: Life Through the Eyes of a Christian Disabled Woman.
[Upbeat Background Music]
When I was a little girl, probably 8 or 9 years old, I remember going to a church. I won't bother saying the denomination because it's pretty irrelevant as it isn't the last time I had this experience, even at churches of other denominations. Honestly, I don't remember much of the service. I do remember having to put on a long pretty dress with long sleeves. I didn't understand then what Purity Culture was. But more on that another time. I was kind of excited about dressing up. As I said, I don't remember much of the service, but I remember the altar call.
For any listeners who may not be familiar with the concept of an altar call, many churches do it at the end of the pastor's preaching. It's basically a call to action where you go up to the front of the church, the altar, in response to the message that day. You are typically going up to be prayed for. I actually quite enjoy this and think it's important for people to pray together and have people pray for them. There is often healing of all kinds experienced. However, it's not always the healing people expect and as a disabled person, this can also be a spiritually harmful experience.
The caregiver I was with pushed me to the altar where several women poured oil into their hands and began rubbing and squeezing parts of my body, with a specific focus on my limbs. They prayed fervently that God would heal me, that my faith would be strong enough for God to do it. Many of them began praying in tongues. I can do an entire episode on tongues, but I won't. It was scary for me. It was uncomfortable. It was embarrassing. It was hurtful.
Much of this happened because there is this idea that disability is bad and must be healed. It happened because many Christians believe that if you are disabled, your faith is weak, or else you'd be healed. A lot of these concepts stem from interpretations of the Old Testament in the bible, which we took a quick look at and debunked in last week's episode. Today we will look directly at Christ and what he says. After all, Christian implies little Christ or Christ follower, so let's see what the guy has to say.
[Mandi voices Ad (ads change and will vary)]
[Doorbell Sound Effect]
Mandi: The bible is a chronicle of historical events that happened. I believe it is inspired by God. Therefore, I will refer to various other verses to make my points, which I know many people will call circular reasoning. I'm ok with that for now because this episode is not about convincing non-believers about the veracity of the bible. This episode is meant to give you all a better understanding of how many disabled Christians believe their disability identity has purpose and was intentionally given to them by God. I also want to warn you that this episode will likely run longer than most of my previous ones, but there is so much to cover. So get your bible ready because we're going on a journey.
We will first look at John chapter 9. This is an important disability chapter and shows its power in the very first sentence of the very first verse. The NIV reads, "As he went along, he saw a blind man from birth." That he being referred to is Jesus as you'll see if you read the full chapter. Did you notice the man was born blind? He was born disabled. Last week, I talked about disability coming from God and this is evidence of that in the New Testament. When we look back at the Old Testament for context, because it's silly to read in a vacuum, we are reminded in Genesis that God created everything. If we jump to Psalms 139:13-16, David reminds us that God knit us together in our mother's womb, that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." If this is the case, then surely God created this man with blindness. There are so many other verses I could use to back this idea up more, but maybe I'll continue that another time. For now, let's just accept that God creates people intentionally with disabilities.
Why though? This is a question I think everyone, not just disabled people ask. Why me? Why was I created? What is the purpose of my struggle, my limitations, the things I don't like about myself? Why? Historically, Christians believed that people with disabilities were disabled as a result of their sin, or of a sin committed by the person's parents. It was believed that disability was a punishment. In John 9:3, Jesus himself dismisses this concept, though the myth continues even today. Jesus tells his disciples that neither the man, nor his parents, sinned. He says, "...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." This is a big deal! He was created with a disability to reveal God's work. Does this sound familiar? If you listened to last week's episode about Moses, then it should. First, it's a huge gift to be chosen by God to reveal him. I'm not saying it's easy or always feels good. In fact, we see throughout the bible that people who revealed God's glory were not living easy lives. That's literally the story of God's people, hard lives!
Let's continue because there is a difficult concept I'm going to address here, one that is controversial, one that will tell you why I believe disability does need to be healed, but does not need to be cured. You see, the people at that church I went to thought they were asking God to heal me, but they were actually praying for God to cure me. As I mentioned, historically, and even still today, it was believed that disability was a punishment, a sign of sin. The sin could be that of the disabled person or their family. There is actually biblical support for this when you view and accept God as a very black and white, often angry being. There is a ton of biblical support for this when you have a fear-based perspective of God. In John chapter 9, we see the disciples believe the man has sinned, or his parents have and that's why he is blind. We can see how this view is propagated very early on in the bible, beginning in the book of Leviticus chapter 26, verses 14-16, where God tells Israel what their punishment will be for disobeying him. The punishment includes "wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength." You can find more of these types of verses that create fear of blindness specifically in Judges 16, Proverbs 30:17, and Acts 13:4-12. Fear for paralysis can be found in 1 Kings 13:4 and Zechariah 11:17. The New Testament has support for this too. Check out Mark 2:1-12. And because disability was viewed as a punishment for sin, for immorality, people with disabilities were pushed aside by those who were religious. They were essentially exiled to the outskirts of society, deemed unworthy. For evidence of this, look at 2 Samuel 19:24-27 and Daniel 1:3-4.
