Feb 14, 2016

Is Disability A Sign That One Has Not Been Blessed By God?

     Last month I wrote about the common view that having the "right mental attitude" would allow one to conquer all obstacles in life. In my experience, this view causes many to believe that having the "right mental attitude" will prevent disability. Those who are disabled aren't so much sick as they are lacking in the "right mental attitude." Many disabled people wrongly blame themselves for lacking the courage to overcome illness.
     Kate Bowler writes elegantly in today's New York Times about the religious foundation for the notion than the "right mental attitude" can overcome all. The prosperity gospel, which preaches the idea that bad thoughts and a lack of faith in God cause sickness and poverty, has spread far and wide in our society from its beginnings around the turn of the 20th century. This gospel is now expressed in the single word, blessed. Those who are blessed will prosper while those who are not blessed will suffer. To obtain such blessing, one must have faith and work hard. As Bowler writes, blessed "is a perfect word for an American society that says it believes the American dream is based on hard work, not luck."
     Bowler, as a scholar, writes knowingly of the prosperity gospel that she has been studying for years but her words have a deeper poignancy. She is a 35 year old wife and mother who has recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. 
     Here's some of what Bowler writes:
The prosperity gospel tries to solve the riddle of human suffering. It is an explanation for the problem of evil. It provides an answer to the question: Why me?...
The prosperity gospel popularized a Christian explanation for why some people make it and some do not. They revolutionized prayer as an instrument for getting God always to say “yes.” It offers people a guarantee: Follow these rules, and God will reward you, heal you, restore you. ...
The prosperity gospel holds to this illusion of control until the very end. If a believer gets sick and dies, shame compounds the grief. Those who are loved and lost are just that — those who have lost the test of faith. In my work, I have heard countless stories of refusing to acknowledge that the end had finally come. An emaciated man was pushed about a megachurch in a wheelchair as churchgoers declared that he was already healed. A woman danced around her sister’s deathbed shouting to horrified family members that the body can yet live. There is no graceful death, no ars moriendi, in the prosperity gospel. There are only jarring disappointments after fevered attempts to deny its inevitability.
The prosperity gospel has taken a religion based on the contemplation of a dying man and stripped it of its call to surrender all. Perhaps worse, it has replaced Christian faith with the most painful forms of certainty. The movement has perfected a rarefied form of America’s addiction to self-rule, which denies much of our humanity: our fragile bodies, our finitude, our need to stare down our deaths (at least once in a while) and be filled with dread and wonder. At some point, we must say to ourselves, I’m going to need to let go. ...

21 comments:

Tim said...

This attitude isn't "new." Job's 3 "friends" wondered what sins he had committed and the disciples who's sin caused the man to be blinded from birth, his or his parents? (John 9:1-10) Jesus' answer: neither!

Douglas Smith said...

Yes Mr. Hall.
The apostle Paul said: "So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Anonymous said...

"There but for the grace of God" For the others with disabilities,they didn't get so much grace?

Anonymous said...

Good scriptures Tim and Douglas. I found the truth from reading the Bible for myself! Also with the advent of Republican Jesus, the false church believes we should persecute the poor, disabled, liberals, minorities, claimant attorneys, etc.

Max Abilify said...

This making fun of peoples' religious beliefs is highly inappropriate.

If you disagree with that statement, just substitute making fun of the 'protected' beliefs of Muslims or Jews instead of Christians. See how long that kind of post stays up. Bad enough to continually incite hatred of Republicans but I guess that is what passes for political discourse, leave the religious beliefs alone.

Anonymous said...

I think it is a thought provoking piece, not only the NYT article but also Charles' points. You have religious freedoms that should be respected, as Max says above. You have laws against disability discrimination. What happens when a religion teaches discrimination (indeed pariah status) for people because they have a disability?

Anonymous said...

Which religion does that?

Anonymous said...

@Max, I don't agree with your comments. Discrimination against the disabled is coming from the Right. Most churches preach to vote for the Right. The article was spot on.

The church today is more of a harlot church than the bride of Christ. She has married herself to the Republican party instead of Christ Himself.

Tim said...

