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Re: Man born blind
On Sat, 15 Oct 1994, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 15, David C. wrote
>
> >Does anyone have an explanation for John 9:2 other than a belief in some
> >sort of transmigration of souls or reincarnation? It is the tale of the
> >"man born blind," concerning whom the disciples asked, "Hrabbi, tis>
> >hEmarten, houtos E hoi goneis autou, hina tuphlos gennEthE?"(Rabbi, who
> >sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?).
>
> Reincarnation? Hardly. There is clear precedent in the Prophets like
> Jeremiah and Ezekiel for children suffering for their parents' sins
> ( I don't have the verse off hand, but look in a corcordance for
> "The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge."
> Some will probably disagree with me, but this seems to me to be much more in
> line with the notion of solidarity or corporate personality, as seen in the
> Achen story in Joshua. It also reflects the prevalent notion expressed but
> repudiated in Job of temporal retribution: you sin, you suffer. Jesus seems
> clearly to reject this doctrine, as does the author of Job, and Paul for that
> matter -- if you understand his view of grace correctly). It is firmly rooted
> in OT/Jewish ideas, and certainly not those of Asian religions.
I do not see how this applies to "Who sinned, *this man* or his parents,
that he was born blind"-- of course the "sins of the fathers" notion
applies to "his parents," but why the concept that *this man* could have
been born blind because of *his* sin?. How could he have sinned before
birth unless there was some concept of pre-existence? Is there something
I am overlooking?
David
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