not being accountable in God’s sight

QUESTION

I am terribly troubled over the fact that my mother, who I believe is saved. Who will soon be 81, is in a nursing home suffering from dementia. This disease, along with the behavioral and undesirable conduct of her nature is more on display than Godliness. In the above I have described do you think that this disease which brings out the worst in an individual could be experienced by either you or myself who is obeying the word of God as taught by God through our Apostle Paul? Thus we could end up dishonoring the Lord because we are not in our right minds because of diseases of the mind which is going to take her life or anyone else who suffers from it so that our testimony for the Lord at the end of our lives would bring dishonor and disgrace and cause harm for the cause for which we stand for. John’s gospel Chapter 21:15-19, especially verse 19, is an example of what the Lord said concerning Peter. How can a member of the body of Christ glorify God in death when a disease like dementia is causing the person to lose their earthly dignity and ability to honor God and thus Satan seems to be gaining the upper hand while this person is still alive?

RESPONSE

I can certainly sympathize with you, for my own mother is in the same condition. Briefly put my understanding regarding this is that it falls in the same category as ones whom God acknowledges are not accountable in His sight. That there is such a thing as not being accountable in God’s sight is evident from the way God spoke to Israel about their “little ones” and “children” when they complained to Him about His judgment against them. (e.g. Numbers 14; Deuteronomy 1:39) God recognizes the unaccountability of ones who are such due to the inability of their inner man to function accountably to “the knowledge between good and evil.” In this particular situation with Israel it is the “little ones” and “children” whose inner man has the inability, and of course it is due to the fact that the inner man just hasn’t yet developed to that point. However the inability of the inner man to so function can exist for other reasons as well, which like the inability of insufficient development would not be an inability which God attributes to the person himself. Hence God speaks of ones being in their “right mind” and the like.

Again my understanding is that this is the case when a saint suffers dementia due to the corruption that takes place as the body goes to corruption and weakens over time. (And this can be the case with any saint.) Due to the mortal/ corruptible/natural body that we have, the bondage of corruption can affect it in a multitude of ways, even to the point of inhibiting the ability of the inner man to use the body properly and function through it properly. When this is the case, the inability of the inner man to function and its results is not something that God would attribute to the person himself. Hence I am persuaded that neither is God dishonored or disgraced by it, nor is it something that the Adversary can gloat over or gain any satisfaction from. Satan can only gain the opportunity to speak reproachfully when he himself through his policy of evil successfully deceives, bewitches, entices, intimidates, and by other similar tactics, gets it so that a saint chooses to turn aside after him and what he offers. With us there is no real satisfaction for him when something that cannot be directly attributed to the working of his own policy of evil and devices against us is what adversely affects us. And this isn’t the case when, as with dementia, the bondage of corruption is what produces it.

Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries

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