Nothing New Under The Sun

The bible says that there is nothing new under the sun. Now ain't that the truth. Virginia lawmaker Bob Marshall seems to be channeling Jesus' disciples from a couple thousand years ago and not in a good way.

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children."

"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."

Marshall has since tried to back away from and clarify his statement. But where have I heard that kind of thinking before, that disability must be the result of someone's sin? Ah here we are,

1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" 3Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:1-3

Read the whole chapter, it's very instructive.

Apparently Marshall, like the disciples, upon seeing someone in need assumes that they or their parents must have done something to deserve it. Jesus' response was to admonish the disciples (and by extension all Christians down through history) to do God's work. Jesus' response to the blind man was to help him. Now we mere humans don't have Jesus' capacity to heal but we can take steps to make life better for those like the blind man in this passage.

It is worth noting the response to the Pharisees in this passage as well. They didn't know or care about the blind man until he became a useful tool to try to beat Jesus over the head with (sound familiar?). They were "offended" that Jesus had healed the blind man on the Sabbath. I use the scare quotes because the Pharisees were in full on any-stick-is-good-enough-to-beat-him-with mode (again, sound familiar?). The Pharisees discounted everything the blind man had to say and reviled him because he wasn't saying the things that they wanted to hear (again, a familiar tactic isn't it?).

So Mr. Marshall, and all who think like him, rather than trying to use the disabled as a useful stick to beat opponents over the head with, rather than speculating on whose sin is responsible for their disability do what Jesus did. Help them.