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I am not a christian so please forgive me if there maybe a lack of knowledge from my side about it in the question.

If I say that I am a son of god (God forbid) , then no christian will believe me. But they believe Jesus to be so. This is because there's special distinction between a normal person like me and Jesus. Moreover, it's not any wise to listen any normal person blindly and believe him.

So, the Jesus was different from normal persons, and his miracles proved it. One of his miracles was to heal people who were deaf/blind from their birth.

So, preserving the un-ambiguity and distinction of Jesus, does Christianity claims that humans will never be able to cure congenital deafness/blindness ?

An_Elephant
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    Even with all our medical advances, doctors aren't able to heal blindness by speaking to someone or touching them or spitting in their eyes. Just because we can do some things through modern medicine does reduce the miraculousness of what Jesus did. – curiousdannii Feb 18 '23 at 01:47
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    It is hypothetical whether any cure can ever be found for congenital deafness and blindness. No such cure now exists. Jesus of Nazareth was able to cure such things by simply speaking. I can see no purpose to asking this question. – Nigel J Feb 18 '23 at 10:29

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When the Bible uses the word 'Father' with regard to God, and the word 'Son' with regard to Jesus Christ, it is to indicate their unique relationship within the Godhead. It is not about either creation, or procreation (though some denominations think God literally created many spirit-children, one of whom later came to be born on earth and was known as Jesus.)

The Bible calls Jesus both "Son of Man" and "Son of God". The Christian view is that he was, indeed, both (without any contradiction in that.) This is one of the deepest doctrines of the Christian faith, so don't expect to get a handle on it with a few answers here! Only by reverent study of the Bible, prayerfully asking God to reveal to you just who this uniquely, only-begotten Son is, can you start to see how totally different Jesus was to all other humans (even though he was human, and not just an appearance of humanity.) It is his deity that makes him unique. This deity of the Son of God existed eternally with the uncreated God. He did not have a starting point in time (as all humanly begotten children have to have). The biblical use of the term "the only begotten Son of God" denotes their relationship, and not one fathering the other. For as long as this human notion is held on to, there will be no understanding of the unique, biblical use of "only-begotten of the Father" (John 3:16-18).

This is why Christians should never claim that no human could ever cure congenital deafness / blindness, certainly not from a Christian faith point of view. Humans have made great progress in medical matters, understanding genetics and gene therapy etc, so that immense strides have been made recently in curing previously incurable diseases. None of that has anything to do with what Jesus did, still does (as he's resurrected and in heaven) and will yet do in the future. Humans do what is humanly possible. Jesus does what only the Son of God can do. And he's going to do far greater wonders than curing all disease! A new heavens and a new Earth is going to come with his spectacular return, when he ushers in the Day of Resurrection and Judgment. He will raise all the dead and judge them.

He was God incarnate when on Earth, which no other human ever has been. That is why Christians believe and trust him totally. He made everything that was made (John 1:1-14) logically showing that he could not have been made himself. He left heaven to come to Earth to do what no mere human could do, to enable our sins to be dealt with so that we could get into a right relationship with God. Do read the gospel of John to see that. Christians who know the wonder of their sins having been uplifted and covered, know it was only Jesus who did that because of him being the sinless Son of God.

Anne
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  • Thanks sir. But your first two paragraphs adress on the son-father relationship clarification from your point of view and then you suddenly say in third paragraph that : "This is why Christians should never claim that no human could ever cure congenital deafness / blindness," How does this answer the question ? – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 17:46
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    @An_Elephant What follows is the "This is why...", not what went before. But the divine nature of the one who was also the Son of Man most certainly relates to how Christians do not compare human endeavours with what Jesus miraculously did due to his divine power (like reading minds and hearts/intentions/desires). And I'm a madam, not a sir. – Anne Feb 17 '23 at 18:15
  • Thanks Madam/Mam. But you didn't stated the reason of why . I am sorry for previous mistake. – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 18:25
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    @An_Elephant "Why" is all of para. 3. Sorry if I can't explain it clearly enough for you. And there's no problem with the designation! Be blessed. – Anne Feb 17 '23 at 18:27
  • Thanks for your kind behaviour. I read afterwards of that line too. You said : "Humans do what is humanly possible. Jesus does what only the Son of God can do." Wasn't curing one of those ? It is clear that no one can do it at that time and now also. – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 18:34
  • I will surely read Gospel (and other religions scriptures). I hope I would find the path of truth one day with logics and contentment. – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 18:36
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    @An_Elephant Healing has been done by many people; the Bible prophets over the centuries healed (Elijah, Elisha, Paul etc) by the power of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus had NOT been able to heal miraculously, nobody would have believed him to be God's anointed one! But that was just one evidence to back up his claims. Do read all of John's gospel account in the New Testament! – Anne Feb 17 '23 at 18:55
  • So the question reduces to this : "does christianity claims that congenital deaf-blindness could never be cured by normal humans because only prophets, Jesus and divine could do that" ? Thanks. I will give all of myself to reach truth and will read books. But we need to think through logics and criticism also so that once we build our faith after clearing all of them, it should be doubtless and super-strong. – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 19:17
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We can all be children of God (see SE answer)*, Jesus is uniquely begotten of the Father.