Let's not be cherry-pickers though. The bible also tells us not to have a spirit of fear. In fact, it has been said that the bible says "fear not" 365 times. That means there's a reminder for every day of the year! Understanding that by living from a fear based perspective is not godly, how do we reconcile this fearful view of disability? First, we must understand that God was inclusive of people with disabilities. In other words, we have always been part of God's plan. If we look at Jeremiah 31:8-9, God includes people with disabilities in his plan to return the people of Israel to Jerusalem. We see this again in Micah 4:6-7. Again, there are many other parts of the bible that show that people with disabilities are favored by God and part of his plan. Having this understanding is the first step to reconciling a fear based perspective.
Second, and this is the biggie, you need to understand the difference between healing and curing. I believe Jesus healed people with disabilities, and in so doing, he also cured them. Healing is a holistic process that includes breaking down societal barriers to become more inclusive and empowering. Curing is about physiological reconstruction of the body. This obviously requires deeper explanation, so bear with me. I think we've already established that disability, when viewed through fear, comes with a lot of stigma. This stigma leads to oppression of people with disabilities, but this goes against God's plan of restoration for people with disabilities that we just talked about. To continue propagating this stigma, people look at verses like John 5:14, where Jesus tells the man he just healed not to sin or else something else bad may happen to him, and other verses where Jesus publicly absolves people of their sin before curing them. The operating word here, though, is publicly. Jesus performed most, if not all, of his miracles of healing in front of witnesses. From my perspective of a loving God he publicly announced the forgiveness of sin to break down the systemic oppression these people faced. Jesus was essentially removing the mark that society placed on them as immoral and unworthy. He was telling the people that the individual belonged and should be included in society. The curing, the physical changes like blindness to sight and paralyzed to walking, was to leave a symbol of their belonging and to show people that he has authority as God's son to absolve sin. Let's go back to King David in 2 Samuel. David had a very best friend, really like bros, named Jonathan. Jonathan's grandson was Mephibosheth and he was disabled. Now Mephibosheth was not born disabled. He became unable to walk when he fell, or was dropped by his nurse, at the age of 5. However, disability was all viewed the same. Society disregarded Mephibosheth, even his own servant, which we see in 2 Samuel 19. However, King David treats him like family, inviting him to dine at the King's table and giving him back the land owned by his grandfather Saul as seem in 2 Samuel 9:7. We never see God cure Mephibosheth and I believe it is because he was healed. According to Nancy Rayan's Prepare the Bride, King David did 3 things to restore, and what I view as heal, Mephibosheth:
First, King David renewed Mephibosheth's self-esteem. Throughout our encounters with Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel, we see how unworthy he feels. He allows a servant to convince him not to go on a trip with David because of his disability. However, David showed him kindness and treated him like family. This pampering by a king was sure to boost his view of himself. Second, David healed the way society would see him by returning the land of his grandfather, Saul, to him. In bible days, and sadly today, a person's value in society is often based on material things and titles. David gave Mephibosheth land and returned the title of prince to him, moving him to Jerusalem to regularly eat with the king. Finally, David gave Mephibosheth a place in society. He told him and the public that Mephibosheth would live among the king's family.
I believe that David provided healing to Mephibosheth, without needing to cure him. By publicly showing him kindness, returning his societal value by returning his land and title, and bringing him into his own royal community, Mephibosheth became an exception to the oppressive system. King David broke down the stigma and restored, or healed Mephibosheth. No need to change his physical condition. Now King David's authority was already accepted by society. Jesus' authority was constantly questioned and doubted by the religious leaders. Therefore, I stand by my belief that Jesus did not need to cure the disabled in order to heal them, but did so to demonstrate his authority to heal.
Man, we went through a lot here! You may want to re-listen to this episode, play it at a slower speed even. Most importantly, do the research yourself! Go to the bible, read and study it. Pray for answers. Do not just take my word for it.
To my friends with disabilities, do not let the world tell you you're a mistake. Do not be fooled into thinking you lack something or that your disability is something to hate, something to spend your life trying to get rid of. You have a great purpose. I might venture to say a higher calling. Your very existence is a reminder to the world of the work of God!
