According to the bible, God takes responsibilty for birth defects? If so, then?

You need to look further into the meanings of a scripture by way of cross referencing or reading around it. For example you cited John 9:2

Jesus’ words showed that neither the man nor his parents were responsible for his congenital blindness. So Jesus gave no support to the idea that the man was being punished for sins committed in a previous life. True, Jesus knew that all humans inherit sin. But they inherit the sin of Adam, not sins they committed before they were born. Because of Adam’s sin, all humans are born physically imperfect, subject to sickness and death. (Job 14:4; Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12; 9:11)

Notice, too, that Jesus did not say that God had deliberately caused the man to be born blind so that Jesus could come along and heal him some day. What a cruel, cynical act that would have been! Would that have brought praise to God? No. Rather, the miraculous cure of the blind man served to ‘make manifest the works of God.’ Like the many other cures Jesus performed, it reflected God’s sincere love for suffering mankind and confirmed the trustworthiness of His promise to bring an end to all human sickness and suffering in His due time.—Isaiah 33:24.

All inherited sin came through the choices of our first human parents. While it is true at times God did cause a person to be struck blind or Deaf, these do not amount to all human defects.

Room limiting on the other scriptures, really what you are getting at is that God is holding a person responsible for what he has caused, more specifically homosexuality. Correct?

But one can also argue if a person is a paedophile, rapist, psychopath, alcoholic, kleptomaniacs etc that God made them this way and this makes their resulting behaviour okay too. Some of these people feel they were born with certain (addictive nature, hormone imbalances etc) behaviours and feel that these are inherited too therefore God will forgive. Well, it's not that simple. Although everyone carries inbuilt tendencies or disabilities of one sort or another, God has allowed this time period to go on and we all have a choice as to whether we act on what we know. We are not animals and instinct cannot be an excuse because we have the ability to reason and to choose the outcome of our behaviours.

So by using reason we understand that God has a set of standards. I use to work with a gay couple (men) and one day I asked one if he felt that homosexuality was the way a person was born. His answer was this. I know identical twins and one couldn't be more gay and the other completely straight repulsed by homosexuality. He went on to say, how do you explain this as they both have the exact same genetic makeup, DNA etc? I am not a scientist but it does make you wonder.

I am not a homophobic nor a campaigner against homosexuality. I am however a Christian and understand that God has set certain standards for us to live by. It is the bible (God) that forbids homosexuality, not something Christians made up. Many, whether homosexual or otherwise are attracted to our creator because of his great love and understanding that we are all sinners and hence the reason why many worship him.

However, some find it hard to reason that they are accountable for deliberate sins. They reason, that if God is LOVE (1 John 4:8) then how could he ever hold my sins against me as the bible says they are forgiven, HOWEVER, what many don't realise is that God does not hate the person but he does hate the sin. You may be forgiven if you change and fight against it however if you deliberately continue and know what you are doing is wrong in his eyes you will be held accountable. The act of homosexuality (along with other practices) is detestable to him. (Romans 1:26, 27; Galatians 5:19-21) The Scriptures do set forth the moral standards of our Creator, which often times run counter to modern-day mores. Homosexual acts, heterosexual sex between unmarried persons, and bestiality are all condemned in the Bible. (Exodus 22:19; Ephesians 5:3-5) God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of such sexual practices.—Genesis 13:13; 18:20; 19:4, 5, 24, 25.

As such these warnings are written down for us. That is what free will is all about, the choice. A person may love God but if his/her life is not in harmony with the scriptures then God will not accept this person into his future arrangement of paradise. The Scriptures offer no apologies, no concessions, no ambiguity; homosexual practices, adultery, fornication, are all repulsive in God’s sight. Accordingly, true Christians do not water down the Bible’s position on “disgraceful sexual appetites” merely to become more popular or more acceptable to modern culture. Nor do they agree with any movement dedicated to the promotion of homosexuality as a normal life-style.

