HOPE FOR EUROPE

Biblical Healing in the Disability Community:
How the Church is Excluding People with Disabilities

L. Michael Lynch

Introduction

Church history is a 2,000 year account of individuals and groups applying the principles of faith to their lives. Certainly, the Holy Spirit has worked in countless millions of lives, helping the believers to "will and do" God´s work on earth. Yet, as so many conflicts over doctrine and practice have been recorded, it is no surprise that today´s Church is divided over issues of faith and practice.

Within Christendom both the fine and major points of doctrine are vigorously argued and defended by advocates in their firmly established ecclesiastical structures. That will probably never change. But today, a one-sided battle is taking shape as some proponents of faith healing are launching a biblical assault on an entire people group. History does record those dark occasions when doctrine and practice were employed to justify the attack on political or religious enemies. But now, we witness a challenge to the spiritual integrity of an entire population. 1

Though lacking a common language, geographic location and cultural experience, the over 500 million people on earth with disabilities are, in general, unevangelized and unchurched, and, in many nations, so effectively disenfranchised that only extraordinary efforts by the church will bring them into contact with the claims of Christ. This is the people group under attack by proponents of faith healing.2

Divine, physical healing is the action of Almighty God that transcends the spiritual and physical realms, witnessing the reversal of physical law and leaving the participants in - awe of God and His purpose. No believer, who accepts the validity of the biblical L accounts, can doubt the historical reality of biblical healing.3

However true the scriptural record, it is abused and misused by many in today´s Church.4 A thorough review of the topic is necessary, as people of deep and vital faith are being challenged to the core of their soul relationship with Christ by these misguided and immature advocates of a poorly applied doctrine.

The Problem

The Church, its leaders, and theologians are either allowing or promoting practices that result in the disenfranchisement of part of the body of Christ. Disabled Christians are being told that their physical condition is the result of sin and that a lack of faith accounts for their continued state of disability. The confusion that results separates the disabled believer from the rest of the body, keeps the disability community from being evangelized, and drives away those who cannot meet the faith expectations of the proponents of healing. (1)

Most important, this false standard of spirituality based on demonstrated healing, nullifies the very character of God. It stifles, stunts, simplifies and falsifies the biblical Creator and Lord into being a manipulated and controlled deity, unable to exercise sovereignty over man´s affairs, especially his suffering. Our God is an awesome God, who, for His own glory, creates, allows and uses all of man´s experiences, even those that appear in conflict with man´s welfare.(5) The healing evangelist just is not comfortable with a God who allows pain, it just does not fit his narrow theology. Yet, every believer can be confident in a sovereign God, who is not controlled by circumstance.(6)

This paper is a first salvo., declaring that today´s healing theology is lacking in jtsview of the spiritual integrity of people who are affected by disabitity. The author intends to boldly proclaim God´s sovereignty, clarify a few of the .issues, call into account those who are causing the problem and give hope and encouragement. to people of faith in the disability community.

A Case History V

Recently, the wife of an elder in a local congregation related a struggle that she and her family were experiencing with their church. Long time members, teachers, and leaders of the congregation, this couple was being challenged by other church leaders. This controversy centered on the wife´s post-polio condition.

A clinical description of polio and its long term effects on the human body is not. needed here.. Millions of people worldwide were affected by this disease in this very century, and many in Africa are still confronted by its reality. Hundreds of thousands died and many thousands are still living with the crippling effects of the tragic illness.

The wife in this account. was one of the millions thus affected and has lived, since childhood,. walking with the assistance of metal braces. She is the mother of two children, drives her; automobile with hand controls and is a very active member of her community .

For years, she and her husband, a church elder, have been faithful leaders of their congregation.. Their faith is strong and they were role models to other young couples in the church. Now, much of that is changed. Recently, the couple decided they could not continue in leadership positions in their church. What could have possibly caused such a change? Why would they back away from ministry and responsibility that had been so productive?

The polio that damaged this woman´s body so many years ago is gone, but her muscles were left damaged and weak. Her overcoming these limitations and living an active and productive life is truly heroic. Everyday she deals with weak legs and from time to time, reduced energy. She does not complain or retreat from the responsibilities required of her in the home or at church. (7)
She is a truly remarkable person, whom the church should honor and from whom they (2) should learn, especially about God´s power. Yet, she and her husband must consider leaving their leadership roles in the church. What is her specific sin or problem that causes confusion, fear, and embarrassment to the church? A simple answer, she is not healed. The church expects her to function as a "healthy person" and cannot understand her physical weakness.

