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Six Poor Reasons for Rejecting the Miraculous
Saints and Sceptics blog ^

Posted on 06/07/2015 7:08:33 PM PDT by DeweyCA

Christian theology affirms a number of miracles, most importantly the atonement, the resurrection, the incarnation and the virgin birth. The secular mind dismisses these as tall-tales and myths produced by superstitious, pre-modern minds. However, it seems to us that the modern prejudice against miracles is not very rational.

1) Experience shows that miracles do not occur (Skip)

2) Science shows that miracles are impossible! (Skip)

3) If we believe in one supernatural event we might as well believe in Santa and flying reindeer! (Skip)

4) But surely miracles are so improbable, so extraordinary, that no amount of evidence could justify believing a miracle had occurred? (Skip)

5) You can’t believe in miracles unless you already believe in God. (Skip)

6) There is no way to tell from the historical record if a miracle has occurred. (resurrection evidence)

(Excerpt) Read more at saintsandsceptics.org ...


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Charismatic Christian; Evangelical Christian; Religion & Science; Theology
KEYWORDS: miracles; resurrection
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To: CynicalBear
Do Catholics think people are so stupid to believe that all they expect from those saints and Mary is that they will pray for you? We've seen the prayers. Catholics ask them to do specific tasks not just pray for them. Catholics have made them demi gods.

Would I be going out on a limb, by calling it N-E-C-R-O-M-A-N-C-Y? What happens if the "saint" is actually in Hell, not Heaven? Can they still pray for others? Would they even be interested, being as they might be more concerned with the flames surrounding them. Suppose?

21 posted on 06/08/2015 4:20:25 PM PDT by Mark17 (Through all my days, and then in Heaven above, my song will silence never, I'll worship Him forever)
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To: DeweyCA; RnMomof7

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”[a]

20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks[b] foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.


22 posted on 06/08/2015 6:07:39 PM PDT by DungeonMaster (Of those born of women there is not risen one greater than John The Baptist.)
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To: DeweyCA

Oops, that’s from 1 Cor.


23 posted on 06/08/2015 6:09:06 PM PDT by DungeonMaster (Of those born of women there is not risen one greater than John The Baptist.)
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To: Iscool

Go read Revelations 5 and 8.


24 posted on 06/08/2015 6:21:36 PM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Cruz or lose!)
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To: GeronL; StormPrepper; Normandy; teppe; WilliamRobert
No, the most common problem is that people attribute miracles to humans instead of God and then humans pretend to elevate those humans to heaven as “Saints”

Almost...

It's that people tend to think that SATAN cannot produce 'miracles' that would lead people to a godly direction.

Even though Scripture gives CLEAR warning.

25 posted on 06/08/2015 6:49:12 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: JPII Be Not Afraid
We believe saints are in heaven to help us. They pray for us, especially when we ask them to.

Then this is a miracle in and of itself; since the bible states that ALL will be in their graves until the Last Trump.


Daniel 12:2
Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.

26 posted on 06/08/2015 6:55:40 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: JPII Be Not Afraid
We ask holy people who have died and we believe are in heaven to intercede to God on our behalf.


Thank you for calling Heaven's Hotline!

Every call is important to us.

 

 

If you wish to access the Heaven's Hotline FAQ sheet, Press 1 to be connected to Catholic Answers

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If you wish to talk to GOD Himself, please realize His time is limited. Many other representitives and even His mother is available to handle your request, praise, plea, prayer and/or worship/adoration/veneration.

Stay on the line and one will be with you shortly.

Thank you for calling Heaven's Hotline! All lines are presently in use...

 

 

 

After receiving an answer from Heaven's Hotline, Press 3 to hear instructions for the correct amount of alms to be given to the poor.  (Or Hail Marys...)

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27 posted on 06/08/2015 6:59:07 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LearsFool
The author makes miracles into non-miracles.

I wonder what he'd do with lights in the sky and 3 excited children!!

28 posted on 06/08/2015 6:59:57 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: JPII Be Not Afraid
If the church says its a miracle, I believe it.

I'd bet good money that if the church said ANYTHING you'd believe it!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trjDFPAij40



29 posted on 06/08/2015 7:03:18 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: CynicalBear
We've seen the prayers.

Here's one...


