Why Won't God Heal Amputees?

Does God refuse to heal amputees? Does he discriminate against them in some way by choosing to perform other miracles, but not to regrow limbs? This question is a powerful restatement of the classic "problem of pain," The objection isn't a new one, and it's certainly been refuted enough times, but this formulation of the problem appeals in a special way to our society. People from other cultures -- other places and times -- expect to relate to God in a personal way. Our culture is different. In our society of broken families and emotionally disconnected Internet and cellphone connectivity, many of us have lost the ability to love another. How much more difficult to relate to a mysterious God, whom you can't text on your phone or poke on Facebook.

The way we do relate is largely lmited to what we can see, study and verify. We are materialistic. That doesn't just mean the we have or want lots of stuff. It means that only the material is real to us. It's not uncommon to hear people today questioning if we even have souls. Even if they concede that we do have psyches (psyche is Greek for soul, that is the self), they are merely biochemical factories that we can direct and control with drugs and therapy.

But, if we can break away from this narrow mindset, the question, "why won't God heal amputees" dissolves. We cannot fathom the depths of God's wisdom. We shouldn't expect to know his reasons. God does give us glimpses of his Truth, but his mind cannot be dissected and analyzed in the way the skeptical scientist would like. I suspect that this mystery tells us something profound about man's being. Restoring a lost limb miraculously may convey a wrong relationship between us and God. Or, it may be that God does perform such miracles, but doing so in an empirically verifiable way would allow us to come to him on our own terms, rather than on His. But Christ is the bridegroom, and we are the bride. He came so that we might have life. We could not come to him. A God who would submit himself to arrogant scientific inquiry is, quite simply, not the God of Christianity.