Are Miracles Real?

Discussion in 'Faith, Devotion & Formation' started by Tiffy, Sep 30, 2018.

  1. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    62% of British people believe in miracles, a latest survey reveals. 7 out of 10 young people, an even higher percentage, say they believe that miracles can happen.

    What is the opinion of forum members on the subject?

    Any personal anecdotes will be warmly received.
    .
     
  2. Magistos

    Magistos Active Member Anglican

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    I believe that they are. Why wouldn't they be? I just wonder if we don't see them as much in a world filled with so many other wonders.

    My sister, now 41, was a month old infant in the hospital with bacterial meningitis. Thats avery bad thing, as you may know. The hospital had done all it could. It still raged. Finally, the only instructions from the staff was "pray". People had been, but this was "final" if that makes sense.

    In the morning rounds, the doctor checked on her. He called my parents, and said "Remember I'm Jewish as I say this. It's a miracle. All the bacteria are dead. It's defeated overnight, and she's resting completely normally."

    Medical science? Miracle? Miracle through science? The doctor, a man of science, said miracle.
     
  3. Peteprint

    Peteprint Well-Known Member Anglican

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    That is a beautiful story, Magistos. Thank you for sharing.
     
  4. peter

    peter Active Member

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    Of course there are miracles, to deny this is to deny dozens of accounts in the Bible (or to downgrade them to "metaphors"). There is no reason to think that miracles do not happen today.
     
  5. Botolph

    Botolph Well-Known Member

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    There are lots of things that go beyond our capacity to explain. Not all of them are exactly miracles in the conventional sense. I was aware of a family with a long time ill mother/grandmother in hospital. After many weeks it was felt that it would be good for the family to have a weekend off, as they were quite drained through the ordeal. They went camping about 100 km out of town, where there was no phone, no internet, and no power, just nature. At 3am things deteriorate in the hospital and the nursing staff decided it was time to ring the family - however no one was home. At 3am in the forest all three of them sat bolt upright woken by the sound of a landline phone ringing. They could not explain it, but somehow felt impelled to pack up and go to the hospital immediately, They got there about 5 am and peacefully surrounded by her family around 6am the grandmother slipped from this world to the next. It seems to me that miracles are not against nature but simply in some way go beyond nature, very must as faith takes us that one step further than reason unassisted can achieve.
     
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  6. Religious Fanatic

    Religious Fanatic Well-Known Member

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    While I am no atheist, it would be hard not to agree with naturalists that the need to lie about or exaggerate claims regarding the supernatural has been a problem of ours since the beginning of time, and we need to be on guard against absurd or untenable claims. Nevertheless, I do believe in miracles. Obviously, the most extraordinary ones would be those in the bible, even though I've never seen them. But, ironically, the phenomenon I've experienced, which are most likely to be miraculous, given the context, situation, and other factors, are often the most subtle. Stuff a person would quickly dismiss as coincidence if you told them, but because you were there, you knew otherwise and why it was, in your own personal way.
     
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  7. Desiring God

    Desiring God New Member

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    I believe with all of my heart that they are.... :)
     
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  8. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    The problem with miracles is that it is easy to get hooked on them. God has put us here to get on with life and go about doing good, jest as Jesus did. We should never overstep our natural degree of faith and demand miracles of God. Requests are a different matter. We are actively encouraged by scripture and Jesus to make our desires known to God. We should however leave it in God's hands what should actually be done, beyond what we are obviously able to do ourselves.

    Take the Good Samaritan as an example of what we have within our own power to intervene in a situation.
     
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  9. Peteprint

    Peteprint Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Just to add to Tiffy's comment above. The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are my favorite stories in the NT. The first illustrates the love and compassion that God wants us to have for others, while the latter demonstrates the love of God for us (with God taking the role of the Father in the story).
     
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  10. Rexlion

    Rexlion Well-Known Member

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    About 20 years ago, on the way home from a vacation, I hit a highway construction worker.

    Stop looking at me like that! :policeus: You see, we were entering a construction zone. I was slowing down, foot off the gas. There in front of us, standing outside of the barrels which were narrowing the expressway to 1 lane, was a worker. He was bent over and picking at something on the pavement. As I'm moving over to the left, this guy stands up with his back to us, turns, takes 2 steps into my path and then looks at us. He froze for a second, uncertain what to do, while I'm pulling the steering wheel more to the left. Then he inexplicably panicked and ran flat out, right into our path. I couldn't miss! I was swerving and braking, but afraid to swerve too hard because we were towing a trailer. At the last second he leaped up, his leg contacted my bumper, his body spun and his head cratered the windshield right in front of me. I was probably still moving about 30 mph at the moment of impact. Then his body tumbled overtop the van and landed in a heap in the grassy median.

    As I came to a complete stop, I said a quick prayer... something like, "God, I need you to do something!" Then I told my wife to call 911 on her cell and I ran back to where he lay, moaning loudly, "MMMMMMMMHHHH!" over and over. I laid my hands on him and said, "In Jesus' name, be well! Be whole!" Then I removed my hands and thought, ok now what? So I asked him, "Where does it hurt?" He replied, "MMMMMMHHH!"

    Ok, so much for that :facepalm: .... I wonder how that call to 911 is coming? Maybe I'd better get my phone and try calling, too! So I turned and ran back to the van. As I did, my wife passed me going the other way, but I didn't pay any attention to that in my angst and my desire to get my phone. What I didn't know (she told me later) was, at about that time the construction worker stood up and started moving around. My wife says she was worried he might aggravate an injury, so she (and a witness from across the highway who also stopped) yelled, "Lie down, lie down!" The man responded, something like, what happened? They told him, "You got hit by a car! Lie down and wait for the ambulance!" They guy said, "I'm all right." He said his leg hurt a little, but that was all.

    The police came. The ambulance came. I was questioned and let go. They carted him off to the hospital where they found a bag of pot on him, checked him out, gave him Tylenol and sent him home!