CIPA is caused by a genetic mutation that obstructs development of the nerves that transmit sensations of pain, heat, and cold to the brain. So Ashlyn Blocker never feels pain.

“Wow! That’s great!” somebody opines. “I wish I was lucky enough to have that ‘disorder.’ I pinched my finger in a zipper yesterday – and it still smarts.”

Not so fast. Have you ever thought of the downside of insensitivity to pain? Ashley had a severely scratched cornea when she was eight months old, but nobody knew anything was wrong until her eye was bloodshot, swollen, and infected. Even the diagnostic tests didn’t phase her. That’s when they discovered something was wrong with her neurological system.

Since then the little girl has burned her hand seriously on a hot pressure washer. Bitten through her tongue while eating. Blistered her mouth on food too hot to eat. A fall, an inflamed appendix, a bladder infection, a splinter – things that would cause you pain enough to know you needed to do something about them could kill Ashlyn. She just doesn’t feel pain.

“Some people would say that’s a good thing. But, no!” says her mother, Tara Blocker. “It’s not. Pain’s there for a reason. It lets your body know something’s wrong and it needs to be fixed. I’d give anything for her to feel pain.”

Ever hear an unbeliever mock the idea of a powerful, loving God who still allows pain and suffering in the world he is supposed to have created? The reasoning goes something like this:Pain is bad, and a loving God would eliminate all pain. So there cannot be a God like the one you Christians worship.

Pain isn’t fun. But pain often serves good purposes. It warns. It protects. It teaches. And it is necessary for our growth and development. The “evil” that is associated with pain comes either when we unjustly inflict it upon one another (e.g., rape, intimidation) or when we react to it poorly (e.g., vengeance, unbelief).

What is true of physical pain is also true of emotional and spiritual pain. Pangs of conscience make us sensitive to one another. They require us to weigh the effects of our deeds on our neighbors. Spiritual pain over our sin and alienation from God is meant to send us to Christ for healing.

Far from being an argument against God’s creative power and redemptive love, pain attests his goodness as a natural alarm to our physical bodies. A motive for caring about one another as persons in community. A reason to seek the One who alone can deal with our
eternal needs.

Pain is there for a reason. A very good reason.

-Dr. Rubel Shelly

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The Jesus Proposal: Maintaining Church Unity by Dr. Rubel Shelly and Dr. John York The Jesus Proposal acknowledges important points of modern culture without compromising the essence of the gospel. Shelly and York present guidelines for unity in churches without compromising deeply held beliefs. Click here to purchase.

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