I can remember it clearly.  I was at a conference on how to make places of worship more accessible to people with disabilities when a woman asked a panel of religious leaders, “what should we do with the hard passages in the Bible related to disability?”

A Jewish rabbi quickly responded. “Oh, you mean like the passages in Leviticus? Well, we just ignore those. We know better now.”

I was stunned at his audacity and breezy dismissal of God’s word. I didn’t know much about the Bible at that time in my life, especially with regards to the disability passages, but I knew 2 Timothy 3:16–17. I believed that "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for corr…

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Because this culture has declared war on people with disabilities, you need to be equipped to fight. And if you’ve been in this fight for a long time, you need to be refreshed. This war, after all, is complex (Ephesians 6:12).

While the prosperity gospel is one side of Satan’s attempts to distract us from our real treasure in Jesus, it isn't the only battle.

There's another one being fought in academic institutions, scholarly journals, and educational conferences.

The Importance of Exegetical Faithfulness

For the past two decades some very impressive scholars have promoted the idea of a liberation theology of disability. A few of those scholars are careful with the Bible, but many a…

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Every couple experiencing pregnancy gets this question: do you want a boy or a girl?  Many will respond this way, “we don’t care, just as long as it's healthy.”

But "healthy" exists on a spectrum of possibilities just like disability.  And that spectrum is becoming narrower with every year that passes.

Last week, The New York Times reported that University of Washington genome scientists were able identify the DNA sequence of a fetus with 98% accuracy, and with safer, non-invasive techniques.  This is a stunning achievement:

The accomplishment heralds an era in which parents might find it easier to know the complete DNA blueprint of a child months before it is born.

That would allow …

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The United States House of Representatives took a closer look at sex-selection abortion this week. 

It’s about time this abhorrent practice was dragged into the light. The United States has seen a rise in the number of children being aborted because they are the "wrong" gender. 

Lord willing, as our elected leaders look closer at abortions based on the sex of the child, they will also see the genocide happening every day against our children with disabilities like Down syndrome and spina bifida. May they truly see — and be horrified — at the industries that are rising up for the sole purpose of identifying and destroying unborn life.

Children with disabilities need protectors and c…

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I recently had the pleasure of joining a group of people that included a Christian man from Ghana. He loves Jesus and holds tightly to the promises of God in ways that are beautiful and humbling. He has been evangelizing, mentoring, and teaching for years in Western Africa, including some very dangerous places.

Last year he lost his daughter to an illness. She was a beautiful 21-year-old young woman about to finish college. He and his wife have suffered greatly. The response from some of the Christian "leaders" he knows made me sick. Confess your sins, they told him. "If you confess your sins she will be made well." Others even said they had received a prophetic word that God had heard…

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Pastor, even if you don’t have anyone with a disability in your church yet, I encourage you to attend this conference on November 8: The Works of God: God’s Good Design in Disability. 

In case you are wondering about its value, here are six reasons:

1. The teaching will be remarkable. If you want to help your people see that suffering and God’s sovereign goodness go together, this will help prepare you. Four people who treasure Jesus and know their Bibles — and who have all suffered — will lead us into God’s word on this subject of disability, suffering, and the goodness of God. 
2. You can’t avoid disability. Someday your church will face it: the unborn child with Down syndrome, the tee…

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On November 8 Desiring God will host a new conference: "The Works of God: God's Good Design in Disability". Pastor John said it well in his introduction: the theme of this conference is both biblical and controversial.

The controversy is easy to see. How can we possibly say that our good God is intimately involved in something as hard as disability? More than one person has said that seems more like the works of Satan rather than the works of God.

But if you take the Bible seriously, God openly proclaims his sovereignty over hard things, even disability. 

Here are two instances (among others) when the phrase “the works of God” appears in the Bible:

• Psalm 78:7 . . . so that they …

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It was the contrast that caught my attention. One of my colleagues said he knew the blog series "How to Stay Christian in Seminary" was for a niche audience, yet I knew I'd been helped by it (though I'm not a seminarian). The focus may have been on seminary, but the wisdom each blog post contained could be applied to a much broader audience.

And I saw three different areas where the rest of us benefit from this topic:

1.  The leaders it produces.

Seminaries exist to produce leaders for our churches, mission agencies, non-profits and institutions of higher education — so seminary really matters.

But God matters even more.

As both Jonathan Parnell and David Mathis pointed out, stud…

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What date is burned into your memory?

Many people impacted by disability can tell you the day it started. It is the day the child was born, or the diagnosis was made, or the accident occurred, or the virus attacked the body. 

And God already knew it.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16)

For years this verse has been a particular comfort for me. God doesn’t just know my days, he has written them down!

That’s helpful when the days are hard because of disability. He knows, and he has a purpose.

Joni and Friends

On July 30, 1967, Joni Eareckson dove in…

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The argument isn't my primary concern. Articles like "After-birth abortion: why should the baby live" are more treacherous for the outcome of their argument than the argument itself, as silly as it is. Ideas really do have consequences.

When I read academicians pontificate from their ivory towers I think about children with names. Children like Paul and Andrew and Michael and Kristina and Mia. Real children. 

And I remember the Apostle Paul’s admonition to the church:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. . . (1 Corinthians 12…

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