Talking Donkey

Darkhorse said:

Of course not. Donkeys (and most other animals) don't have the complex nerve connections from their brains to their tongues and lips that we do. Birds don't have lips, but their tongues are obviously capable of detailed and subtle movements.

But certainly, God, Who made all creatures, could have instantaneously fashioned those nerve connections in this particular donkey, along with the ability to understand and speak a human language, for the purpose of shocking Balaam back into God's will. I fully expect that the donkey quickly lost her ability to speak, once Balaam "saw the light" and saw the angel who stood ready to kill him. It's really not much more miraculous to make the donkey speak than to just make the donkey live, and move, and reproduce. Both are works of God, and far beyond any human ability, even now.

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Tolworth John said:

What do you mean you are having problems with the story?
Compared to the plenty of other stories what problems do you have.
A 6 day creation.people living hundreds of years.
A global flood.
Languages confusses at BabelGod speaking to Abrah.
Making pharaoh impotent.
Sodom and Gomorrah
The burning bush
The ten plagues
Separation of the red sea.
Manna and quails and water out of the rock.

Moving on faster
The axe head that floated, healing of posionous stew, the bears bear attack 40 young thugs, the various miracles of Elijah
,Going back the sun stood still for an extra day while Joshua fought, then Hezekiabh and the sun going backwards up three steps.

New testament all the miracles Jesus did.
Jesus's resurrection.

If you believe any of these and the many I've left out what problem do you have believing other miracles.

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tampasteve said:

No, I do not believe all of the events happened as written. That might be a conversation for another time, or in the open Lutheran section. But the things that did happen (or all of them if you care) would have to be done with God's participation, IMO. In the case of the donkey, or discussion at hand. Yes, I believe it happened with God's participation.

Also, anecdotally, there is a story in the Acts of Thomas that involves the descendants of the talking donkey we are talking about....apparently they kept speaking down their lineage. It is not scripture, of course, but it is amusing.

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Daniel9v9 said:

That God can cause a donkey to speak simply presents no difficulty because God is all-powerful. It only becomes difficult if we erroneously presuppose that either (1) God doesn't exist, (2) God is bound by natural law, or (3) God doesn't work miracles. All of these presuppositions are false. God does exist - He was seen, heard, touched and even nailed to a cross for our sake. And though He was subject to natural law in the person of Christ, He's not bound by it, for He made it.

Whenever we're presented with a miracle in Scriptures, we should always remember that God is the one who makes the rules. Not nature. Nature is a product of God. The fact that God does something that is contrary to nature is for the very purpose of signalling His divinity to us. So, very simply - when we learn about God doing a miracle, it's sufficient to ask yourself: Does the Bible say that God did it? If yes: Is God able to do it? Then the answer is always a resounding yes.

We are not almighty like God, and so, I can appreciate that it can be difficult to take miracles at face value. But let me give you an illustration:

If you write a novel, how easy is it for you as the author to pen down a miracle in the story? Will the characters in the book object if you, out of your own creative imagination, make a donkey speak? No. You as the author is not bound by the internal rules and logic of the book you're writing. You are free to write anything you like. Then is not God, who is not a mere author of a book, but the author of the entire universe and everything therein, much more able to produce a miracle? He most certainly is.

It makes no sense to cherry-pick which miracles in Scriptures we should believe in and which we shouldn't, for they are either all true or all false. To be sure, they are all true. A donkey spoke, Christ was born of a virgin, and He died and was raised to life for us. How a miracle works scientifically is not important. For example, when Christ walked on water - did He become light? Did the water become hard? It's irrelevant and unfruitful speculation, for it's simply not a hindrance to God. Instead of asking HOW a miracle occurs, it's much more profitable to ask WHY it occurs. What is God showing or telling us through the miracle? John tells us. They are signs given to us that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in His name.

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Daniel9v9 said:

Absolutely yes!

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