What do you think about this?

[Sojourner]

I pondered this puzzling passage quite some time back, looked into it, and it again came to mind again recently:

Now as Jesus was passing 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, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him. (John 9:1-3)

Notice the conundrum posed in verse 2. How could the man have been born blind as punishment for sin he could not have committed until after he was born? I've read that there was some belief in the transmigration of souls among very early Jewish thinkers, and is represented in the Kabbala and the doctrine of the Essenes. Was this idea common enough to be known among the Galileans of that time, and prompted the paradoxical premise? Did the disciples believe an unborn baby could be guilty of sin-guilt in the womb, or was it something else?

[Redeemed]

There are several scriptures in the OT that deal with the consequences of sin being passed down to future generations.
I think this passage simply points out that sin isn't the cause of all ailments and that evrything that happens is part of God's plan. 

[Athanasius]

I would caveat: work to God's glory rather than a specific part of God's plan, i.e., that it was God's plan for people to be sick.

[Sojourner]

There are several scriptures in the OT that deal with the consequences of sin being passed down to future generations.
I think this passage simply points out that sin isn't the cause of all ailments and that evrything that happens is part of God's plan.

I agree that the takeaway is that God is in control of things past, present and future, and that He can transform even adversity and misfortune into something good that will bring glory to Him. But asking if a person was born blind because of sin he himself committed before he was born still poses a bit of a conundrum to me.   

[Redeemed]

But asking if a person was born blind because of sin he himself committed before he was born still poses a bit of a conundrum to me.

I'm not trying to be flippant here but you have to remember that these were uneducated fishermen and such. Jesus called them and the knowledge they received was from God. Father, Son & Holy Spirit taught and directed them, yeah?

It was simply a question of a student to his teacher IMO.

[IMINXTC]

Many people still think that way: An individual's disability is likely judgment or a curse for hidden sin, whether or not he or she was somehow born with the stain, something in the lives of the parents or a sinful act.

I walk with a severe limp and am acutely aware of this tendency among many folks; some will be found in the church you attend.

I have been told by believers that my body is cursed by sin and I am in need of their prayer intercession.

Deliverance from the superstitious : a common need for some.

[Athanasius]

I have been told by believers that my body is cursed by sin and I am in need of their prayer intercession.

I still remember that time an itinerant 'apostle' came to the church we were at and started exercising a demon from a woman who was very sick because she didn't look him directly in the eyes when he was an inch from her face. That such things happen and continue to happen is unfathomable.

[RabbiKnife]

The first time I told an “apostle” not to touch me because I was very careful about who I allowed to lay their hands on me you and oils have thought I had mooned the pope

He said he wanted to impart his anointing to me

I told him that I definitely didn’t want anything he had getting in me

When he insisted I told him that if he laid his hands on me I would break his wrist

[Cloudwalker]

The first time I told an “apostle” not to touch me because I was very careful about who I allowed to lay their hands on me you and oils have thought I had mooned the pope

He said he wanted to impart his anointing to me

I told him that I definitely didn’t want anything he had getting in me

When he insisted I told him that if he laid his hands on me I would break his wrist

If he insisted on touching me after I told him not to I would break more than just his wrist.