This writer finds it remarkable that the couple remains in the congregation. People of lesser spiritual character or lower self-confidence would easily be driven away.

Pastors and well known Christian speakers have been traveling to her part of the world for the past twenty years preaching a doctrine of healing and faith: Evidently., these preachers have witnessed a harvest of souls that lends authority to their teaching on healing. Their names are not important here, but make no mistake.,. their teaching damages people in the local church.

Signs and Wonders -- Redemptive Healing

Today´s evangelists who employ miraculous healing assigns and wonders to convert an unbelieving world can easily misuse the biblical account and spiritually abuse those listening. Old and New Testament healing was God´s doing, through His chosen person, for His chosen purpose. Using these accounts as validation for similar ministries and standard for the church today is the root of the problem.

When disabled people attend a charismatic meetings where healing is promoted, there are many motives and expectations. Yet, they arrive with the same hopes and fears, guilt and shame as would any other person. Finding purpose and meaning in life, resolving personal guilt, and creating emotional stability are atl sought by people in the
lost world, whether or not they use a wheelchair. Establishing a personal relationship with Christ; growing in a local church and fulfilling God´s future is the answer common to everyone.

At these events, however; thousands of expectant disabled people attend, having been told to expect a miracle. If healing was sought, but not experienced, they exit discouraged and confused as to how God works and why He would not do for them what they asked.

In contrast, when evangelists and pastors simply show the way to a personal relationship with Christ, without exception, every disabled person who responds and turns to Him in faith, is forgiven and begins life as a new child of God. What is more important, healing or salvation? (8)

As demonstrated in the case of the young mother who had polio, the teaching of signs- and-wonders evangelism and pentecostalism have filtered down to the congregational level, insisting on the healing of Christians who are disabled. With respect to the disabled, few practices are as cruel and misguided.

Redemptive healing is a historical Pentecostal belief that physical healing is part of the (3) salvation process. When an unbeliever is saved from eternal spiritual suffering, he is also healed of physical suffering here on earth. When confronted with a believing disabled person, the Pentecostal theology suspects hidden sin as the cause for continued disability. Of course, this Denies God´s sovereignty and presence in suffering.

In addition, no other teaching so effectively drives disabled people away from Christ and the church. It is as if I Peter 1:9 is not universally applied. Why are repentant. disabled persons not "forgiven and cleansed of all unrighteousness" when everyone else is?(9)

Biblical Healing -- A Case Study

Perhaps the most comprehensive biblical narrative on the subject of healing is the account of Jesus healing the paralytic who was lowered into His presence, through the roof. This paper proposes this New Testament record found in Mark 2: 1-12 as a model for biblical healing, although the Matthew 9 and Luke 5 accounts tell of the same event.

I. Getting into the Presence of Jesus

This passage deals with healing as the result, but not necessarily as the motive for going to Jesus. Although Jesus was known to be empowered to heal the sick, neither the paralytic nor the men who carried him on the stretcher indicate what they expected from the encounter. It .is certain that they felt it very important for their friend to get into the presence of Jesus.

Jesus was in His home region and all sorts of people, from every village, had gathered to see and hear Him. The crowd was so large that the stretcher bearers made way to the roof, removed some tiles and lowered the man into the presence of Jesus.

The four friends used their personal strength on behalf of their friend, overcame barriers,. defied convention and exercised considerab1e creativity so that. he could be
with Jesus.. Thus is described the role of Christians toward their disabled friends.
Jesus can work in a persons life when the strength, creativity and commitment of Christian friends is so dedicated.

When Jesus saw their faith, He forgave the man´s sins. Imagine the scene, hundreds of people gathered around the Lord, all with different needs, physical and spiritual. When Jesus, with the power to do anything, saw the faith of the friends, He chose to forgive the man´s sins.

II. Letting Jesus Have His Way

It is very important that once we. have people in His presence, to let Jesus do what He intends for their lives. The Pharisees and teachers of the law wanted to see Jesus heal the man, but they created religious limitations on Him. They were upset when He extended Himself beyond those boundaries by forgiving sins. (4)
The fact is that Jesus is sovereign in all things, He allows suffering, and will not be programmed by man´s expectations, no matter how wonderfully we construct a scriptural formula.

