# I Think I Know Why God Doesn't Heal Amputees **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 8, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193 "2012-02-08T15:22:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/141 "2012-02-08T21:23:25Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > Since you fail to offer a solid counter argument, this sounds like baiting. Counter argument- Howzabout G-d does NOT answer all prayers. I do not know why. However, your argument still fails. If G-d can NOT heal amputees, why does He not Prevent the amputation in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/142 "2012-02-08T21:25:20Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > But it’s ok to accuse me of being a liar as well as insult my personal beliefs? That is hardly fair. The insulting of beliefs is allowed in most cases, yes. I didn’t see anyone call you a liar, but if you believe someone else is breaking the rules, please report the post. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/143 "2012-02-08T21:25:29Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > Well I stand corrected then! (about the agreeing part although I doubt you are being serious). I’m being entirely serious. Likely enough, you and I agree on more things than we disagree on. > [@](#): > > What Lev cite are you refering? Oh wait, I thought I never provided cites? Huh? I didn’t claim you’ve never provided cites. I’m referring to your cite in this post; > [@GEEPERS](#): > > What’s next? Are you going to argue that eating bacon and animal fat is good for you? Leviticus 7:23 To which I pointed out; > [@Me](#): > > Actually, Leviticus specifically bans cattle, sheep, or goat fat, as well as the fat of any animal found dead or torn by wild animals. Leaving aside for a moment that Leviticus in that part is about ritual offerings (and that the reason fat is denied is because it’s supposed to be offered; and that the punishment for anyone who eats fat from a food offering, or who eats blood at any point, must be “cut off from their people”) - Leviticus 7:23 has no rule against eating the fat of any other animal. > > Are _you_ going to start arguing that animal fat is good for you? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/144 "2012-02-08T21:26:47Z")
**Geepers** if G-d can NOT heal amputees, doesn’t this make Him limited and render Him non omnipotent? ---
**Author:** ![GEEPERS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GEEPERS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GEEPERS)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/145 "2012-02-08T21:28:50Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Geepers** if G-d can NOT heal amputees, doesn’t this make Him limited and render Him non omnipotent? God can not commit sin. Does that make Him limited as well? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/146 "2012-02-08T21:31:37Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > God can not commit sin. Does that make Him limited as well? Inasmuch as god wrote the book on sin, and defines sin as he wishes, the answer is “Yes”. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/147 "2012-02-08T21:33:02Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > God can not commit sin. Does that make Him limited as well? Technically speaking…yes. This is basically a variant of the classic paradox about any god creating a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it (wiki [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox)). There have been various proposed solutions to this paradox. None have been all that compelling. And, of course, there was the solution my Sunday School teacher provided, which amounted to, “Don’t ask such silly questions”. ---
**Author:** ![GEEPERS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GEEPERS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GEEPERS)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/148 "2012-02-08T21:33:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The insulting of beliefs is allowed in most cases, yes. I didn’t see anyone call you a liar, but if you believe someone else is breaking the rules, please report the post. Well stating that I make false claims is the equivalent of calling me a liar to me. If the actual use of this particular word violates board policy, I do apologize and will refrain from its use. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/149 "2012-02-08T21:34:00Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Geepers** if G-d can NOT heal amputees, doesn’t this make Him limited and render Him non omnipotent? Lobsters can regenerate limbs. Does that mean their faith is strong? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/150 "2012-02-08T21:34:46Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > Correction, there is no evidence that satisfies you. Obviously, medical miracles aren’t enough for you. Medical miracles don’t happen. Unlikely events happen. If medical miracles happened, people would regrow limbs. If medical miracles happened, people would heal instantly. What happens, is sometimes when someone is gravely ill, they get better. Our bodies are trying to get better, and sometimes we luck out against all odds. I’ll note that non-Christians also get cancer remissions and unlikely survivals. So assuming that it’s your particular God is unfounded, even if you were to accept it as a miracle. > [@](#): > > Ezekiel 34:13 - pretty bold prophecy considering they were in Babylonian captivity at the time. How so? It had an open ended date. If I write, “A war will start between the dragon and the eagle”. Eventually it may come to pass. What makes prophecy worth noting, is if it gives actual information like when something will happen. Jews have been wanting a homeland for a long time. And there was a movement to make it happen in the beginning of the last century. After the holocaust, it gained momentum. Modern people re-created Israel. It wasn’t magic, and it wasn’t God. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/151 "2012-02-08T21:35:11Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > God can not commit sin. Does that make Him limited as well? In what way is drowning untold thousands of babies not a sin? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/152 "2012-02-08T21:36:37Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > Well stating that I make false claims is the equivalent of calling me a liar to me. If the actual use of this particular word violates board policy, I do apologize and will refrain from its use. Just as general advice on this; it’s ok to say someone is making false statements, to an extent, because there’s always the possibility that they’re doing so mistakenly, out of no deliberate choice of their own. Whereas “lying” implies they’re making false statements while knowing they’re false statements. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/153 "2012-02-08T21:37:40Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > God can not commit sin. Does that make Him limited as well? Yes, yes it does. I believe in a loving, compassionate\* G-d who _chooses_ not to sin. - Yes, this leaves me with problems like “How could He allow evil?” and “How could He allow suffering?”. We’ve had some good threads on those problems. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/154 "2012-02-08T21:38:04Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > Well stating that I make false claims is the equivalent of calling me a liar to me. If the actual use of this particular word violates board policy, I do apologize and will refrain from its use. Saying that someone said something incorrect is not the equivalent of calling someone a liar, at least as far as we’re concerned on the SDMB. However you’re not allowed to say that someone is deliberately making false statements. I hope that helps. ---
**Author:** ![GEEPERS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c89c15/32.png) [@GEEPERS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GEEPERS)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/155 "2012-02-08T21:38:08Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Technically speaking…yes. > > This is basically a variant of the classic paradox about any god creating a rock so heavy he couldn’t lift it (wiki [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnipotence_paradox)). > > There have been various proposed solutions to this paradox. None have been all that compelling. And, of course, there was the solution my Sunday School teacher provided, which amounted to, “Don’t ask such silly questions”. I’m perfectly fine with the solution that God’s intelligence is so vastly superior that our limited brains can not comprehend it all. Just the concept of God never having a beginning or ending is hard to grasp. Our minds need a beginning and ending. I certainly couldn’t dismiss God because He doesn’t fit nicely with modern day logic and reasoning puzzles. Who knows, 1000 years from now, our science and reasoning may appear so primitive to humans in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/156 "2012-02-08T21:41:31Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > I certainly couldn’t dismiss God because He doesn’t fit nicely with modern day logic and reasoning puzzles. Who knows, 1000 years from now, our science and reasoning may appear so primitive to humans in the future. The problem with this argument is that it works across the board. You can say that God is above logic and reasoning puzzles - but that means he’s above logic and reasoning puzzles. So he can be a great good and a great evil; logic constrains those two possibilities from being the case in the same being, but not so for a being above logic. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/157 "2012-02-08T21:44:33Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > God can not commit sin. Why? God tortured Job’s family. God murdered the population of the world via drowning. God mind controlled the Pharoh and then punished him. God commits sins all the time. Unless they don’t count for him. > [@](#): > > Does that make Him limited as well? The God of the bible isn’t anywhere near omnipotent. He took six days to create the world and needed rest. He asks questions. Needs to work through intermediaries. He creates a system that dooms everyone to hell, and in order to fix it has to inseminate a human, be born, and get tortured to death. Needless to say, an omnipotent being wouldn’t need to go through such a series of stupid nonsense to achieve his desired ends. Omnipotence means he can create with a whim. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/158 "2012-02-08T21:45:08Z")
> [@GEEPERS](#): > > I’m perfectly fine with the solution that God’s intelligence is so vastly superior that our limited brains can not comprehend it all. Just the concept of God never having a beginning or ending is hard to grasp. Our minds need a beginning and ending. > > I certainly couldn’t dismiss God because He doesn’t fit nicely with modern day logic and reasoning puzzles. Who knows, 1000 years from now, our science and reasoning may appear so primitive to humans in the future. Hey, pal, _you_’\*re \*the one who started trying to inject some reasoning and fit what limited knowledge of biology you possess into the whole proceedings, remember ? If you’re going to fall back to the “mysterious ways, can’t understand” dodge when people try to inject ever so slightly more of both, then once again, what’s the point ? Might as well just tell people to STFU, just accept everything and nevermind if it doesn’t make any sense. Why even bother trying to understand it yourself, if you’re so sure it’s impossible ? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/159 "2012-02-08T21:51:39Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Why? God tortured Job’s family. God murdered the population of the world via drowning. God mind controlled the Pharoh and then punished him. > > God commits sins all the time. Unless they don’t count for him. > > The God of the bible isn’t anywhere near omnipotent. He took six days to create the world and needed rest. He asks questions. Needs to work through intermediaries. He creates a system that dooms everyone to hell, and in order to fix it has to inseminate a human, be born, and get tortured to death. Needless to say, an omnipotent being wouldn’t need to go through such a series of stupid nonsense to achieve his desired ends. > > Omnipotence means he can create with a whim. Jesus promised an end to all suffering. Odin promised an end to all frost giants. Haven’t seen any frost giants lately 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193/160 "2012-02-08T21:53:06Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Jesus promised an end to all suffering. Odin promised an end to all frost giants. > > Haven’t seen any frost giants lately 😃 Show me a cite from either Edda where Odin promises such a thing! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-i-know-why-god-doesnt-heal-amputees/612193.md?page=9)