by jimwalton » Thu Dec 14, 2017 10:20 am
I guess I would define restoration as the kind of healing the body was created to do. The body is able to ward off some infection, bacteria, viruses, mend bones, create new capillary paths, circumvent parts of the brain that are dead, create new skin over wounds, etc. There are many restorative events and possibilities in the way the body works.
I guess I would define regeneration as the ability to grow new limbs or regenerate brain or spinal cord tissue. The human body doesn't have those capabilities.
The nature of healing in the body, even during the ministry of Jesus, is the category in which Jesus does his work, restoring the body through what the body does.
> If God can make cancers miraculously disappear then why could he not miraculously regrow lost limbs?
You'll notice as you read the Bible that healing is a minuscule, almost absent part of what God is doing in the world. The only time it seems to take on some frequency is during the ministry of Jesus, but even then Jesus says that the healing miracles are only signs to teach important truths. The healings themselves are not all that important. In the Old Testament there are only maybe 5 or 6 healings in its entire 2000-year history from Abraham to Malachi. Aside from the ministry of Jesus, there are only a handful in the NT as well. From the Bible we learn that God is not really in the business of healing bodies (though he does it); He's in the business of healing souls.
We learn from the Bible, therefore, that most of the time God lets the body (and disease, and injury) take its normal course. Of course he can miraculously regrow lost limbs, but the Bible shows us that it's not something he does.
What He wants to do is give you Life. What He wants to do is recreate your soul and make you new. What He wants to do is rescue you from sin and bring you into relationship with Him. The restoration and regeneration He is interested in—what the Bible is about, how God works, and why Jesus died—is spiritual restoration and regeneration. You seem to be like a hunter so distracted by leaves blowing in the wind that you miss the deer walking right past you. God is calling you into relationship with Him.
I guess I would define restoration as the kind of healing the body was created to do. The body is able to ward off some infection, bacteria, viruses, mend bones, create new capillary paths, circumvent parts of the brain that are dead, create new skin over wounds, etc. There are many restorative events and possibilities in the way the body works.
I guess I would define regeneration as the ability to grow new limbs or regenerate brain or spinal cord tissue. The human body doesn't have those capabilities.
The nature of healing in the body, even during the ministry of Jesus, is the category in which Jesus does his work, restoring the body through what the body does.
> If God can make cancers miraculously disappear then why could he not miraculously regrow lost limbs?
You'll notice as you read the Bible that healing is a minuscule, almost absent part of what God is doing in the world. The only time it seems to take on some frequency is during the ministry of Jesus, but even then Jesus says that the healing miracles are only signs to teach important truths. The healings themselves are not all that important. In the Old Testament there are only maybe 5 or 6 healings in its entire 2000-year history from Abraham to Malachi. Aside from the ministry of Jesus, there are only a handful in the NT as well. From the Bible we learn that God is not really in the business of healing bodies (though he does it); He's in the business of healing souls.
We learn from the Bible, therefore, that most of the time God lets the body (and disease, and injury) take its normal course. Of course he can miraculously regrow lost limbs, but the Bible shows us that it's not something he does.
What He wants to do is give you Life. What He wants to do is recreate your soul and make you new. What He wants to do is rescue you from sin and bring you into relationship with Him. The restoration and regeneration He is interested in—what the Bible is about, how God works, and why Jesus died—is spiritual restoration and regeneration. You seem to be like a hunter so distracted by leaves blowing in the wind that you miss the deer walking right past you. God is calling you into relationship with Him.