Healing In the Atonement, part 5 of 16

3. The scriptures do show that sickness can be the result of sin. Jesus warned the man he healed at the pool of Bethesda to, "stop sinning or something worse may happen to you" (John 5:14). However, not all sickness is a result of personal sin. In the gospel of John, there's a story of a man born blind. Like many of the healing in the atonement proponents, Jesus' disciples wrongly assumed that his blindness had to have been the result of either his own sin or his parent's sin, but Jesus corrected them, showing them that sometimes sickness has a greater purpose.

"His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.'" (John 9:2-3)

Some will argue that this scripture doesn't mean that all sickness is not a result of sin because even though he and his parents may not have sinned, one of his ancestors may have. At the least, Adam sinned. All sickness ultimately had its roots in Adam's sin. Hopefully the person making this argument will realize that in doing so, he has refuted his own belief that healing is guaranteed in the atonement. If a person can get sick, not as a result of his own sin, but as a result of Adam's sin, then none of our healings are guaranteed because getting sick would not require us to commit a personal sin. Adam has already committed one for us. To remain consistent with the belief in guaranteed healing, one must argue that only personal sin can cause a person to get sick, because otherwise, nobody's healing would ever be guaranteed. But Jesus has told us otherwise. The man was not born blind because of personal sin.

Likewise, we find that Job's many afflictions had nothing at all to do with sin. Repeatedly, the book of Job says that Job was, "blameless and upright" (Job 1:1). It was because Job was blameless and upright that Satan requested permission to test him by killing his family, removing his wealth, and striking his body with a disease of the skin.

"Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him, he is blamless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.' 'Skin for skin!' Satan replied. 'A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.' The LORD said to Satan, 'Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.' So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head." (Job 2:3-7)

Continue to Part 6.