How Do People With Profound Cognitive Disabilities Get Saved?

A friend and I had a conversation about people with severe and profound cognitive disabilities, such as those in the latter stages of Alzheimer's, and their salvation. The question arose, how do those who do not understand, who cannot seek God, get saved?

I must answer, who can seek God? Romans 3:10-12, Psalm 14:1-3, and Psalm 53:1-3 says that no one seeks God and that no one understands (emphasis mine). If indeed, we are enemies of God (Romans 5:10), children of wrath by nature (Ephesians 2:3), and sinners at our very conception (Psalm 51:5) how could we seek God? Salvation, you see, is not about us seeking after God- but God seeking after us!

Jesus says that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws Him (John 6:44). Jesus says that those who are taught by the Father come to Him (John 6:45). We do not lean on our own understanding.

I worked with a man once, 'Kevin', who was born with a profound developmental disability. He had the lowest IQ of anyone I've ever known. He had no mobility, no bowel and bladder control, and received nutrients from a feeding tube; the man couldn't even eat. He responded with a smile to soft vocalizations spoken closely in his ear; whether or not he understood what was being said to him, I'll never know, though it was obvious he enjoyed that human interaction. But that smile is all he had to give to the caregivers around him who provided him his every need. This man was utterly helpless and completely dependent.

This is how we ALL are regarding our salvation. Utterly helpless and completely dependent on someone else to save us. We try and we strive under the Law of God to meet His demands and to prove ourselves righteous, but it is to no avail. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all sin. (Romans 3:23) And none can save ourselves.

Even for Kevin, though no outward sign of him sinning was ever seen by me, his heart is what God searches to judge his deeds, and his heart is deceitful and desperately sick. (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

But this is what God did for the hearts of Israel in Ezekiel 36:25-27- He gave them a new heart and a new spirit. He took their heart of stone and gave them a heart of flesh. He put His Spirit in them and caused them to walk in His statutes and obey His rules.

This is how God works. "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly... God demonstrated His own love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6, 8) Weak and helpless all of us, God saves us. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10, emphasis mine)

This propitiation, Christ absorbing the wrath of God that was upon us, is what saves us. This is what our salvation is dependent upon. Not on us seeking God or understanding Him on with our own deceitful minds and sick hearts.

God calls us to repentance and faith in this work. By grace we're saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8). Faith- "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), being sure and convinced of the promises of God regarding the Cross and the Gospel, comes to us by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). It is given to us in a measure (Romans 12:3). His kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) which He grants (Acts 5:31, Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25).

For Kevin and for us, Christ is our Savior, our Seeker Who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). God has mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills (Romans 9:18). Should He will, the God Who sent His Son to die for the sins of Kevin will have mercy on him, as He has me, and grant him faith, repentance, understanding, salvation, and a heart of flesh. That is how Kevin, a man with a profound cognitive disability will get saved.

Kevin may never be able to stand on a street corner and proclaim the Gospel. He may never in his earthly body be able to give words to his faith. But the fruits of Kevin's salvation would certainly be evident in ways that would point those around Him to His Savior. Maybe that's what his smile was all about... Speculation. Sorry.

Now, for those of us who are in Christ, including men, women, and children like Kevin, because we have been loved, pursued, given mercy, saved, and regenerated with new hearts, now we are free to seek God. Now we can understand Him. Because He loves us, we can now love Him.

Better Dead Than Disabled???

A one year old boy, who could have a tracheotomy, be taken home from the hospital and live his life, may have his ventilator removed at the wishes of his mother and the HOSPITAL TRUST PAYING FOR HIS CARE, because his severe physical disability has been deemed 'intolerable suffering'. His father disagrees and is fighting for his son's life.

See UK Court to Rule Whether Baby Better Off Dead Than Disabled from the blog Secondhand Smoke by Wesley J. Smith.

