43 Does God sometimes cause infirmities

It's Exodus vs Mr. Mark

The Old Testament book Exodus and the New Testament Gospel of John say that God sometimes claims responsibility for people’s infirmities.

Meanwhile the Gospel of Mark says that a demon was responsible for making a man deaf and dumb from birth.

As far as those go, it's hard for me to say whether God or the demon is the bad guy. 

In Exodus God sometimes causes infirmities

Exodus 4:11 The LORD said to him, "Who gives man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or dumb? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? It is I, the LORD.

And in John, God takes responsibility for a man that was born blind 

John 9:2 His disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?" 3 Jesus answered, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.

Over in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus casts out a demon spirit that had made a boy deaf and dumb

Mark 9:17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, because he has an evil spirit in him and cannot talk. ... 20 they brought him to Jesus. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a fit, so that he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. ... 25 Jesus noticed that the crowd was closing in on them, so he gave a command to the evil spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "I order you to come out of the boy and never go into him again!"

Recap: God and demons cause infirmities. It's ironic that people can catch hell from either side whether or not they deserve it. Isn’t that swell?

Related post:

44 Does God sometimes hide the truth