Most of us have a hankering for "signs" -- supernatural phenomena and marvels of various sorts. The vast field of religion is commonly assumed to provide ground for the miraculous, and the more fertile the soil the more miracles per acre. So it often comes as a surprise to learn that Jesus was distinctly cool to the subject as a whole. Without debunking miracles as such, Jesus flatly denied that they were evidence of authenticity and gave a stern warning against being duped by them: "false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect" (Matt. 24:24; see also 2 Thess. 2:9 and Rev. 19:20). Jesus also, though he performed a number of miracles in the course of his life, bluntly refused to use a miraculous sign as validation or proof of his divine authority and had harsh words for those who asked for one: "An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign" (Matt. 12:39; see also Luke 23:8 and 1 Cor. 1:22).
That seems to be clear enough and, with Jesus as the speaker, sufficiently authoritative: Don't be impressed by signs; don't go out looking for signs. The miraculous is no proof of truth or reality. Supernatural marvels have wonderful entertainment value, but not much else. There is a basic sense in which we cannot avoid the miraculous. We live in a world, after all, in which God is supernaturally active, visibly and invisibly, both around and within us, far beyond our capacity to notice or explain, control or manage. It would be odd if we did not at least occasionally catch a glimpse of this "beyond" in our backyards and remark on it -- a sign, a sign of God's presence or work where we had not expected to see or hear it and in circumstances in which we cannot account for it. But such signs are not for advertising or entertainment....
...show us how Jesus who created all these things and holds them all together still (Col. 1:15-20) continues to work in this same stuff creation. Everything Jesus does, he does with his hands deep in the soil and flesh of creation...
...Jesus is openly impatient and even dismissive of those who ask for miraculous proof that will validate his authority.
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places - Eugene Peterson (pg 92)
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"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts"
5 comments:
Aren't miracles the verification of the legitimacy of Christianity?
No.
And that is the problem. People (Christian and NonChristian) think it is.
Ok then. We think we know what it isn't. What is it?
Honestly, I do not know what it is. I do not know if there is "verification of the legitimacy of Chirstianity."
That is the whole thing about Christianity. It will not be legitimized until everything is said and done (end of life?, end of the world?, etc.)
People can and will "argue" Jesus or the Bible. But that still takes Faith to believe.
I do not think that Christianity can be defended with science and reason. If science and reason do not legitimize Christianity, then what is left?
Miracles? Signs? Wonders in the heavens?
No, because it takes faith to believe the how and why to what happen.
A lot of this goes back to our conversation on your site.
Ok. There might not be a "verification of the legitimacy of Christianity." Shouldn't there be some sort of extra-evidence for it? Evidence that clearly points to the truth of it?
Now you can say, "Jesus is alive and well at the right hand of God," as evidence. You can say lots of things. That's not what I'm talking about. If there is no exclusive indication, then what do we forgo by trusting something that isn't so?
Why aren't you Muslim?
Why aren't you Buddhist?
Why aren't you Mormon?
Why aren't you Catholic?
Why aren't you Hindu?
Why are you a Christian?
Now go ask a Muslim. Ask a Buddhist. Ask a Mormon, Catholic, and Hindu. All answers will be alarmingly similar. They were in the cases that I've asked anyway.
Does that disturb you, or does that comfort you? It does both to me.
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