John 9:1-41
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided.
17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
John 14:6
Jesus and Truth
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
When we are born we have no view of the world, and we have no view on the Bible or God and His Son...Those views are shaped as we age and grow...When we are very young, we are blind spiritually...
How I interpret, study, and read the Bible has been influenced by only my experiences...How we view God is shaped a lot by our parents and those around us...Anyone who reads what I write, would know that I am blinded by my own view of the world...I am a student of my father, my mother, and the environment that I was brought up in...The early years in one's life, plays a dramatic role in their future...Those youthful and formidable years have been further shaped, by my views as I have aged, by my work, and other experiences that I have had...Each of us are like this...Each of us are shaped by our mother and father who raised us, and the environment we were raised in, and further shaped by the our experiences during and later in our lives...This process has shaped the very way that I (and in my opinion, each of us) think and feel...This happens, in our lives, so gradually and so unconsciously that it goes for some, unnoticed in their entire life...Our very lives, shape us, in how we search and seek for the Truth...
Those who read only what one person writes is greatly influenced by their (the author's) views...So, if I would only read the books of C. S. Lewis and no one else, my religious beliefs, would be much like his...Now using him as an example, because he is one of the most brilliant of minds on and about the Bible, may not be a very good example......But if I only read let's say another, an unknown author, and read his many books (assuming the unknown author had many books), he would have some sort of influence on my views of life (either positively or negatively), about his interests and opinions...And because most people drift and gravitate toward people we like and have similar interests, my views would be less broadened, had I read many other and different authors, with many other beliefs, subjects, and styles...I am blinded by my biases and my own flaws that have shaped me...I am even blinded by my own interests, which holds me back from other views...We can, if we do not notice it, have a very narrow view, worldview, and Spiritual view on things...
So, in my opinion, each of have a worldly view shaped by our parents (or the one or ones who raised us)- and that environment that we were raised, plus the experiences unique to our particular life...By that same process, we each have a Spiritual view, a Godly view from our own unique experiences of life...
I think the Pharisees had a narrow view on things Spiritually...A man who was blind from birth was healed in a time when there literally were no eye surgeries...The Doctor who healed this blind man's eyes used mud and His own saliva as the prescribed medicine...The patient was then told to wash his eyes in the Pool of Siloam...This prescription healed him of his blindness...The patient did know how the spit and the mud and the Pool of Siloam changed his sight, but when this prescription was followed by his Physician, it worked...The blind man was willing to listen and learn and be healed by a different sort of Physician (much different)...
I earlier wrote that each of us are shaped by these experiences of one's life... Imagine if you can, if your mother was a virgin, and your Father was God...Your life and worldview would be all encompassing, and You would know what it was like in the very beginning, because You were there creating it, or watching life being created, as well as the heavens and earth...Your experiences would know about creating things out of nothing...So, men could be blind, so that You could show the work of God be displayed, in their lifetime...You could heal eyes with Your own saliva, if You were the Light of this World...You would be the way out of sinning for humanity...You would understand eternal and infinite...And because you were in the beginning, the Alpha and also the Omega, You would not have to seek the Truth, because you are the Truth...Your created Truth and You are the way to the Truth...You would be the One way to the Father...You would not need to read or search out other authors for differing views, because you are the very Author of Life...You could heal mankind from his own Spiritual Blindness...