Reformation Day and Luke 14

In honor of Reformation Day, the anniversary of when, in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg University’s Castle Church door, boldly declaring where the Church needed reform, I'm writing my own thoughts about the Church and some places where we still need reformation. Of course, this post will lead to inclusion of people with disabilities, because, well, that seems to be what I do.

There are two religions in this world. One is based on works, the other on grace. The religion based on works requires its disciples to work through law, rite, or service to make that disciple in right standing with the god of this religion. The God of the second religion, that based on grace, demands perfection unto His Law; however, when man failed and fails, this God has given mankind His own righteousness through His Son, the Second Person in the Trinity that calls Itself God, a righteousness contingent only on faith in this Holy Son and His atoning work on the Cross.

The disciples of this second God- of this One True God- the adopted sons and heirs, join together according to the Word of this God, as one Body, and we call ourselves the Church, with Christ as our Head. Like the followers of the first religion, the Church has a law, the Law of God, though our Law has been fulfilled by this Christ, and we members of the Body now walk by faith in our Savior, Christ Jesus', work and in the Spirit, Who is the Third Person of this Triune God. We perform rituals in our church gatherings as does the first religion, though our rituals, rituals of baptism and the communion of the saints, focus not on our attempts to gain righteousness but rather on the One Who obtained righteousness for us. 

And, as do followers of the first religion, Christians, those of the Body, of the Church, we perform acts of service. As is the Law, Christians, attempt to love God and love our neighbors by serving our community and serve others. 

However, unlike those following the first religion, Christians are not attempting to earn our place in our God’s Kingdom through this service, though serving God and serving others is part of God’s Kingdom. In fact, daily lawbreakers, we could never serve enough to enter that Kingdom. 

Nor are we serving God through our own power or our own nature. We are serving God because we have a new nature, and a new Power- the Holy Spirit, given to us through the work of the Cross, upon our belief in Christ, this work, and the repentance of our sins. We are serving humanity- offering grace and mercy to one another- in response to how we were shown grace and mercy, in response to how we were invited into that Kingdom based solely on the death and resurrection of our King. We love because we have been loved.

Based upon this motivation for service and community within our own Body, we take seriously our Savior’s teachings on service and community. The fourteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel, verses 7 through 24, includes one such teaching. Through instruction and parable, Jesus shares His Father’s desire that, oh, may His house be full! He teaches us that His Father wants those at His table those who cannot repay His kindness- ‘the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame' (vs 13) (as if people who are not poor or who do not have a disability could pay Him back). In fact, He says to compel them to come, revealing the earnestness of His heart toward the least in this world, those same ‘least’ who will become great in His Kingdom.

How does this teaching apply to Christ’s Church 2,000 years after its original exhortation? It applies the same way. There are still those who are ‘great’ in this world, and those who are poor or who have disabilities are still regarded as ‘the least’. Sadly the world’s view of who is great and who is the least is often paralleled in the Church.

Thankfully, the Spirit of God is working in the same way that He has for 2,000 years. He still convicts the Church, both the individual member and the entire of Body, of sin, and He is convicting me of my exclusionary practices of the ‘least of these’ in my church’s gatherings. 

So, what do inclusionary practices of the ‘least of these’ look like? Inclusionary practices begin by being reminded of how all inclusion to the Body begins. It begins with the Cross and how Christ, forgiving us of our sin, reconciles us with God, making us His child and a member of Christ’s Body. We must be reminded that God never needed our able bodies or cognitive awareness or our large bank accounts to forgive us our sin, to give us faith, and to make us one with Him and His community. In that regard, we become aware that we are no different than our poor and/or disabled brother and sister.

When we become aware of the absolute equality with ‘the least’, community- koinonia- the Greek word used 20 times in Scripture for 'fellowship, sharing in common, communion'- makes sense! We are equally created in the image of God, we are equal in our human depravity, and we are equal in that any grace anyone has received has been from God. We are one Body.

