Doctrine of sin

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The disabled tend to be treated differently based on the religious communities. The texts and the inputs from the religious discourse in these communities on matters to deal with disability differ. Studies offered by these religions on disabilities and the relation with the religion give a different view on how the disabled should be helped without practicing ableism. Though the attitudes of Christians towards disability widely vary, the bible dictates how the Christianity doctrine should treat the disabled. In some parts of the word of God, being disabled is seen as a punishment for a given sin. Although Jesus at sometimes referred to disability as a result of sin, he healed the disabled. In the book of John in the Bible, Jesus said that the man he healed was blind for the work of God to be displayed through him (Portolano, 2020). There have been two main approaches to those people with disabilities; some Christians see it as punishment from God for sinning against his laws, while others see the disabled as unique than the non-disabled people. A Christian scholar named Martin Luther once said a boy was disabled because he had sinned and advised the prince to pray for the boy (McKenna & Adrian, 2019). Nowadays, disability is still linked with sin in some denominations of the church where Christianity is dominant. The disabled feel unwelcomed to the Christian churches, and they feel excluded in the church’s activities. Christian doctrine has a significant influence on the actions committed by the deaf either through irrationality or ignorance as sins.

The doctrine of ignorance exists in various forms when it comes to the doctrine of Christianity; these include deliberate ignorance or blameless ignorance. The deaf can commit sins because they are ignorant that a given Christian message is not valid. Although many of the sins that happen in the church today are due to the doctrine of ignorance, some of the actions committed by deaf people can be said to be sins through unbiblical laws that have been developed to protect them. The doctrine of irrationality will take any action committed by the deaf as a sin. In any law, irrational sins are committed by people who do not reason because a reasonable decision-maker cannot make the decisions made before committing these sins. Deaf people have learned about Christian values, and that should help them reason out the decisions they should make to avoid sinning against the will of God or the laws that govern Christianity (Fleming, 2017). When a drunk person decides to commit a crime, whether he is deaf or not, his actions can be irrational because a sound reasoning person or rather a sober person cannot cause injury to people. The doctrine of sin can be perceived differently in Christianity because the deaf may or may have never gotten a chance to learn the word of God, which has the rules governing sinning in the human race. If the sin was committed unknowingly by a Christian, then the action is not considered a sin.

References

Fleming, J. A. (2017). Seventeenth-Century Casuistry Regarding Persons with Disabilities: Antonio Diana’s Tract “On the Mute, Deaf, or Blind”. Journal of Moral Theology, 6(Special Issue 2), 112-137.

McKenna & Adrian. “In Dependent Bodies: Exploring a Christian Understanding of Disability”. webcache.googleusercontent.com. Royal College of Psychiatry. Retrieved 5 January 2019.

Portolano, L. (2020). Be Opened! The Catholic Church and Deaf Culture. Catholic University of America Press.