In John 5, Jesus encounters a crippled man at Bethesda, tells him to stand up, and behold, he does! What happens afterwards is interesting though.


It appears that Jesus genuinely thought that people bore physical handicaps as a punishment by God for sinning. I think there are several possible objections here. First, it attaches a terrible stigma to handicapped people that is totally undeserved.  Who knows how much discrimination  has resulted from these words of Jesus? Second, it’s just plain wrong about the causes of physical handicapping, showing that Jesus had a flawed model of the universe, even though he claimed, and Christians believe him, to be a demi-God. Third, it’s a rather shitty God who creates humans for his adoration, gives them the ability to sin, and then when they do, physically handicaps them as punishment (and that’s not the worst thing this God can do to you). Jesus encouraged you to love this God as the most important commandment. It’s a totally screwed up vision of the Universe, and it makes it very hard to respect Jesus. John 5:14. Remember that one.