If someone is born blind and deaf and never is able to hear the gospel or read, will they be lost?<\/p>\n\t
All references to reading or hearing the word are not intended to be taken literally.\u00a0 In Luke 8:10, Jesus said,\u00a0“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,\u00a0 ‘though seeing, they may not see;\u00a0 though hearing, they may not understand.<\/em>‘”\u00a0 If the seeing was meant literally in both uses, then what Jesus said would be nonsensical.\u00a0 He was just saying that although the people in Jesus’ time had the physical ability to see with their eyes, they somehow managed not to see what was going on.\u00a0 The second use of “see” has to be referring to their perception of the events that were occurring.\u00a0 So, even though their eyes worked fine, Jesus was essentially accusing them of being blind.\u00a0 The spread of the gospel is not dependent on our physical ability to hear or see, but on our ability to understand.<\/p>\n More to the point of the question.\u00a0 Helen Keller (for which there is a lot of information on the web) is probably the most well-known person who was blind, deaf and had limited ability for feeling.\u00a0 Yet she managed to learn to communicate through the help of some very determined and heroic friends.\u00a0 Hearing and reading are only two ways to communicate.\u00a0 Braille was developed to allow those who can not see, the ability to read through their fingertips.\u00a0 There is also sign language and if that were not enough, there are creative people who can design even other ways to communicate.<\/p>\n When Jesus was confronted by men who were trying to come up with an “impossible” question (Matthew 22:23-33), he replied with a simple statement that really put the questioners on the defensive.\u00a0 He said, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.<\/em>”\u00a0 I believe that his reference to the power of God is intended to mean, “even if this were a problem, it would not be beyond the power of God to solve.”<\/p>\n So, the direct answer to your question is that the blind and the deaf have the same issues as all of us.\u00a0 They are sinners like the rest of us (Romans 3:23) and need to turn to Jesus because “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved<\/em>” (Acts 4:12).<\/p>\n Darrell Hamilton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: If someone is born blind and deaf and never is able to hear the gospel or read, will they be lost? Answer: All references to reading or hearing the word are not intended to be taken literally.\u00a0 In Luke 8:10, Jesus said,\u00a0“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[916,47],"class_list":["post-8748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-handicapped","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55261,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-make-me-deaf\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":0},"title":"Why did God make me deaf?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did God make me deaf suddenly a few years ago? I try to do good for others. I looked after my mum when she had cancer and I worked in aged care because I care. Then I sprained my ankle, got uveitis (eye inflammation), and lost my hearing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17093,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-doesnt-god-restore-my-hearing\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":1},"title":"Why doesn’t God restore my hearing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have\u00a0about a 30-40%\u00a0hearing impairment. I don't know for sure what has caused my hearing impairment.\u00a0I have behind-the-ear hearing aids.\u00a0I often get ashamed of wearing them in front of people that I have not known for a long time. It is so embarrassing when people say, \"What is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60369,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/things-you-will-never-see-at-a-pentecostal-healing-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":2},"title":"Things You Will Never See at a Pentecostal “Healing” Service","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown One raised from the dead, like Jesus did (John 11:38:44). The blind made to see, like Jesus did (John 9:1-12). The deaf made to hear, like Jesus did (Mark 7:31-37). An ear restored, as Jesus did (Luke 22:49-51). A leper cleansed, like Jesus did (Matthew 8:1-4). Restoration of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88966,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/they-helped\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":3},"title":"They Helped","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Author Unknown The prophet Isaiah, declared by the inspiration of God, \"They helped everyone his neighbor: and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage\" (Isaiah 41:6). In times of crisis, especially, cries for help are frequently heard from every corner of the earth. Victims of floods, hurricanes,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21421,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-ii-thessalonians-17-9-referring-to-two-groups-of-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":4},"title":"Is II Thessalonians 1:7-9 referring to two groups of people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Thessalonians 1:7-9,\u00a0are those who know not God, and those who obey not the gospel two groups of people, and if so what groups is this verse referring to? Answer: \"...\u00a0and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9028,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-lost-who-never-heard-the-gospel\/","url_meta":{"origin":8748,"position":5},"title":"The Lost Who Never Heard the Gospel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: II Thessalonians 1:3-10 Suggested Invitation: \u201cWhat Can Wash Away My Sin?\u201d (454) \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In any game, we want an equal chance of winning, otherwise the game would not be fun. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To that end, we want the rules of the game spelled out clearly at the beginning. Nothing is more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}