So I heard some say that God is responsible for all the physical disabilities people are born with. I don't quite agree with that statement simply because of Sin. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, the perfect became imperfect as a result. But yes, God allows some to be born with disabilities because He is able to use it all for His glory. I'd appreciate some biblical insight on this subject.
You are right in saying that sin is the reason why some people are born with disabilities is because of sin, not because they sinned, but due to the sin of Adam, creation is cursed for as it is written, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain”. (Rom. 8:22)
It is due to this curse that some people are born with disabilities and health defects. The curse which resulted from sin has affected the creation in more ways than we can fathom. Even developmental processes are not necessarily immune to the curse.
In order to understand the effects that sin has had upon the earth you have to read about what scripture says the world was like before sin, beginning with Genesis chapter 1 in which the Lord, after completing the creation of the universe said that it was “very good.” All things were created and made to function according to our God’s desire, but when Adam sinned, the fall of man could be described as a three-fold process:
1. Separation from God which results in eternal damnation.
2. Physical death which eventually took place. (Rom. 6:23)
3. Curse upon creation which involved not only changes that took place (i.e. the ground producing plants with thorns when it did not use to) but also brought into it things that cause pain, grief, sorrow, and hardship; not just to man but to all life. (Gen. 3)
The curse even spread death to the animals as implied when God mad for Adam and Eve clothes from animal skins. (Gen. 3:21) For this, the death of an animal was required. This also gives us insight into the origin of blood sacrifices which, before Christ, only served as a temporal covering for sin, but never really took them away. But that the blood of Christ takes away all sins forever is what makes the New Covenant under which we live superior to the Old Covenant.
And just as the consequences of sin were three fold, so redemption can also be understood as a three-fold process as well:
1. Salvation through Christ who died for our sins and was raised from the dead. When we repent of our sins and place our trust in Christ for our salvation, our souls are liberated from sin’s power to condemn us to eternal damnation and we are reconciled to our Heavenly Father. We are also given a new nature in Christ; one that makes us want to devote ourselves to serving and pleasing Him, though at present, this new nature that we receive faces war with that old nature we have inherited from Adam. The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, gives us insight into this struggle between the new nature and the old nature. (Rom. 7:14-25) But which one will each of us give strength to? The new nature, or the old? Unfortunately, many professors of the faith yield to the old nature rather than the new that they are supposed to have when it is the new nature we are to yield to.
2. The redemption of our bodies in which the corrupted becomes incorruptible and the imperfect perfect. In that state, we no longer have to contend with a sinful nature. (1 Cor. 15:51-55) We will finally know what it is like to be without sin.
3. The redemption of creation from the curse which will be made manifest with the creation of a new heavens and a new earth in which there is no more curse, death, grief, sorrow, or hardship. (Rev. 21-22)
Sadly, due to false teachings that have entered into our midst and have caused many to doubt the truth of scripture, and because many have neglected to teach the word and earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 3), proper understanding of sin and the consequences thereof is lacking within many of our members and with that lacking is a lack of appreciation and gratitude for the redemption that we have received in Christ.
The more we understand the consequences of sin, the more we understand redemption and the more appreciative we become of the salvation we receive through Jesus.