Jesus had a message, a purpose, and perhaps a miracle for every person present that day. Hope, encouragement, true spirituality, purpose in living and healing of relationships all could have been in His message. One can only imagine what would have been missed had Jesus only healed the man. The religious leaders and many others would have still been amazed, and might even acknowledged Him as a prophet. But, by extending the forgiveness of sins He forced them all to deal with Him as Messiah. Once that was done, He decided to reinforce His claim by healing the man.

For the past 2,000 years, what has truly mattered to the man, his physical healing or the forgjveness offered by Christ? When examined from the perspective of eternity, one must praise God that Jesus offered the man eternal life, even if the man had never been healed physically. (10)

III. God´s Priorities

Even a brief review of this passage indicates that the Lord values forgiveness of sin over physical healing. Although not stated, and from the perspective of eternity, the paralytic also values forgiveness. The man has been dead for about 2,000 years; and we do not know of his health during the remainder of his physical life. As is true for all men standing before the Throne of Judgement, physical health on earth pales in significance to forgiveness of sins.

For the moment; move on, as all Christians must, from the salvation experience and consider the dajly life of the believer. That man who had been a paralytic received more than just the power to walk. Because of forgiveness of sins, he now had the power of God of all issues of life: family, work, personal peace, direction, perspective, etc.

As a matter of fact, had he not been physically healed., he still would have gone from the encounter with Christ a forgiven, empowered believer. What does that say about the relative importance of the physical healing he also experienced?

Healing People Affected by Disability

Who are these people, whose faith and Christian walk is judged in the context of healing?

There are five broad classifications of handicapping conditions that define disability; physical, mental, visual, hearing and learning. There are many sub categories and even more terms that describe the various disabilities, most adhering to one or more of the medical and social models.11 In addition, terminology is culturally based, so an accurate and acceptable term in one locale, might be inappropriate and cause great offense in another. (5)
Demographics indicate that disability directly affects about 10% of any given population. It is higher in poverty situations and in developing nations. These people, on average, are the poorest, least educated, least employed and least evangelized or churched group in their respective societies. (12)

Generally, people affected by disability are defined by their level of need: assistance in walking, eating, breathing, working, attending church, understanding the Gospel, seeing or hearing. This is how many who are unfamiliar with disability perceive such individuals. It is no wonder that many Christians conclude that people with disabilities would be attracted to the Lord so that He could deal with their "obvious" need.

Most disability is permanent, that is, a physical law would have to be reversed in order for the condition to change. Most spinal cord injuries, developmental and physical disabilities involve a critical event (such as the trauma involved in breaking one´s neck) or a genetic reconfiguration (such as chromosome 21 in Down Syndrome); These are as final as an amputation or as genetically determined as having blue eyes.

No lasting illness is usually involved. Polio survivors no longer have polio, they just have poorly developed legs or lungs. People born with cerebral palsy are not sick, they just cannot control their muscular movements as well as others.

Where does all this lead? When the church expects a person with a permanent disability to exercise a faith that would cause God to reverse their disability, pain and rejection results. Personal pain for not having enough high quality faith, rejection from the church for the confusion of not dealing spiritually with the problem results.

If faith the size of a mustard seed is sufficient to move a mountain, why won´t the sincere faith of a believing person with a disability reverse the condition? The healing evangelisl is quick to point to sin or insufficient faith.. Herein lies the cruelty.

Why .is faith supposed to reverse the effects of polio., Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy and not the reversal of amputations or changing blue eyes to brown? Faith,
which might be defined as confidence in God; does not allow for the creature to complain to the creator about the quality of his creation.13 Nor is the role of the church to to promise the reversal of physical laws so that believers can temporarily be relieved from living with the results of a fallen world.14

Perspective

People affected by disability are an easy target for the faith healing crowd. To date, the disability community seldom gathers into powerful social groups, and they cause relatively little political or social trouble. Only a few church based, disability ministries exist, so, there are scarce resources available to advocates who want to understand and engage in outreach into the world of disability.
Yet, like everyone else, people with disabilities need a personal relationship with Christ, a church home and a role in God´s kingdom. To personalize this reality, think of the (6) disability community as the paralytic of Mark 2 and imagine the church as the four stretcher bearers.

