Comment #2: Have we had a thread on miracles lately? or does the protean quality of this thread allow us to go into them in some detail?
Comment #3: I see we are back in long-ruminative-discourse-punctuated-with-polemics-mode. The only problem with that is that comfusers and ADHD/Dyslexia don't go together real purty.
Comment #4 (more edgy and maybe an intro to the rest of my rant long ruminative discourse): How come RC miracles don't count? (rephrase: is there a kind of canon for miracles and their interpretation so we can tgell the good ones from the bad ones?)
Comment #5: What is the thinking on the relationship between faith and miracles? Why does IHS sometimes but not always attribue the miracle to the faith of the beneficiary - or, in the case of the centurion's servant, to the faith of a third party?
I agree that in my experience contrition, even a kind of desperation, is kind of a prelude to wonderful acts of God. Turning, changing/renewing the mind,and thinking again, all of which come down to repentance, seem to me to be a habit which God seeks to cultivate in us, and He trains us in a very Skinnerian way. "Sit, beg," He says, and after we try everything other futile measure we finally sit and beg, and He gives us the treat. "Heel," He says, and when we fail to be alert and run out to the end of the leash and our chain is yanked, slowly we learn to be alert to Him and His movements. To be a Mad Dawg and associated with Domini Canes is good for me, at any rate.
I agree that in His mercy God has let our prayers be efficacious. Usually I try to avoid saying "prayer works," because it is God who works. If a beggar by the gates of a generous King prided himself on his begging how silly that would be! It's the King's generosity that rewards the begging, not the begging itself.
But the King has made us members of His family, 'houoi', and if sons then heirs. And He seems to want us to enjoy His society and conversation. And since all we seem to do is ask, in His love he responds to our asking. And then we praise, and He rewards that as well. We are slow and froward, but He is patient and generous.
I agree with (1) We have needs. Some needs are met through miracles. God therefor performs wonders with mighty hand and outstretched arm, dividing seas and drowning fears.
I agree with (2) with the addition that sometimes miracles are done in response to needs of which we are unaware, and sometimes just to remind us and to show the gentiles the God still has His chops.
So I agree with 3. A long time ago there was an 8 year old with a benign pituitary tumor as big as a lemon and growing. When, after we had given her up for dead, the tumor just flat disappeared, it was very nice to see the nursing staff and the docs all slack-jawed with amazement and gratitude -- even if some weren't very clear about whom to thank. Signs and wonders are not very specific, but they do strengthen the faint hearted and give the faithless sometning to consider ....
Number 4:Yeah, some problems are demonic. The solution will have to be at least angelic, and we know who cuts the angels' paychecks.
Your number 5: Yeah, the psalms are full of splendiferous manifestations: hailstones and coals of fire! And while some will just say,"It thundered," others will finally, maybe for the first time, be prepared to recognize the LORD.
(6) We call that "consolation" - which didn't always mean "there, there, you poor dear," but rather had to do with giving strength and boosting confidence.
And that goes for (7) as well. Still and all, "If they will not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not hear even if someone were to rise from the dead." When it is the Spirit in our hearts which recognizes and responds to the activity of God in signs and wonders, then sooner or later that same Spirit also speaks to us in sunsets and rainy days and occasionally even bird-poop on the windshield of your just-washed car.
So why is it that so many -- and I was among them for years -- just cannot abide things like the miracles which attend the so called miraculous medal? I think of myself as skeptical, wanting to check things out, walk around them, sniff them, paw them gingerlily, go home and think about them. YES there's lots to fret about in the RC church. But I look around and see the miracles that we were told to pray for and to expect. Lots and lots of manure, indeed, but some absolutely splendid roses growing from it.
Magnificently put.
I don’t know what to do with the medals business.
IF AND WHEN
GOD
is involved with such . . . well . . . HE’S THE BOSS. I certainly am not about to throw rocks at THE BOSS.
Otherwise, I’m not about to be . . . parochially exclusionistic . . . about miracles in the lives of the RC’s! PRAISE GOD FOR THAT! And pass the ammunition. Work to do.
Really. RC’s need miracles as much as any of us and no doubt God thinks so, too.
Now, I may not agree with every last bit of hoopla or whatever leading to a given miracle . . . I may not agree that such had anything to do with the miracle. But I feel that way about Pentecostal hoopla, too.
LUBB,