There may be individuals who judge others in this way and some may have pride (which God hates) that "Their faith is stronger than" others. This #blessed thing seems to be the equivilant of the Amish "more humble than thou" attitude. Both remind me of the story of the Pharisee who prayed in a self-serving way (so others would here him). It's one thing to give because you want to please God and another if you expect God to enrich you for doing so. At any rate, this should have Nothing to do with public policy. It's one thing to be against welfare because of what it encourages (children out of wedlock) or how it effects the family and something else to be against those afflicted with disability!

Tim said...

One of these days, I am going to type HEAR correctly! He who has an ear, let him hear!

Anonymous said...

Christians hate the disabled is like saying Muslims are terrorists - stereotypes are all bad!

Anonymous said...

oh,so...the "moral" Mr Tr$$p gets all the cake and goes to Heaven?

laughable to say the least.

Anonymous said...

The approach you describe some right-wing Christians using hear to condemn disabled people is another version of the old Calvinist view: God made the world and all forces related to human behavior, and in doing so who was damned and who was saved (now termed "blessed"). These things were predetermined. By this thinking, one way to know whom He had chosen for salvation was by how He arranged for them to fare on earth. Sure enough, there are still folks on earth who show signs of having been disfavored by God; e.g. missing limbs, psychotic disorders and numerous myriad other impairments limiting work function and correlating with qualification for disability.

It would be nice to think that civilized people and the Christian Church had moved beyond this, but unfortunately the Calvinist influence lingers. As I tried but apparently failed to comment here earlier (how much tech savvy can you expect from someone predestined for damnation?) I'm hoping the whole "blessed vs non-blessed" approach is wrong, because I dislike the prospect of burning in hell for eternity, especially now that Scalia is there. This comment re our former SC Justice is no meaner than many of Scalia's public, much-admired witticisms

Anonymous said...

Good points Anon 5:00. It's unfortunate how many people feel guilt over their disability when it's something they often have little or no control over. They certainly don't need people telling them they are cursed or damned, much less treating them that way.

Anonymous said...

this is only one reason my entire Family gave up on church....next election we
are about to find out that "it really is about the money".

bankrupt casino operator for President? bankrupt Marriages?

there is no reason for guilt with a disability...we will all be disabled at one point or another:o

Anonymous said...

Typical crap, I am a conservative Republican. I am a Methodist. I have a very high pay rate. Get over yourselves and quit blaming Republicans for everything. What the heck has your lovely Democrat President done to help the poor or the disabled? Obamacare because we have 30 million uninsured? Now, years later we only have 29 million uninsured.

Anonymous said...

I agree with 8:53. The Republicans love the poor, look at how many more poor there are after every republican leader. The Republicans help grow the poor and keep them poor. They love the poor!

Also your math skills need a bit of work. 7.3 million Americans are now covered by the ACA. We have yet to hear ONE single solitary Republican plan to provide healthcare to citizens.

Were does your high pay rate come from? I find many high paid republicans are deep at the trough of the American people getting paid through the government and using taxpayer dollars to make a living. But that is ok, as long as you are republican, Christian and conservative. (Conservative...conserve all the programs and tax deductions that benefit me and eliminate any program that does not DIRECTLY impact me and conserve my lifestyle.)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, how about that food stamp program of Obama's? Largest ever. Dem's love the poor. they can promise them anything and buy their votes and never have to live up to their promises. You do remember Hope and Change right? The poor and minorities are far worse off now than when he took over.

Anonymous said...

Do you remember "Read my lips no new taxes!" How about this grand ole chestnut from a few years back "Weapons of mass destruction." The hits just keep coming "it's not torture it is enhanced interrogation."

I checked, gas this morning was $1.69, the Dow is at 16460, unemployment is 4.9% and I have each and every gun I had when the current president took office.

Anonymous said...

We fired him for the no new taxes, even though it was a Democratic Congress that screwed him over. Also, how dumb are you if you don't realize he had weapons of mass destruction and they have been used, even against the Kurds in his country. Your unemployment numbers are a farce and you know it. The baby boomers retiring at 10,000 a day and the others that have dropped out of the market. I take it that you have no guns from the way you talk. Gun sales have sky-rocketed since the Big O took over. Everyone can feel the Civil War coming that he has instigated.

Anonymous said...

Loosen the tin foil armadillo helmet, it is having negative side effects.