**Note: Before I offer the philosophical reasons for why the world is the way that it is (allowing such evil), I want to offer this post first.
The last thing a sick patient needs is to feel their faith is at fault for why they are ill. “Sister Celia doesn’t have enough faith because she is still sick.” The blame has been placed on the primary care giver at times. “You know why Gary isn’t well? Because his wife Clarissa doesn’t have strong enough faith.” It angers me when I visit a good saint of the Lord who questions their salvation because they have not gotten healed. As in, “there must be something I have done wrong to have not received God’s healing.” The faulty theology that goes into these ideas is detrimental to the ill as well as the caregivers too. It is detrimental to the well-being of humans.
One can believe that God heals without placing the blame on anyone for why they are not healed. Once again, is not Job the answer to these faulty ideas? We learn that Job did not do anything wrong, yet he still had his troubles and sicknesses. Being a Christian does not shield anyone from the effects of this world. Moreover, being a Christian does not put us in the judgment seat of others. When we become the discerners of another person’s faith based on their getting sick, we have made the measuring rod of being a Christian “health,” rather than trust in Christ. That is as wrong as it gets.
Darwin’s Evolution by Natural Selection has given theology a much-needed gift. It is the gift of ending the causational trail in the natural (at least most of the time). Namely, we do not have to look for spiritual causes for everything that takes place, which can lead to inventing reasons out of thin air. But, let’s be clear. Darwin only illuminated further what Christianity already taught. Sickness is part of the system of this world. There is no guarantee that everyone gets healed this side of heaven.
We are not supposed to pick up our divining rods and look for spiritual causes to all the evils we experience in this world. Evil, as I will argue next week, is a by-product of a very good world. That may sound strange, but I will fill you in next week.