First, the stretcher bearer church will employ its strength, creativity, commitment and faith to insure that people with disabilities get into the presence of Christ. Once there, God will do His work.

Then, pastors, elders and leaders of congregations will actively examine their own spiritual attitudes and biblical teachings, cleansing themselves of prejudice and wrong doctrine. With open evangelism and teaching, the church will enjoy a dynamic outreach and ministry with people in the disability community.

L. Michael Lynch is Executive Vice President ofJAF Ministries, the disability outreach ~ of Joni Eareckson Tada. JAF Ministry teams around the world accelerate christian ministry in the disability community.

Notes

1. The author acknowledges that evangelists and church leaders who promote divine, faith based healing, have little knowledge of the damage they do in the disability community. However, a careful survey of both non Christian and believing people with disabilities will expose the sad truth of rejection that occurs.

2. Although the defining factors of the disability community transcend current definitions of people groups, many shared characteristics exist among that population. The very nature of disability itself, social isolation, socio-economic standing and limited access to the church all make a legitimate case for calling the disability community an unreached people group.

3. Matt. 9:8, "When the multitudes saw it, they marveled." In Jesus´ day, an obvious way He used suffering to glorify Himself was to miraculously remove it. Such references are not
I confusing to those with disabilities who have an awareness of Jesus´ use of disability and .I suffering to establish His authority on earth.

4. I Peter 2:24, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."

His physical wounds were a necessary part of the spiritual process of His being separated from God. The intention here is to apply His separation from God to man´s need for redemption, not physical healing.

To infer that Christ´s physical suffering was intended for relief of the Christian´s "light and momentary" physical sufferings, cheapens His act of redeeming our souls.

5. Phil. 1 :29, "For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him,
but also to suffer for him,..." In the early church, it was obvious that God allowed and did not remove suffering.

6. Rom 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Phil 2: 13, "...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

7. II Cor. 4: 16-18, "Therefore, we do not loose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting
away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Amazing! The first generation of church leaders, alive while Jesus was alive, empowered by the Spirit to perform miracles, chose this response to suffering.
1. Suffering need not dominate our emotional well being.
2. The affairs of the flesh do not dictate the status and health of the inner self. 3. Eternal glory means that current troubles are "light and momentary." (8)

4. Fixing our eyes on the unseen, the eternal, is Paul´s instruction.

It is obvious to this writer that in our case history, the woman who had polio should be commended as one who lives the biblical mandates.

8. II Cor 12:8-9, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ´My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness´..." What is to be sought, a miraculous healing or grace applied to weakness? It is obvious that Paul is establishing a standard of faith for followers of Christ. Weakness understood points us to Grace, which results in strength.

9. It is interesting to watch Pentecostal deal with disabled people. On an emotional level,
Pentecostal appreciate forgiveness as much or more than any other group of believers. Yet,
when God does not reverse one of His laws to "heal" a sincerely repentant disabled person, a dilemma results. They reason that the problem cannot be God´s, and certainly is not in the
teaching, so it is concluded that lingering sin must reside in the life of the person with the i~ disability. That keeps God and the Pentecostal both secure, only the disabled person is disenfranchised.

10. Phil.3: 8, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Once life on earth is over, it is obvious that knowing Christ is all that matters.

"Everything" means EVERYTHING. Health, status, ministry success, family... nothing is left out of everything. What is the priority here, healing, success, souls saved, "being used" of God? No, nothing seen or perceived in this world, just knowing Christ Jesus.

11. Governing bodies, social service agencies, and insurance organizations all differ in defining the nature of disability. One stresses measurable limitations to performing life
functions, such as walking. Others emphasize factors measuring an individual´s capacity to
work, while yet others search for medical models and definitions. The lack of uniform definitions contributes to the public´s confusion.

12. The World Health Organization publishes statistics on disability, but averages most
countries´ disabled population to 10%. National statistics, at times difficult to collect, usually underestimate the numbers and seldom comment on factors of income, employment, health and religious activity.

13. Isaiah 45: 4-9 gives the believer a sense of God´s point of view.

14. Again, II Cor. 4: 16-18 instructs the church to look at the impact of a fallen and painful world as temporary and not just because it can be measured in a finite moments of time.
There is daily, inward renewal taking place and an eternal reality that should help the church focus on other than temporary physical healing.