Where Are The Miracles?
The Bible is rife with God's supernatural intervention in our world, but lately the miracles seem few and far between. True, there were periods in Scripture when there were no miracles; but when God was on the move, He verified his work through miracles.
Moses, go tell Pharoah to let my people go, and here's a sign... Joshua, I'm giving you Jericho, but you don't have to do anything... Gideon, you're going to fight this seemingly unbeatable army, and here's a sign... Prophets, here's a vision... Disciples, here's a boatload of fish... Thomas, My hands, My feet...
I know about the verses that say faith is so much better, but why do you think God, who saw fit to punctuate His greatest plans with a supernatural action, has for the last thousand years left us dry? You can point to many things like healings or salvation, and while I do believe those are important actions by God, they are not things that can only be ascribed to God's supernatural intervention. A healed lung may baffle scientists, but there are unsaved people who have their lungs healed. People are saved from sin, but I've met many a reformed unbeliever.
So in this age of science, where nearly every natural phenomenon is categorized and documented, doesn't it seem like a supernatural display would be most effective now? Break the shell of science and demonstrate that everything you think you know doesn't even scratch the surface of the Divine. Instead, we've seen just the opposite. God is strangely silent.
Why? Do you think we've become so jaded that any miracle, no matter how supernatural, wouldn't faze us? Perhaps God is waiting for something, like the 400 year silence between old and new testament? Or maybe He's just changed how He deals with man, and if that's the case, why did miracles play such an important roll in ancient times only to be done away with now?
You know the skeptics say that science has killed the notion of God. Miracles, they assert, were not miracles, they were just undocumented natural phenomenon and we now know better. So where does that leave those who believe in miracles? Are we resigned to Mary appearing on a grilled cheese sandwich? Any non-materialists (or materialist) out there who would care to share their opinions on this one?
InterAction:
15 February 20062. Jesse Gardner:
Thanks for your thoughtful response, Dad. A very interesting point about John the Baptist... never struck me before.
If miracles are so ineffective, why did God continue to use them throughout the Scriptures? Think about it. Miracles certainly didn't revolutionize Israel's faith during the Exodus, but God still used miracles in the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. And as you pointed out, those miracles had their own set of problems. God went ahead and still marked Jesus' ministry with miracles; yet John 12:37 shows the ineffectiveness of those miracles. And finally, Revelation is chock-full of miracles marking the end time.
If they don't work, why doesn't God stop making them such a big part of His plans (i.e. Resurrection, virgin birth) ?
15 February 20063. Keith:
Well, either way you go, God can't win. If we aren't convinced by miracles, why should He do them? If He doesn't do them, we're sure we'd be persuaded if only He would. I think that's the point, really. The problem isn't Him, it's us. He plays a durge and we don't mourn. He plays a waltz and we won't dance. The problem isn't the musician, it's the audience. So, He has done enough miracles to show what He is capable of, but doesn't perform like a trained dog just to amuse us.
K
P.S. If you get a chance, can you fix my "miraclae" in the first paragraphy of my original post? (Like the "no" "know" in an earlier post.) ;-D
15 February 20064. Jesse Gardner:
I follow what you're saying, but why did he use them at all? If the problem is us, He knows us better than we know ourselves. Why doesn't he just use whatever would be most effective?
15 February 20065. Keith:
I'm not sure it's just a matter God choosing the one thing that will work. By doing some historic miracles, He eliminated the excuses some folks might offer for their unbelief. He knows what works, but He also knows about our excuses and our self-deception. I can't explain it all - but He's got it all figured out.
Dad
23 May 20076. ³ýʪ»ú:
º¼ÖÝÅ·Ò×µçÆ÷ÓÐÏÞ¹«Ë¾×¨ÒµÉú²ú³ýʪ»ú,¹¤Òµ³ýʪ»ú,³éʪ»ú,ȥʪ»ú,¿ÕÆø³ýʪ»ú,¿ÕÆø³éʪ»ú,ʳƷ³ýʪ»ú,Ò½Ò©³ýʪ»ú,²èÒ¶³ýʪ»ú,¹¤³Ì¹¤Òµ³ýʪ»ú,»¯¹¤³ýʪ»ú,µµ°¸³ýʪ»ú,×ÉѯÈÈÏß::0571-28880596 28880556 ´«Õæ:0571-85046696¡£
YourThoughts?
(Minutia)
This entry was written by Jesse on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at 7:21 AM and appears in the Savior chapter. The previous article was entitled, "Too Much To Say", and the next entry is called, "Asleep In The Light". Bookmark the permalink, save it to del.icio.us or Digg it.
GetUpdated
ElseWhere
AllChapters
- 50 articles in the chapter 0's and 1's
- 33 articles in the chapter America
- 54 articles in the chapter Blogging
- 34 articles in the chapter Ears
- 35 articles in the chapter Eyes
- 16 articles in the chapter Family Ties
- 17 articles in the chapter Friends
- 3 articles in the chapter Great-Grandmother
- 58 articles in the chapter Heart
- 4 articles in the chapter Intercessional
- 61 articles in the chapter Journeys
- 44 articles in the chapter Kicks and Giggles
- 46 articles in the chapter Mind
- 28 articles in the chapter Miscellany
- 16 articles in the chapter Movies
- 2 articles in the chapter Podcasts
- 29 articles in the chapter Retrospection
- 63 articles in the chapter Savior
- 2 articles in the chapter Tech Tips
- 32 articles in the chapter The Pen
- 6 articles in the chapter Wedding/Honeymoon
- 18 articles in the chapter World
15 February 20061. Keith:
Hi J:
I've seen a few no-question-about-it miracles in 30+ years of being saved. As you point out, though, they weren't national tier miraclae, but local, personal miracles. But, honestly, those miracles have not been particularly helpful to me.
Miracles can create more problems than they solve. God raises one man off his death bed when the best medicial professionals in the country have literally given up hope. Then a mother with several young children dies despite all the prayers offered in her behalf. The first makes the second harder to bear. You KNOW God can step in and fix a hopeless situation, but He doesn't. The first miracle isn't much comfort to the second family.
I think John the Baptist struggled with this problem:
"Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." (Mat 11:2-6)
John heard about Christ's miracles as he was sitting in jail. If Jesus was the Person John though He was, why was he rotting in jail? The forerunner of Christ sent two disciples to ask "Are You the One, or should we look for someone else?"
The story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel shows the ineffectiveness large-scale miracles. That event was the highlight of Elijah's mininstry of miracles. That public demonstration of power didn't change a thing, though. As a result, Elijah wanted to leave the ministry and life itself.
Jesus made this point powerfully in the story of the rich man and Lazarus:
"Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." (Luk 16:27-31)
History shows that Jesus was right:
"But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:" (Joh 12:37)
Keith