God, the mentally handicapped, and the spiritually handicapped

For me, the greatest apology (or defense) against the existence of a good and benevolent creator God is mentally handicapped people. Often I can understand when evil things happen to “moral” people because everyone sins all the time and it is simply God’s prerogative upon when to punish anyone or allow the consequences of sin to come to them. What really gets to me is when I see someone that, before they were even born, is experiencing the effects of sin. Before sin there was never mentally handicapped people. These individuals did nothing to deserve the mental state that they are born into. They had yet to be born (and certainly not sin), but the effects of the Fall and/or the sin of the parents changed forever this person’s future.

I remember the time when this idea came to a pinnacle for me while eating at the Rot by myself. I got my food and went to the back of the Rot so as not to be bothered or notice. I found a place to sit which happened to be next to a group of Rot workers, and recognized a mentally handicapped woman at one of the tables (I think her job is to clean off the table when the students leave). She was weeping on the shoulder of her friend about something I did not know. She was absolutely weeping, rended from the sorrow, and I thought, “God, give her a break. You allowed her to be born mentally handicapped, the least you could do is give her a pleasant life.”

I began thinking of the things this woman would never experience. Things like getting a diploma from high school, having a “good” job, turning in a great paper, dating, accomplishing anything of significance, getting a driver’s license, understanding the social nuances, and so many other things. With a mind of a child what could she do? Why, if God is benevolent, would he allow things like this to happen to someone so undeserving? It’s not her fault that she is what she is.

Then God the Holy Spirit, as he does from time to time, showed me my handicap, the handicap of sin. The things I thought she was missing out on could just as easily for me been selfish ambition or vain conceit. I was looking at God through what I thought was good, right, and fair (which is never good, right, nor fair). God the Holy Spirit brought passages to mind like:

Matthew 5
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.

And also Isaiah 55

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

And also Matthew 18.

And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Then I began to think, “Is her state actually better than the one I am in?” I don’t think that is the case, but I do think that Jesus can redeem her metal incapacity. She certainly has the ability, and probably is, a much better Christian than I am. My mental state leads me to a spiritually handicapped state of arrogance, hubris, self-sufficiency, etc. Hers, thank God, does not.

So, God is loving and benevolent even if I don’t immediately notice it. And the same with those that do not notice the love and benevolence found upon the cross of Jesus. It is through the physical state he was in that he may redeem her mental state and my spiritual state for now and eternity.

Soli Deo Gloria.