Article March 23, 1998 Issue

SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS

God doesn't punish us!

"My old beliefs seemed to lose their reality. I knew God did not create a fever for my child!"

By Valerie T. Elliott

My Previous Religious training as a child taught me that God brings sickness and accidents for some reason—either to punish us or to teach us something. And when God punished us—that is, we had an accident or became ill—I tried to believe that it was for our own good, but I still wondered about it.

That many different religions profess to be the "only" religion became a question also: How could different religions and denominations separately claim to be "the" religion? I had other questions, too. Why was Jesus here for such a short period of time? If he was sent to be an "example" for us to follow, why were he and his disciples the only ones able to heal? Although I heard about current-day healings, they seemed to be sporadic and were considered miracles. This contrasted with the healing work that Jesus and his disciples did as a normal course of events. Another question: If God brings sickness or accidents for some purpose, wasn't Jesus going against God's wishes by healing people? I put much thought into trying to answer these questions.

As an adult, I considered myself an agnostic. When I was pregnat with our first child, I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to stop a thought from my childhood that kept surfacing. That thought was: If there was anything wrong with my child—if he was less than perfect—it would be God's doing, punishing me for past sins. This friend emphatically stated that "God does not punish innocent children." That clear thought helped me through my pregnancy. And our son was born healthy and beautiful.

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