And finally to society, especially the church, let's be healers! Remove your fear-based lenses and replace them with the truth of God's power, restoration, and love. Be Aaron and compliment the weaknesses of others. Be King David and show kindness and demonstrate inclusion. Be like Jesus and radically love all people.
We will first look at John chapter 9. This is an important disability chapter and shows its power in the very first sentence of the very first verse. The NIV reads, "As he went along, he saw a blind man from birth." That he being referred to is Jesus as you'll see if you read the full chapter. Did you notice the man was born blind? He was born disabled. Last week, I talked about disability coming from God and this is evidence of that in the New Testament. When we look back at the Old Testament for context, because it's silly to read in a vacuum, we are reminded in Genesis that God created everything. If we jump to Psalms 139:13-16, David reminds us that God knit us together in our mother's womb, that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." If this is the case, then surely God created this man with blindness. There are so many other verses I could use to back this idea up more, but maybe I'll continue that another time. For now, let's just accept that God creates people intentionally with disabilities.
Why though? This is a question I think everyone, not just disabled people ask. Why me? Why was I created? What is the purpose of my struggle, my limitations, the things I don't like about myself? Why? Historically, Christians believed that people with disabilities were disabled as a result of their sin, or of a sin committed by the person's parents. It was believed that disability was a punishment. In John 9:3, Jesus himself dismisses this concept, though the myth continues even today. Jesus tells his disciples that neither the man, nor his parents, sinned. He says, "...this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him." This is a big deal! He was created with a disability to reveal God's work. Does this sound familiar? If you listened to last week's episode about Moses, then it should. First, it's a huge gift to be chosen by God to reveal him. I'm not saying it's easy or always feels good. In fact, we see throughout the bible that people who revealed God's glory were not living easy lives. That's literally the story of God's people, hard lives!
Let's continue because there is a difficult concept I'm going to address here, one that is controversial, one that will tell you why I believe disability does need to be healed, but does not need to be cured. You see, the people at that church I went to thought they were asking God to heal me, but they were actually praying for God to cure me. As I mentioned, historically, and even still today, it was believed that disability was a punishment, a sign of sin. The sin could be that of the disabled person or their family. There is actually biblical support for this when you view and accept God as a very black and white, often angry being. There is a ton of biblical support for this when you have a fear-based perspective of God. In John chapter 9, we see the disciples believe the man has sinned, or his parents have and that's why he is blind. We can see how this view is propagated very early on in the bible, beginning in the book of Leviticus chapter 26, verses 14-16, where God tells Israel what their punishment will be for disobeying him. The punishment includes "wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and sap your strength." You can find more of these types of verses that create fear of blindness specifically in Judges 16, Proverbs 30:17, and Acts 13:4-12. Fear for paralysis can be found in 1 Kings 13:4 and Zechariah 11:17. The New Testament has support for this too. Check out Mark 2:1-12. And because disability was viewed as a punishment for sin, for immorality, people with disabilities were pushed aside by those who were religious. They were essentially exiled to the outskirts of society, deemed unworthy. For evidence of this, look at 2 Samuel 19:24-27 and Daniel 1:3-4.
Let's not be cherry-pickers though. The bible also tells us not to have a spirit of fear. In fact, it has been said that the bible says "fear not" 365 times. That means there's a reminder for every day of the year! Understanding that by living from a fear based perspective is not godly, how do we reconcile this fearful view of disability? First, we must understand that God was inclusive of people with disabilities. In other words, we have always been part of God's plan. If we look at Jeremiah 31:8-9, God includes people with disabilities in his plan to return the people of Israel to Jerusalem. We see this again in Micah 4:6-7. Again, there are many other parts of the bible that show that people with disabilities are favored by God and part of his plan. Having this understanding is the first step to reconciling a fear based perspective.