Healing was/is not unique to Jesus. Jesus commanded his apostles to:

7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.1

Which they did and we have accounts of throughout the New Testament (large number are recorded in Acts). The apostles were also considered ordinary men, see Acts 4:13

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

There is also nothing in the bible stating that humans can't cure something through medical means alone.

* some denominations have different beliefs on who is considered children of God, but I believe most could agree that Christians would fall under this category

1 Matt 10:7-8

depperm
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  • I am a little confused now what christians means by son/father. Is father/son a literature piece of referring to them by paying respect or do they really believe that father/son relationship is as happens in humans ( like wife/wives, reproduction,etc) ? – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 15:46
  • I am sorry if it sounds offending or rude. – An_Elephant Feb 17 '23 at 15:46
  • @An_Elephant that depends on denomination. There are a bunch of SE questions about this subject like: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/92416/whats-the-biblical-basis-for-a-difference-between-children-and-offspring-of-god, https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/17284/if-jesus-is-gods-only-son-then-how-can-we-all-be-gods-children, https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/17357/what-exactly-does-it-mean-that-jesus-christ-is-the-son-of-god, and https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/14663/was-jesus-gods-only-son – depperm Feb 17 '23 at 15:57
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If I understand the question correctly the answer is "no." Other people than Jesus (as the Son of God) can cure congenital blindness or deafness. Also medical science will probably be able to cure it son, perhaps has already done so in some cases.

The Old Testament provides many examples in which people were cured of major diseases by people other than Jesus. To name just a few:

    1. Numbers 16:46-50 - Aaron stopped the plague which had killed 14, 700 people by offering incense and making atonement for the people.
  • 1 Kings 17:17-24 - Elijah raised a widow’s son from death.
  • 2 Kings 4:8-17 - Elisha granted a child to the formerly barren Shunnamite woman.
  • 2 Kings 13:21 - A dead man was thrown into Elisha’s tomb and contact with Elisha’s bones raised the man to life.
  • 2 Kings 20:1-7 - Hezekiah contracted a terminal illness and prayed for healing. Isaiah received a word from God that he would live for a further 15 years

If people other than Jesus could cure the sick and raise the need, there is no reason to presume they could not also cure the blind and the deaf. Of course, some Christians may attribute these miracles to Jesus as God's eternally pre-existent son, but the OT does not say so.

In addition recent scientific advances provide evidence that congenital blindness may be cured by medical science such as gene therapy. As far as I know there is nothing in the Bible that would make it necessary for Christians to deny such cures. So no, Christianity does not claim that those who are blind or deaf from birth cannot be cured by humans.

Dan Fefferman
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I'm not going to focus on the what is/isn't a "son of God" debate. That would make a good second question. I'll simply leave you with a Biblical verse to consider: Acts 17:29, "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device." In other words, we are the children of God, but that doesn't mean we should create God in our image. That's my two cents worth.

You asked the question,

So, preserving the un-ambiguity and distinction of Jesus, does Christianity claim that humans will never be able to cure congenital deafness/blindness?

As the link you provide indicates, there are many reasons why someone might be (for example) deaf from birth. I'd like to point out that your link is talking about a specific malady called "deafblindness," meaning that the baby is born both deaf and blind. However, I think we can consider that specific condition as one of the same class of conditions that reflect the miracles performed by Jesus.

A quick Internet search reveals that as of 2021 humanity still has no cure for congenital deafness (continuing to use it as our example), even though it is the most common birth defect in the U.S.

Congenital hearing loss is the most common birth defect, estimated to affect 2‐3 in every 1000 births. Currently there is no cure for hearing loss. Treatment options are limited to hearing aids for mild and moderate cases, and cochlear implants for severe and profound hearing loss. (Source)

The cited article discusses the known environmental and genetic causes of congenital deafness and points out the work toward finding a cure.

Over the last decade, next generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed the identification of multiple deafness related genes and pathways. Together with recently developed molecular biology tools, this has opened the field to the development of hearing loss therapies that include gene delivery and editing, stem cell transplantation, and targeted drug delivery systems. (Ibid.)

For the most part, these advancements will help humanity avoid congenital deafness. But that's not what Jesus did. His miracles healed the deafness in adults. He didn't avoid anything, He fixed it after the damage was done.

So, do we expect humanity to cure it in adults?

I suspect that you will find different responses from different Christian traditions. In the case of my tradition, the answer is, "we don't know if humanity will find a cure before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but it wouldn't surprise us if we did." We believe this due to several passages of scripture.

1 Cor. 12:8

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit.

Knowledge is a gift of the Spirit. We believe the great strides in knowledge achieved by humanity since the resurrection of Jesus is due to this spiritual gift.

Matt. 24:24

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

and,

2 Thes. 2:9

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

And like any good gift from any loving parent, it can be used unwisely — even deceitfully. Therefore, we believe that as the day of the Second Coming of Jesus approaches, the many miracles He performed will be duplicated such that, "if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." We believe that the advancement of science will be one way these prophecies will be fulfilled.

2 Tim. 3:7

[The people of the Last Days will be] Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Thus, we believe it is quite possible for humanity to discover a cure for congenital deafness, blindness, heart disease, etc. as a counterfeit miracle duplicating the miracles of Jesus and continuing to lead people away from the saving and exalting Truth that is in Christ Jesus.

JBH
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