by new light 36 Replies latest jw experiences
Miracles will not "prove" God's existence to those who don't believe. There is always another possible explanation...regardless. The appearances of Mary at Fatima...mass hysteria, a physical healing...voluntary remission of an illness.
etc etc etc
I've experienced miracles...but to those of no faith...there are "other" explanations.
>>If we believe God will NOT -- does NOT -- canNOT talk to us/bless us, or 'make miracles' for us, then I'd take a wild guess that He won't.
That's not what the bible says. One example is the account about the 10 plagues of Egypt when Pharoh asked "Who is this Jehovah?". It would be wonderful to see such miracles as are described in the bible. Though when people read of such things in other books they mysteriously turn into myths.
To this rational grown up, it seems like a lot of special pleading. I'll keep expecting what every scientific experiment has revealed time and time again - a deterministic universe. That is, a universe where the laws don't change at the whims of a capricious deity.
rem
I once fell off a 40 foot ladder and landed safely on my feet with absolutely no injury.
Of course I was on the first step.
That's not what the bible says. One example is the account about the 10 plagues of Egypt when Pharoh asked "Who is this Jehovah?". It would be wonderful to see such miracles as are described in the bible. Though when people read of such things in other books they mysteriously turn into myths.
That's what I've always wondered. In "ancient times" I would say that probably everyone, no matter what religion, believe in "a god." It seemed that even other gods besides Jehovah could perform miracles. In modern times science has been a more accepted means to explain the world around us, thus most/many people simply do not believe. Wouldn't it be more benefitial to perform miracles today? Heck, can you imagine if the pope at his annual easter speech suddenly healed a group of sick people, maybe cured a group of Catholics from Africa who have AIDS? The entire world would become Catholic.
My belief in a loving god is tenuous at best.
Although, after reading these accounts, I do not discount the experiences that are cited here.
The question that always pops in my head is this:
How come Satan, his demons, and anything dealing with the occult always seem so ready to answer a curious mind with some type of physical manifestation, yet God seems to be so reluctant to give a similar styled answer?
El Blanko, I?m not picking on you here, but I?d like to cite your friend?s experiences as an example:
A group of friends I associate with who are basically Christians at heart (in terms of their overall belief system and faith in Christ) are interested in occult activity and pursue the knowledge to help bolster their faith.
I?m trying to think up an illustration to get my frustration across, and here?s the best I can do:
This whole trying to reach God vs. the demons thing seems like ordering pizza to me.
I see ads everywhere for ?Heavenly Pizza?. So I call the number, but no one ever answers. Oh, I get an answering machine once in a while, if I?m lucky. The weird thing is, I hear other people say that they have eaten the pizza, although I?ve never actually seen them eating it. But they show me empty pizza boxes with the words ?Heavenly Pizza? on it, and they rave about how wonderful it is. In fact, no one is able to actually show me any pizza that is actually from ?Heavenly Pizza?, although many people swear that it exists. Oh, and ?Heavenly Pizza? only has one style of pizza, flat crust with cheese.
By way of comparison, I see fewer ads for ?Devishly Delicious Pizza?. In fact, I don?t think they even have an ad in the Yellow Pages because the Yellow Pages says that the pizza from them isn?t approved by the Health Department. Yet, I see their delivery cars everywhere. And I?ve seen the pizza, and it looks very tasty. ?Devishly Delicious Pizza? always delivers on time, they are open 24 hours a day, and they have any type of pizza that you could ever desire. And if you have your own unique pizza fetish, they?ll customize it to anything you want. Plus, they?re cheap, and take all forms of payment. Or you can even run a tab, or do a horse trade. In fact, ?Devishly Delicious Pizza? takes any form of payment, and even defers payments.
Word on the street is that ?Heavenly Pizza? went out of business years ago?
Oh, and I almost forgot,??.. the delivery drivers all look like Elizabeth Hurley in ?Bedazzled?
Pizza! Pizza!
Claiming to have experienced a miracle is like answering the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?"
There is no answer that will not engender condemnation or ridicule so its best to leave it alone.
Sabrina
Claiming to have experienced a miracle is like answering the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?"There is no answer that will not engender condemnation or ridicule so its best to leave it alone.
Sabrina
Actually, I think it's more like a man claiming to have given a female an orgasm All men claim to have been the source of one, but documented cases are rare
