Question:  Dear Greg,

            My older brother used to believe in God when he was younger.  Now in his twenties, he has many unanswered questions.  An interesting question he asked caused me to think.  How can a mentally disabled person, someone with an incredibly low IQ or someone suffering from a mental condition such as bipolar disorder have a complete understanding and relationship with God?

            Lizzie

Answer:  Dear Lizzie,

            We humans are skilled at assuming that every other human sees, understands, comprehends and believes just as we do.  Cross-cultural studies show that Christian values may be the same in two or more cultures, but expressed in a variety of differing ways.

            Most of our judgments about how and what and whether a person comprehends God are based upon outward expressions.  For example, does the person say the “right” words, give the “right” answers, wear the “right” clothing, nod their head at the “right” time, recite the same religious creed, go to the same denominational church as we do, etc.?  But the spiritual reality is that we do not know all those who God knows to be his.  There are visible Christians we do know, or at least think we know to be Christians—but there are invisible (to us) Christians we do not know, as well as those we determine not to be Christians at all.

            Many of the mental and emotional conditions earlier generations identified as dysfunctional (or even worse, some were thought to be crazy and demon possessed) have now been found to be aberrations -- abnormalities that appear subnormal to us, but are simply different ways of masking intelligence and sometimes even genius.  Those kinds of “abnormalities” which can be physically identified can serve as examples of what God can do, how God can “get through” and communicate, when we can’t imagine such a relationship being possible.  The Bible tells us that “nothing is impossible for God.”

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht