Lent question

Jesus said that neither the blind man nor his parents had sinned and therefore he had been born blind. From this David Winter finds a general truth that all such disabilities are caused by a randomness of nature or the natural consequences of sin; eg cirrhosis of the liver. I have always considered that here Jesus was answering a question about a particular man since he gave a very particular explanation; he was blind, so Jesus could heal him.

If God does not punish by sickness or death Ananias and Saphira would be interested to hear it, so would Miriam with her leprosy and the firstborn of Egypt and those who suffered the other plagues.

God certainly, if we take the story at face value(and why should David Winter not do so since he takes the burning bush encounter as it is given?) acts, and not just as he suggests, through endowing Moses with strength, wisdom and guidance. Yes, there were no earthquakes, angels, blinding flashes but there were disasters. Pharaoh certainly is not represented as letting Moses go because of any rhetoric or persuasiveness on Moses’ part -- he wanted to wash his hands of him and his people because of the mighty acts of God, acts which were destructive and punitive.

Punishment seems to be an idea which has had its time for increasing numbers as can be seen in recent discussions about the forsakedness of Christ on the cross and the growing take-up of ideas of time-limited hell or conditional immortality. I imagine this view of David Winter’s is part of this general trend. Whether it is true to Scripture is another matter. Gillian Goodwin, Ealing