“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” George Orwell


Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Deconstructing disability: New feet

As I was driving into work today, I heard a commercial for a place called "New feet." Apparently at New feet, you can have a model of your foot made, and they then design foot supports that you can put into your shoes that according to their claims cure just about any back or leg problem you might have (by the way, the supports can fit in any shoe!). Anyway it brought me back once again to the notion of prefall versus postfall in relation to disability. Did feet naturally degrade over time before the fall? To ask in another way, did feet degrade (fallen arches, etc,) as a result of the fall, or were they degradable prior to the fall. This is important as it once again gives an indication of how disability fits into the scheme of God's creative design. Would people have foot problems prior to the fall or did our feet undergo a change as a result of the fall.

It is a principle that creation is degrading, as the Bible says, it's groaning.
"For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but through Him subjecting it, on hope: that also the creation will be freed from the slavery of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that all the creation groans together and travails together until now. And not only so, but also we ourselves having the firstfruit of the Spirit, also we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly expecting adoption, the redemption of our body. . ." (Romans 8: 19-23). Clearly the degredation of all creation could include the degredation of our bodies in the form of genetic changes, engineered obsolesence, etc. The degredation of of our bodies could include aspects of physical degredation, the kinds of things which could use "new feet." Yet at the same time we must factor in the body's built in means of correcting the results of infection and injury. These processes might have been the gift of God to deal with bodily degredation and injury at the time of the fall, or might reflect the creation prior to the fall.

McNair
(fcbu)

3 comments:

Alex said...

I don't have any answer as to why God does specific things in each individual's life. I do know we live in a deteriorating universe. I suspect that God works on a need to know basis and needless to say, very few of us need to know!! He also works long term which in some instances will exceed your and my life time. You're certainly more knowledgeable than I, however, for what it is worth, may I suggest you read my blog. Some of it may sound a bit silly, but then again it might contain a germ or two for your own quest!!

Jeff McNair said...

Why not list your blog link here and readers can visit your blog.
Thanks for your comment
McNair

Alex said...

Thanks for your suggestion!! Here's my blog for what it is worth http://dylex.blogspot.com