Therefore, as one Body, if one member suffers, we all suffer. When one rejoices, we all do. When one holds a banquet, all are invited. 

Whether through formal programming, or just meeting an individual or family where he or they are suffering or struggling, any church can do ‘disability ministry’. The call is for all, for all of the Body, to invite, to compel, ‘the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame’ into the Kingdom of God and sharing a meal- that is, offering them repentance and the forgiveness of sin through Jesus' name, and truly becoming one Body- for the grace of God is for them, too!- in loving response to how the Father first invited us. This is how we reveal the religion of grace to the world.

'Rational' Suicide?

"'Rational' Suicide Advocates Push Assisted Suicide in Mental Health Journals"- A podcast edition of bioethicist Wesley J. Smith's 'What It Means to be Human'.

John Shelby Spong is Not My Liberator

John Shelby Spong is not my liberator.  

An advocate for the rights of those living homosexually for quite some time, in a recent manifesto, Bishop Spong declares that he will no longer debate nor pay any heed to those who would deny 'justice' to those who identify as gay or lesbian by calling homosexuality sinful.  

Justice.  God is a God of justice.  He demands it for the sin of man.  God cannot overlook sin- or He wouldn't be just.  

But God is also a God of mercy.  In His mercy, God met His demand for justice Himself.  He gave His own Son as a propitiation of His wrath to save people from it.

Romans 3:23-26 says, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation" [propitiation is the absorption or the appeasement of the wrath of God] "by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

This is God's justice.  I sinned homosexually.  Jesus suffered and died for that sin, removing the wrath of God from me.

This is God's mercy.  God drew me to His Son and to His work on the Cross.  He called me to repentance, gave me faith, and freely forgave me from that sin.

This is God's freedom.  Having been washed, sanctified, and justified, in the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of God  (2 Corinthians 6:11), I now boldly approach the throne of grace, receiving the mercy and grace in time of need of a sympathetic High Priest who has been tempted in every way I have been and yet did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-16), enabling me to walk by His Spirit so that I may no longer gratify the desires of my flesh (Galatians 5:16).

Bishop Spong has been denying people the Gospel of Jesus Christ for decades.  This leaves us enslaved to sin.  (Romans 6:6).  In addition, we are enslaved to what overpowers us (2 Peter 2:19)- and homosexuality is very overpowering. 

John Shelby Spong is no liberator; he is an enslaver.  He boldly stands for my right to remain in my sin.  Jesus Christ sets me free from it.

'Quality of Life'

'Quality of life'.  Brothers and sisters, can we think about that phrase for a moment?  Can we think about what we are saying when we are using it?  Can we, as Christians, really use that phrase?

Consider the way we use it:

"Ma'am, your child will be born with Down syndrome.  I cannot guarantee his quality of life.  Here are your options."

"Sir, your father is in the middle stages of Alzheimer's.  His quality of life is decreasing more and more.  We need to discuss end of life care."

"What do you mean I'll never move my arms or legs again?  You mean I'll probably have to stay on this vent as well?  This isn't much of a quality of life!  I can't live like this!"

It would seem to me, that we have replaced the idea of 'not suffering too much' with 'quality of life'.  As though quality somehow correlates to suffering.  My friends, suffering is very much a part of the human condition.  We all suffer.  When is 'too much'?

'Quality of life', though, what does that phrase really mean?  Does it mean that we humans have become like packages of meat?  Some of us have Grade A quality lives, while others, Grade B, C, or D?  What decides quality of life?  Who decides?

In Scripture, the quality of human life is this: man was created in the image of God.  Human life, in all its stages and ages, is worthy of dignity and existence for this reason alone.

From another Scriptural standpoint, while man is also created in the image of God, men also are the sons and daughters of Adam.  Therefore, we were all created perfect- but we are all perfect no more.  Sinners, all of us, sick and not sick, disabled and not disabled, find our equal worth and equal value in the same source- the Cross of Christ.

