Why Doesn't God Heal Amputees?

Having stumbled across the question on the internet recently, I noticed an attack aimed at the faith of Christians in the form of the following question:

'If God is active in healing today, as is claimed by some Christians, why then does God not heal amputees?'

The implication of their question of course is that in the absence of hard and unequivocal evidence of God healing in this way today we can safely conclude that there is no God. The argument is of course inherently fallacious on a number of counts:

1. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence - for example using the same logic we might pose the question: is there evidence that doctors are curing amputees in the world today? If there is no evidence that doctors can heal amputated limbs then we can safely conclude there must be no doctors!
2. The argument is based upon a false premise, namely for God to exist He must fulfill certain standards or possess certain characteristics or undertake certain tasks, as defined by us, for His existence, as judged by ourselves to be valid!
3. Should God fail to do what we think He should do then that proves that He cannot do it and since He cannot do it, He cannot exist!
4. The only kind of healing that can be of God is healing that does not normally occur and if healing normally occurs it cannot be of God because it normally occurs - this is of course a circular argument.

None of these premises and suppositions are logically robust.

There is one premise of course that underpins the question of the atheist which does surely have some validity namely that should we encounter such a case of healing whereby an amputated limb or body part was restored this would be a remarkable evidence of the supernatural intervention of the creator in the world. Just consider what would be required for such a 'miracle' to take place; even for the basic restoration of say an amputated finger, in simple terms we would at the very least require:

1. Bone regrowth with the proliferation of bone producing cells: osteoblasts, and bone shaping cells: osteoclasts and cartilage producing cells along with all of the bone stimulating hormones needed to control and shape the bone manufacturing process.
2. Blood vessel growth with the proliferation of endothelial cells to line the vessels and keep them smooth, the connective tissue under these endothelial cells to keep them stuck in place, and the smooth muscle cells to squeeze and control the blood vessels.
3. Sensory nerve growth into the the new tissue to detect pain, pressure, heat and cold with the correct connections for those nerve cells to the spinal nerves and then to the part of the brain which relates to that body part.
4. Muscle cell growth and organisation with attachments to ligaments around joints to allow movement of the joint - consider the complexity of getting the position of the muscles, size, shape and angle of attachment just right!
5. Motor nerve growth to control the new muscles - triggering movement of the right muscles at the right time in response to the voluntary decision of the brain to move the finger.
6. An immune system - lymphocytes, monocytes, polymorphs and the like to protect the new tissue and kill off any infection!
7. Cellular signalling and control pathways including for example the correct signal molecules on every single new cell so that the host body recognises the new tissue as being part of the original body and not a 'foreign' invader.

These events would only constitute the very minimum that might be required to restore even the simplest of appendages. The level of complexity would increase manifold should the appendage be a sensory organ, for example an ear or an eye for then we would need also to restore the specialised functions and tissues of that organ with its complex connections to the central nervous system.

It would certainly seem that the atheists have a point here, for such a process to come together would surely compel even the hardest heart and staunchest of skeptics to conclude that the hand of God has just touched our world.

As far as fingers are concerned, of course God completes this process approximately 1.4 billion times per year already! With a global birth rate of 140 million people per year this equates to 1 400 million new fingers per year, formed by precisely the above process, unseen and planned at the molecular level by an omnipotent creator!

"For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psa 139:13-17)

For some however the initial handy work of God is not enough to convince them that they are His creatures and He the Creator, they desire to see a God who having permitted in His counsels the loss of an appendage then restores it again!

It is of course worth bearing in mind that God has His reasons for permitting the loss of health or the loss of a limb with its function eg:

"When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." (Joh 11:4)

"Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (Joh 9:3)

"And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live." (Deu 8:3)

Well then if God is so great why doesn't He heal amputees?

In all of Gods works of healings He has a purpose. Healings and miracles do not occur randomly and without purpose in the Bible. There are only 3 recorded periods of time when Gods power has been manifest amongst men in the form of the miraculous gift of healings:

1. In the days of Moses and Joshua
2. In the days of Elijah and Elisha
3. In the days of Christ and the Apostles

When we look at those periods in the the Bible a coherency is evident and patterns emerge, such that in the whole of the Bible, during only 3 periods are lepers healed:

1. Miriam in the days of Moses
2. Naman in the days of Elisha
3. A number of lepers in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ

But what about amputees? Why doesn't God heal amputees?

Interestingly there is an amputee recorded in the Bible - the same one on 4 occasions:

Matthew Records:

"And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear." (Mat 26:51)

Mark Records:

"And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear." (Mar 14:47)

John Records:

"Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus." (Joh 18:10)

And what about Luke? The "beloved physician" and gospel writer:

"And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him."
(Luk 22:50-51)

Look who just went and healed an amputee!!!

Why don't we see such healings today? They never were commonplace even in the days of the Lord Jesus of course, but if you follow through the record these events recorded by Luke into chapter 23:

"And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left."
(Luk 23:33)

Humanity just went and AMPUTATED the AMPUTEE healer!

It would be surprising would it not if such an act of utter rebellion and hatred towards Gods Son came without consequences? If God is a moral God can we really murder His Son and get away with it?

Speaking in anticipation of these events and His subsequent temporary absence from this world following His resurrection the Lord Jesus said this:

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." (Joh 9:4-5)

This is the night we are now in having ushered out of our presence the one who healed our diseases!

Perhaps we ought not to be too surprised if our amputees go unhealed.

Perhaps too we will not be too surprised if like the Pharisees of old, even when He does heal our amputees or withered arms we find other reasons for rejecting Him and hating Him and disbelieving Him (Luke 6:6-11)

"And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus."(Luk 6:10-11)

So again why does God not heal amputees? In essence so you and I might ask the question: why does God not heal amputees? Why does God not heal lepers? Why does God not raise people from the dead? Why does God not restore wasted limbs? That we might discover that He has done all of these things but only in 1 unique person: in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ! That in all things Christ might be Supreme.

Yours in Christ
Stewart

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Other Links to this Post:

http://www.gotquestions.org/God-heal-amputees.html

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/01/30/feedback-god-heal-amputees