Absolutely not! Though many feel that such tragedies are “God’s will” or that he is punishing the parents for some past sin, the Bible, God’s Word, shows that such is not the case. For instance, Jesus’ disciples asked why a certain man was born blind. They asked Jesus: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?” Jesus then made clear that birth defects are not a punishment from God, saying: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents.”—John 9:1-3. What Is Responsible? There is a variety of causes of birth defects. At times they occur because of a mix-up in the baby’s microscopic chromosomes or genes. This may or may not have been inherited from the parents. However, the Textbook of Medicine states: “In most malformations no major factor can be identified, and it can be presumed that their existence is due to the complicated interaction of genetic and environmental influences or to special rare genetic combinations.” Some factors believed to play a role in causing birth defects include: illness or exposure of the mother to certain diseases during pregnancy, radiation injury, chemical pollution, drugs (even some considered safe during pregnancy), excessively large quantities of some vitamins, malnutrition, improper diet, certain living conditions, age of mother, race, and even the season of birth. Frequently, wars and greedy commercialism have caused conditions that led to birth defects. On the other hand, certain actions by a parent can increase the risk of birth defects. Some lead loose and immoral lives to the detriment of their unborn offspring. The baby can be deformed because the parents contract a venereal disease or are in an incestuous relationship. Also, parents may hurt their developing fetus by indulging in narcotics and tobacco. However, the basic cause of deformed children is the disobedience of the first couple, Adam and Eve. Their sin against God caused them to lose their perfection of mind and body and produce “defective” children. Each succeeding generation progressively drifted farther away from perfection. Therefore, even if there were no adverse technology, war, malnutrition or immoral behavior, there would still be deformed children by virtue of the fact that we are born of imperfect parents.

Re Exodus 4:11-

It does not actually say that God deliberately caused the defect - rather - God is saying that people with defects are equal to any other human, in God's sight, for he created them - meaning the essential person within the defective body. The first couple were perfect, and that is how God meant life to be.

Re Deuteronomy 32:29. God is Love but he is also Just - it is His very nature. Taking verses out of context is always a dangerous thing to do - one cannot understand this verse unless one has read these earlier verses -2-6 I quote some of this -

"Oh, praise the Lord for his goodness, He is the Rock, His ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is He.

They have acted corruptly towards Him, to their shame they are no longer His children, but a warped and crooked generation."

Conclusion - it is us humans who take ourselves out of God's merciful and loving hands by pride and sinful ways. Unrepentant sin attracts judgement, and cuts off mercy and blessing. It is a spiritual Law.

Re the blind man -God does use people with disabilities as a lesson for the rest of us. Their cheerfulness, determination, and often their spirituality, enable us fitter mortals to put things in perspective - to not moan about more trivial problems. In the case of the blind man quoted in Scripture, he was used to demonstrate the healing power of God to encourage others to have faith in a reactive God who is willing and able to heal people whatever the root cause. Certainly, after his healing this man would know that God is real, maybe he would not have known otherwise.

We are more inclined to ignore God and our spiritual needs if we are physically fit, handsome, and clever - self-sufficient, in other words! If a disability brings us to God, this is a blessing in disguise. I remember Jesus' words -saying -that it is better to enter heaven disabled (which will be healed in the next perfect life) rather than to enter hell fully fit.

Re questions 4 & 5 - Again, it was not God's original plan that anyone should suffer some defect or physical disadvantage. Sexual purity is far harder to achieve for some than others, but we cannot judge this side of heaven, what great spiritual advantage there is, lasting for eternity, for someone who, in honouring God's tough moral Law, has controlled their sexuality in very difficult circumstances.

The non-spiritual person sees no gain in the aesthetic kind of life. We do live in a pleasure seeking age, and a pleasure based life-style leaves one spiritually bankrupt.

Comment:

1) The woman who I became married to did not inform me ahead of the wedding that she was born with Turner's Syndrome (which, fortunately, only 1 in every 2500 women are born with) and was unable to conceive and bear children. (I requested and received a legal annulment.) I never learned of such women having same sex relations and I fail to see how Matthew 19:12 has anything to do with "same sex relations" as in your fourth question.

2) John 9:3 appears to me to show that the man who was born blind did not choose his condition referring to your third question.

3) "Yes" appears to be the correct answer to you first and your second ("God has the power") questions.

4) I cannot understand your fifth question.