If we want to say that a man is suffering very much, that he has acquired a severe disability, he is in much pain, he cannot work, his family is stressed to the max, and he is very depressed, say those things.  But don't try to determine the quality of his life based upon his suffering.  His life is still of equal quality (equality)- of equal value- to anyone else's.  It is as deserving of protection and preservation- even from his own very depressed mind- as is all of ours.

'Quality of life' is a dangerous phrase.  It threatens equality, human dignity, and judges human life as 'worthy' or 'not worthy'.  'Quality of life', in this day and age of 'options', and perhaps even 'duty', can turn all too quickly into 'qualified to live'

Down Syndrome, Suffering, and Grace

A recent study says that ninety-two percent of women who discover they are carrying a child with Down syndrome opt to abort the pregnancy.

I am not a parent, much less a parent of a child who will have a lifelong disability.  I can only imagine the feelings and thoughts that contribute to this 'choice'.  I imagine that fear of the unknown plays a role, for many of these parents who make this choice do not know people with Down syndrome.  I imagine that people are fearful of financial strain and the extra challenges that families with Down syndrome face.  I imagine, though, mostly a fear of suffering is involved.

For what parent wants to have his or her child suffer?  And, truth be told, men, women, and children with Down syndrome do suffer.  Oh, not to the terrible degree that doctors have described to parents since before Down syndrome even had a name, while convincing them to institutionalize their children in the past or abort them nowadays.  In fact, even while sharing with me their painful struggles related to their disability and the hurt and pain caused by mistreatment and abuse inflicted by others upon them, often, the men and women I have known with Down syndrome do not view themselves as having suffered any more than anyone else.   But it is a myth that people with Down syndrome are happier than other people.  

It's interesting.  From the world's view, while the purpose of suffering is debatable and the origin often ignored, the answer to suffering always seems to be to end it- even if the way to end it involves ending the life of the one that is suffering.   

Suffering seems to be a potent force in the lives of believers, as well.  For some, suffering seems to turn them away from God, from even the very idea of God, in frustration and mistrust.  While for others, suffering seems to be the cause for hoping in God for answers and comfort.

I do not have all the answers for suffering nor all the answers for those who will soon parent a child with Down syndrome.  God gives many answers in Scripture, but I haven't found them all.  But I have found some.

I am convinced that suffering exists, for instance, because it is a natural consequence to sin having entered the world.  But I am also convinced that God is a God of redemption, Who not only forgives sinners, but redeems the suffering sin has inflicted upon us.  Romans 8:28 says that God works all things for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.

This includes Down syndrome.  For those who are saved, God works Down syndrome for good.

It is very, very true that people with Down syndrome and their families will face hardships unique to that particular developmental disability.  But it is also true that for those families and people with Down syndrome, God's grace will be made perfect in that weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)  It is easy to see the lows and the struggles that Down syndrome will bring.  But soon to be parents have no idea the grace and mercy that God will bring to them through their child.  

Nor do we, the Church, realize what we are missing when we are missing children and adults with Down syndrome in our congregations.  People with Down syndrome have unique gifts and callings that the Church needs- many that have nothing to do with their Down syndrome, for people with Down syndrome are so much more than their disability!  And we are certainly missing the way God brings redemption to Down syndrome and the good He causes through it.

So, this second to last paragraph is more an exhortation to myself, since I have been lacking in this area, but feel free to receive it for yourself, also.  Instead of simply condemning parents who are considering the choice to terminate the life of their unborn child who has Down syndrome, embrace those parents before the choice has been made and make room for them and their child in the Church.  And for those parents who have already made that tragic, sinful choice to abort, as God calls them to repentance, offer them the grace and mercy of the Cross that has been offered to you.  Forgive them and love them.

Down syndrome is in itself not a gift.  But, as all 'syndromes', sicknesses, and disabilities, when redeemed by the Redeemer, Down syndrome becomes a way that the very glory of God is revealed.