How does religion explain birth defects?

[Jaysyn]

It is merely a condition of your earthly structure. You say it as if a birth defect gives life less of a meaning.
Although it may seem unfortunate, it is something they must endure.

You could have just typed "OPTION B:".

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Well, some people are born with physical abnormalities because it was simply God's will.

Another Option B.

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Adam's sin brought death and all other ills, such as birth defects, into the world. But even people born with defects can accomplish a lot of good.

Good old Option A, I was wondering how long it would take for you to show up.

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From a religious point of view, the ultimate cause is sin.

Another Option A. Bonus points for spewing nonsense on how people used to magically live longer.

[WiiRHim]

I don't have children, but I do have a dog and she does the 'wrong thing' all the time. I do correct her, distract her, refocus her attention, becoming annoyingly repetitive with her, but I see no need to punish her. If my demands are reasonable and my approach sensible, she will obey, if they are not, then she will not, and I don't begrudge her this. I'm more patient with her than I am with anyone else, because she is the closest thing I do have to a child, and while, especially during early puppy-hood she frustrated me to no end and I occasionally fantasized about beating her over the head with a mallet... I controlled myself, and I have bipolar disorder. Why could God not do so?

For starters, a dog is not comparable to a child. If you every have a child you will better understand.

Secondly, you all seem to think that God is just this big, unfair dietitian who is damming all who don't follow His insane rules. If you murder someone, what happens? If you are found guilty, you get the consequences. The judge doesn't just go "oh, it's ok, we'll just let you go". You go to prison. God actually has held back, because he loves us. We ALL deserve eternal damnation, because we are all sinful. God could destroy us all because we have turned away from Him, and have sinned. He would be totally justified in doing that. But he hasn't. He has given us a way to become right with Him, though Jesus. You say that He is unjust in allowing children to be born with disfigurements. If those children accept Jesus' free gift of salvation, they when they go to heaven they will have a perfect body.

@ Jaysyn: Christians DON't have the absolute truth on everything. We still wonder, marvel at, and explore the world and universe. There is much we can learn, and find out. We do however, have the absolute truth about Salvation. Everything else will just lead you down the broad path that leads to destruction. It isn't God being unjust when you will go to Hell when you die. He has given everyone the opportunity to choose eternal life with Him. It is your choice, He won't make it for you. One day everyone will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. If you don't choose to take His free gift, then you are choosing Hell. But you DO have a choice.

[ib.me.ub]

One day everyone will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. If you don't choose to take His free gift, then you are choosing Hell. But you DO have a choice.

Are you serious! You do understand we live in the year 2010 don't you.

[Loki_999]

God actually has held back, because he loves us.

Yeah, the bible is just dripping with love and tolerance. He loves us so much he allegedly caused a worldwide flood to kill most of us and ordered the wholesale genocide of entire races including the kids and animals. I mean, what the helll? The animals? What had they done wrong? Chewed their cud not he proscribed number of times?

We ALL deserve eternal damnation, because we are all sinful.

Speak for yourself. I'm practically perfect in every way.
Anyway, how long is he going to be pissed over that stunt with the stupid bint Eve and the tree? Come on! He created the tree and put it in the garden and then says "Don't eat from it!" It's got the words Epic Fail written all over it! God may be omnipotent but he is either bloody stupid or one evil son of a bitch.

God could destroy us all because we have turned away from Him, and have sinned.

And if he did that would show him to be a creator not worth worshiping. Not that he is a deity worth worshiping anyway... give me Dionysus any day, there is a god that knows how to party!

He would be totally justified in doing that.

So, if you have a kid and your kid curses you, disobeys you, ignores you, then you are justified in killing him? I think not.
I have two little cherubs (well, some of the time they are cherubs, sometimes they are demons from the lowest pits of hell) and I love them very much, and I despise myself when I slap them on the bottom for doing something badly wrong, and then i only do that if they have done something wrong when I have already told them not to. Killing them for disobeying me would be a little extreme don't you think?

[Anomalocaris]

One day everyone will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. If you don't choose to take His free gift, then you are choosing Hell. But you DO have a choice.

Are you serious! You do understand we live in the year 2010 don't you.

Overconfident and small minded idiots who demeans the human spirit and attempts to subjugate it with some grotesque holy book or some deranged fantasies of some man god are present in every age. The question is whether our age keeps them harmlessly sequestered in intellectual equivalent of an insane asylum, or allow them to wiggle out to turn the whole society into an asylum.

[ib.me.ub]

We do however, have the absolute truth about Salvation.

What if you are wrong? What then?

[Cando]

Birth defects are part of life. It has nothing to do with religion. Anyone who can't undertand something as simple as that probably can't understand many other things, and should be spending their time actually learning rather than asking questions based on ignorance of the highest order.

[Minimalist]

We ALL deserve eternal damnation, because we are all sinful.

Speak for yourself. I have no use for your fucking holy horseshit.

If you want to grovel to some invented god, be my guest. You have lots of company.

[Skipper]

Birth defects are part of life. It has nothing to do with religion. Anyone who can't undertand something as simple as that probably can't understand many other things, and should be spending their time actually learning rather than asking questions based on ignorance of the highest order.

I don't think its ignorance to question why a supposedly all loving and all powerful being would inflict illnesses on innocent children. Especially when the theists answers either consist of it being due to the sin of a talking snake tricking some woman to eat an apple or that god has a plan for them, despite them sometimes only living a matter of days, weeks or months due to the illness he gave them.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

For starters, a dog is not comparable to a child. If you every have a child you will better understand.

True overall, but you've needlessly dismissed Lethe's main point.

Secondly, you all seem to think that God is just this big, unfair dietitian who is damming all who don't follow His insane rules. If you murder someone, what happens? If you are found guilty, you get the consequences. The judge doesn't just go "oh, it's ok, we'll just let you go". You go to prison. God actually has held back, because he loves us. We ALL deserve eternal damnation, because we are all sinful. God could destroy us all because we have turned away from Him, and have sinned. He would be totally justified in doing that. But he hasn't. He has given us a way to become right with Him, though Jesus. You say that He is unjust in allowing children to be born with disfigurements. If those children accept Jesus' free gift of salvation, they when they go to heaven they will have a perfect body.

People enact laws to protect people from other people. What purpose does god's law serve except to prevent god from not allowing us to heaven and therefore being plunged into eternal torture?
You know who else offers 'protection' from their own rules and punishments?
Mob Bosses.

@ Jaysyn: Christians DON't have the absolute truth on everything. We still wonder, marvel at, and explore the world and universe. There is much we can learn, and find out. We do however, have the absolute truth about Salvation. Everything else will just lead you down the broad path that leads to destruction. It isn't God being unjust when you will go to Hell when you die. He has given everyone the opportunity to choose eternal life with Him. It is your choice, He won't make it for you. One day everyone will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. If you don't choose to take His free gift, then you are choosing Hell. But you DO have a choice.

Right. We have a choice between slavery or torture.