MIRACLES: "Nobody believes in miracles, do they?"
Do miracles really happen, or is all superstition and stupidity?
One stumbling block to a lot of people nowadays is the miraculous. After all, we know that humans don't walk on the sea or turn water into wine. But the Bible says it happened. Can you really believe that in a scientific age?
Here are three thoughts to begin exploring...
| Miracles aren't impossible in principle. Well,
miracles in our world are a bit more rare than buses from Silverton to Exeter.
But that doesn't mean they never happen. If God created the whole system, and keeps it running still, who's to say what
is possible? Let's face it, we don't have a complete grasp of all of the
natural laws that govern life in our universe; it's entirely possible that a
Creator who knows more than we do could make those laws work in unexpected ways
upon occasion. As somebody once observed, even if you could explain away all the miracles of Jesus in terms of physics or microbiology, you'd still have to explain why an obscure Galilean carpenter knew more applied science than we do today... |
The Bible isn't a book of fairy stories. Some
people think the Bible is chock full of miracles, from cover to cover. They'd
get a surprise if they ever read it! Most of the time, miracles happen rarely,
and when they do, it's always for a special and significant purpose. The Bible
is not just a compendium of wondrous events, and it isn't interested in telling
miracle stories only to stun and amaze us. In the Gospel of John, for instance, you get only eight miracle stories in 21 chapters, and then the book ends with a comment that Jesus did lots of other wonderful things, too, but there's no time to discuss them. The restraint of the Bible is remarkable; it certainly isn't making stories up for fun. |
Image courtesy of John Snyder via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 3.0 Unported licence |
|
However sceptical you are, there are still some
things that defy explanation. Although some unscrupulous people stage
fake miracles, including sadly fake Christian miracle-workers as well as New
Age figures and cult leaders, there are still things that happen that can't
easily be explained. Many people today would still claim to have been healed
unaccountably by the power of God. Stories abound of incredible coincidences,
remarkable answers to prayer, amazing deliverance from death and disease. And when you've discarded all of the bogus or exaggerated accounts, there's still enough left to make it a reasonable possibility that God is still at work quietly today, meeting the needs of people in unexpected ways. |
John Piper is one of the most thoughtful preachers in America, and the author of over fifty books. He isn't scared to tackle difficult questions, which is one reason he's highly respected! He once gave a talk entitled "Why Do We See So Few Miracles Today?", which you can listen to online (there's a written transcript too).
Picture courtesy of Micah Chiang via Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Licence |
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