Second, and this is the biggie, you need to understand the difference between healing and curing. I believe Jesus healed people with disabilities, and in so doing, he also cured them. Healing is a holistic process that includes breaking down societal barriers to become more inclusive and empowering. Curing is about physiological reconstruction of the body. This obviously requires deeper explanation, so bear with me. I think we've already established that disability, when viewed through fear, comes with a lot of stigma. This stigma leads to oppression of people with disabilities, but this goes against God's plan of restoration for people with disabilities that we just talked about. To continue propagating this stigma, people look at verses like John 5:14, where Jesus tells the man he just healed not to sin or else something else bad may happen to him, and other verses where Jesus publicly absolves people of their sin before curing them. The operating word here, though, is publicly. Jesus performed most, if not all, of his miracles of healing in front of witnesses. From my perspective of a loving God he publicly announced the forgiveness of sin to break down the systemic oppression these people faced. Jesus was essentially removing the mark that society placed on them as immoral and unworthy. He was telling the people that the individual belonged and should be included in society. The curing, the physical changes like blindness to sight and paralyzed to walking, was to leave a symbol of their belonging and to show people that he has authority as God's son to absolve sin. Let's go back to King David in 2 Samuel. David had a very best friend, really like bros, named Jonathan. Jonathan's grandson was Mephibosheth and he was disabled. Now Mephibosheth was not born disabled. He became unable to walk when he fell, or was dropped by his nurse, at the age of 5. However, disability was all viewed the same. Society disregarded Mephibosheth, even his own servant, which we see in 2 Samuel 19. However, King David treats him like family, inviting him to dine at the King's table and giving him back the land owned by his grandfather Saul as seem in 2 Samuel 9:7. We never see God cure Mephibosheth and I believe it is because he was healed. According to Nancy Rayan's Prepare the Bride, King David did 3 things to restore, and what I view as heal, Mephibosheth:
First, King David renewed Mephibosheth's self-esteem. Throughout our encounters with Mephibosheth in 2 Samuel, we see how unworthy he feels. He allows a servant to convince him not to go on a trip with David because of his disability. However, David showed him kindness and treated him like family. This pampering by a king was sure to boost his view of himself. Second, David healed the way society would see him by returning the land of his grandfather, Saul, to him. In bible days, and sadly today, a person's value in society is often based on material things and titles. David gave Mephibosheth land and returned the title of prince to him, moving him to Jerusalem to regularly eat with the king. Finally, David gave Mephibosheth a place in society. He told him and the public that Mephibosheth would live among the king's family.
I believe that David provided healing to Mephibosheth, without needing to cure him. By publicly showing him kindness, returning his societal value by returning his land and title, and bringing him into his own royal community, Mephibosheth became an exception to the oppressive system. King David broke down the stigma and restored, or healed Mephibosheth. No need to change his physical condition. Now King David's authority was already accepted by society. Jesus' authority was constantly questioned and doubted by the religious leaders. Therefore, I stand by my belief that Jesus did not need to cure the disabled in order to heal them, but did so to demonstrate his authority to heal.
Man, we went through a lot here! You may want to re-listen to this episode, play it at a slower speed even. Most importantly, do the research yourself! Go to the bible, read and study it. Pray for answers. Do not just take my word for it.
To my friends with disabilities, do not let the world tell you you're a mistake. Do not be fooled into thinking you lack something or that your disability is something to hate, something to spend your life trying to get rid of. You have a great purpose. I might venture to say a higher calling. Your very existence is a reminder to the world of the work of God!
And finally to society, especially the church, let's be healers! Remove your fear-based lenses and replace them with the truth of God's power, restoration, and love. Be Aaron and compliment the weaknesses of others. Be King David and show kindness and demonstrate inclusion. Be like Jesus and radically love all people.
[Bling]
Mandi: I want to give my sincerest thanks to Michael Thorton who left this very kind voice message for me!
Michael: Hi Mandi. Michael Thornton from Little Rock, Arkansas here. I've been listening to your podcast over the last few days and I just want to say how great it is. Very informative and it's getting me to want to get back into podcasting. Have a great day and thank you for all that you're doing. Hopefully we'll meet some time. Have a great day! Bye.
Please download the Anchor mobile app, subscribe to this podcast so you can leave me a voice message with your questions and thoughts.
This podcast is also available on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and any other place you like to listen! Visit my website linked in the description to get access to all the platforms.
[Mandi voiceover to 'Compton' music]: I'm not done! Next episode will be about the disabled Jesus. Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook at MandiBoxBeauty to stay connected. ‘Til next time Beauties!
Michael: Hi Mandi. Michael Thornton from Little Rock, Arkansas here. I've been listening to your podcast over the last few days and I just want to say how great it is. Very informative and it's getting me to want to get back into podcasting. Have a great day and thank you for all that you're doing. Hopefully we'll meet some time. Have a great day! Bye.
Please download the Anchor mobile app, subscribe to this podcast so you can leave me a voice message with your questions and thoughts.
This podcast is also available on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and any other place you like to listen! Visit my website linked in the description to get access to all the platforms.
[Mandi voiceover to 'Compton' music]: I'm not done! Next episode will be about the disabled Jesus. Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook at MandiBoxBeauty to stay connected. ‘Til next time Beauties!
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