Does God Love Amputees?

By G. Edward Snipes

In recent years, a common question that has been tossed around by critics of Christianity is, why God never heals amputees. When someone wants to discredit the idea of healing, the amputee question is often tossed out as a ‘gotcha’.

Unlike some of the shows we see today, Jesus restored the amputees, paralyzed, and crippled. His critics never disputed the miracles. The criticism came because He healed on the Sabbath, and His religious enemies attributed His miracles to the power of Satan. Even the Talmud, the Jewish historical record, didn’t dispute the miracles. The Talmud is very hostile to Christ, but it still confirms the miracles. The writers of the Talmud called His miracles acts of sorcery.

The real question is not, Why doesn’t God love / heal amputees? The question is, What is the purpose behind the miracles of the apostles, and how does this apply today?

This short booklet looks at this question and why God allows suffering in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: G. Edward Snipes
• Release date: Aug 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781466083660

G. Edward Snipes

Life is filled with irony. How does a ‘C’ student, who avoided writing at all cost, grow into a love for writing? Ah, the mysteries of life. Looking back to my high school days, I now recognize glimpses of my hidden writer trying to emerge. It sneaks out in strange ways. Sitting in creative writing class, I stared at a blank page, unable to conjure up any ideas related to the topic given. I didn’t do well in creative writing. I hated it, and it showed in my grades. However, the hidden creative mind emerged in quite unexpected places. In my senior year, I reluctantly took a writing class which required each student to submit a thirty-page research paper. The end of the semester was at hand, and along with my peers, I prepared for the most dreaded writing assignments in high school. “Class,” Mrs. Blackwell said as she returned the note cards with our research notes. “This paper cannot be written with less than seventy note cards. Some of you aren’t going to make it.” I wondered why she made this statement as she dropped the note cards on my desk. A quick count of my thin stack revealed seven cards. I hadn’t exactly put my best foot forward on this one. With a mere one-tenth of the required cards, I set out to write my, ahem, well-researched paper. I was astonished at how the words flowed. Yes, I wrote a thirty-page research paper on the arms race between the U.S. and Russia, and I did it with almost no facts. And I got a good grade on the paper. So when people ask me how I got started in fiction, I think back to Mrs. Blackwell’s class and say, “It must have been... something I picked up in creative writing.” G. Edward Snipes is a freelance writer, president of the Christian Authors Guild, and founder of Exchanged Life Ministries. He has had three award winning short stories, and regularly has articles published on several online ministries. Visit his ministry site at http://www.exchangedlife.com or his personal blog at http://www.eddiesnipes.com.

Book preview

Does God Love Amputees?

Subtitle: Understanding why life has suffering

eBook Version

By Eddie Snipes

Smashword ISBN: 978-1-4660-8366-0

Copyright © 2011 - Eddie Snipes

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Table of Contents

What is the purpose of miracles?

The Tale of Two Healings

Why is there suffering in the world?

Does God guarantee healing?

The Bible’s call for intercession

Is it always God’s will to heal?

Sickness spares judgment.

In conclusion.

In recent years, a common question that has been tossed around by critics of Christianity is, why God never heals amputees. When someone wants to discredit the idea of healing, the amputee question is often tossed out as a ‘gotcha’.

Unlike some of the shows we see today, Jesus restored the amputees, paralyzed, and crippled. His critics never disputed the miracles. The criticism came because He healed on the Sabbath, and His religious enemies attributed His miracles to the power of Satan. Even the Talmud, the Jewish historical record, didn’t dispute the miracles. The Talmud is very hostile to Christ, but it still confirms the miracles. The writers of the Talmud called His miracles acts of sorcery.

The real question is not, Why doesn’t God love / heal amputees? The question is, What is the purpose behind the miracles of the apostles, and how does this apply today?

What is the purpose of miracles?

Though this book will elaborate more fully, this question can be summarized in one short sentence. Miracles serve to confirm the word of God. To understand this, let’s begin by looking at two passages. First look at Mark 16:20

And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.

The same principle is again affirmed in Acts 14:3

Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

At the birth of the New Testament church, religions abounded. It was no accident that Jesus came during the peak of the Roman Empire. It was the first time in history that the majority of civilization was united under one language. When Rome conquered a nation, a Roman government was set up in each city and the citizens were required to learn a simplified version of Greek. The world that was once divided into countless people groups with various languages was united under one government and a common tongue. Though citizens were allowed to speak in their native tongues, they were also required to be fluent in Greek. This meant anyone could travel to any part of the empire and be able to communicate. It’s one of the things that made Rome a solid empire.

Prior to the Roman Empire, merely travelling a few miles would put someone into a foreign land where communication was impossible – unless the traveler studied the language of each nation. At the height of the Roman Empire, the church was born. This is why the Apostle Paul could travel to Jerusalem to Italy, Greece, Asia, Syria, Turkey, and several other countries. Prior to the Roman Empire, he would have had to learn dozens of languages. However, in the new world at the birth of