My Prayer to Our Mother Mary

Hail and praise be unto thee, Mary, whom God Almighty has exalted above all of his other servants!!
God has entrusted us unto your care and graciously grants any request that you make of Him on our behalf, if it is in accordance with His Divine Will.
Our hearts burn with zeal as we honor you, Our Mother.
We love you as a child loves a mother and you love us as mother loves her children.
Please guide us, your little ones, to our Eternal and Almighty Father God through our prayers and through your love for us.
Many in this world may slander and degrade you while still claiming to exalt God, please forgive them and pray for them for they may dishearten your devoted children.
May we be made worthy of the promises of Christ through your prayers.
You love us so freely and we are so unworthy of it.
You love us because God and Christ loved us first.
Mary, Mother, I love you.

Amen.

 

 

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With your financial support you will make this possible.
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30 posted on 06/08/2015 7:05:01 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Wyrd bið ful aræd
Go read Revelations 5 and 8.

Looking for WHAT; exactly?

31 posted on 06/08/2015 7:05:47 PM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LearsFool
That article makes miracles seem rather trite, doesn't it? The author makes miracles into non-miracles.

Well, as Einstein said, you can live as if everything is a miracle or as if nothing is. I prefer to live as if everything is a miracle; I find it much more awe-inspiring, rewarding, and fulfilling.

As Oscar Hammerstein reminded us, "A hundred million miracles are happening every day."

And A Course in Miracles says that "Miracles are natural. If they are not occurring, something has gone wrong."

32 posted on 06/08/2015 9:09:09 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: LearsFool

http://celebrationcenter.org/a-hundred-million-miracles/


33 posted on 06/08/2015 9:10:10 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Wyrd bið ful aræd
Go read Revelations 5 and 8.

Read 'em many times...Plus all the cross references...Those scriptures have nothing to do with Christians and they don't say what your religion claims they say...

The prayers of Christians go directly to God...Of course you have to be praying to God...When you pray to dead people, God doesn't hear them...

34 posted on 06/08/2015 9:44:51 PM PDT by Iscool
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To: Iscool
When you pray to dead people, God doesn't hear them...

Look at the evidence.

What 'evidence' you say?

Why...

The data that SHOWS that the average Catholic has it SO much better than yer average Prot!

35 posted on 06/09/2015 3:23:42 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Wyrd bið ful aræd; Iscool; Elsie

The veil that separated men from God has been rent in two..from top to bottom ...

Heb. 4:16 Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.


36 posted on 06/09/2015 7:26:06 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: TBP
But if "everything is a miracle", then nothing is. For instance, if the sun comes up tomorrow, is that a miracle? Some would say, "Yes, that's a miracle." Well if the sun coming up every morning is a miracle, what would we say if the sun DIDN'T come up tomorrow? What would we call THAT? :-)

Don't you see that such a view of miracles obscures their purpose? And their purpose is not merely to make us feel happy and fulfilled, but to point us to that which CAN make us feel happy and fulfilled - namely, serving God.

The miracles recorded in the Bible were God's way of testifying to the truth of the His word - beginning in the establishment of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, and later in the gospel of the kingdom. The purpose was to produce faith.

"...how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?" - Hebrews 2:3-4

John recorded Jesus' miracles so that we can believe:

"And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." - John 20:30-31
37 posted on 06/09/2015 7:32:13 AM PDT by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: LearsFool
"And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
- John 20:30-31


And if these ain't enough; by golly we'll have Mary do some or maybe some of the lesser saints.
--Rome

38 posted on 06/09/2015 8:24:58 AM PDT by Elsie ( Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LearsFool

There is a vast difference between the worldview that everything is a miracle and that nothing is.

Contemplate this: How is it that I am able to sit at a keyboard, type these words, click a mouse, and the words I am typing appear on your screen and those of many other people? I know there is a technical explanation, but what explains any of that?

If you view this as just routine, the working out of the mundane factors of the world, then you miss the fullest appreciation (literal meaning: to add value) of this amazing set of occurrences. If you view it as miraculous, then you can approach life with appropriate awe.

What do you think makes for a happier life? To see everything as a miracle or nothing as a miracle? To see miracles as an everyday part of life or to close the door to the miraculous in our lives?


39 posted on 06/09/2015 9:07:11 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: JPII Be Not Afraid
Only God can preform [sic] miracles.

God does nothing in this world except by dong it as and through the expressions of God in form. Miracles occur in our lives because we are open to them and draw them in.

40 posted on 06/09/2015 9:11:03 PM PDT by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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