Doubt in Miracles

[Aeradom]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the idea of miracles. Not that I don't think they exist but with the concept of them. I was listening to the Soul Detox sermons and he was talking about how part of relieving the burdens of the soul that weigh you down is to remember the miracles in your life that God has done. A simple enough matter, I thought. But as I wrestled with the idea I honestly had a hard time pinning down what exactly a miracle was. I suppose that shows how far down the rabbit hole I've gone if I'm beginning to question that sort of thing.

There are the easy miracles that you can pick out easily like a sudden influx of money from nowhere or an uncurable disease being suddenly cured. These happened and I have no doubt about that, particularly ones that have been prayed for. But part of faith goes away when I know that there are plenty of other cases of people that do die from those uncurable diseases. And then there is a relative of mine who suffers through dementia and I just know that there's no way God would cure that. As a matter of fact, I hear my grandmother every night crying saying "Dear God, help me, help me!" I think this more than anything has probably made me jaded/cynical to the idea of miracles.

And then there are the "minor miracles". I just have become so blind in my faith that quite frankly I can't pick out what's supposed to be a miracle because I prayed for it or that it just happened because of the normal mechanics of the world and people. Like for instance, I just got a new job. Sure it was difficult getting the job, I had to jump through several hoops to get there but I did. Was that a miracle on God's behalf or was it due to my persistence and interview skills alone? Could it have been both? And I don't get why we would thank God for food if it was purchased with money I earned from a job I work. God didn't work the job for me after all.

I'm probably looking at this all wrong, I'm just I guess trying to believe in miracles again. Even if it's just the small ones.

 

[HTacianas]

Briefly, please remember that no one can expect to ride a "magic carpet" of miracles through their entire life. If that were the case life would forever be bland and boring.

We should strive to accept the good that comes in life and also accept the bad. If for no other reason, the bad is a reminder of what is good. Also, the bad we experience is an opportunity to prove our faith. It's easy to praise God during good times; bad times provide the opportunity to show our faith when it's not so easy.

Remember to thank Him for the bad as well as the good.

 

[JakeyB123]

Look up "Mark Hemans" on youtube

 

[Basil the Great]

If most of us were really honest, I think we would have to admit that the ultimate miracle, someone being healed of an incurable disease, is very rare. Having said that, I do believe that such miracles do happen, but not very often.

 

[hedrick]

The Christian life isn't dependent upon miracles. It's based on following Jesus.

I think many (maybe most) people find that God's guidance is visible mostly after the fact in retrospect.

In fact it's often hard to know what is really miraculous. One of my friends experienced a very low-probability event, but he doesn't quite call it a miracle. But that's no what his faith is based on.

 

[Danielwright2311]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the idea of miracles. Not that I don't think they exist but with the concept of them. I was listening to the Soul Detox sermons and he was talking about how part of relieving the burdens of the soul that weigh you down is to remember the miracles in your life that God has done. A simple enough matter, I thought. But as I wrestled with the idea I honestly had a hard time pinning down what exactly a miracle was. I suppose that shows how far down the rabbit hole I've gone if I'm beginning to question that sort of thing.

There are the easy miracles that you can pick out easily like a sudden influx of money from nowhere or an uncurable disease being suddenly cured. These happened and I have no doubt about that, particularly ones that have been prayed for. But part of faith goes away when I know that there are plenty of other cases of people that do die from those uncurable diseases. And then there is a relative of mine who suffers through dementia and I just know that there's no way God would cure that. As a matter of fact, I hear my grandmother every night crying saying "Dear God, help me, help me!" I think this more than anything has probably made me jaded/cynical to the idea of miracles.

And then there are the "minor miracles". I just have become so blind in my faith that quite frankly I can't pick out what's supposed to be a miracle because I prayed for it or that it just happened because of the normal mechanics of the world and people. Like for instance, I just got a new job. Sure it was difficult getting the job, I had to jump through several hoops to get there but I did. Was that a miracle on God's behalf or was it due to my persistence and interview skills alone? Could it have been both? And I don't get why we would thank God for food if it was purchased with money I earned from a job I work. God didn't work the job for me after all.

I'm probably looking at this all wrong, I'm just I guess trying to believe in miracles again. Even if it's just the small ones.

A miracle is when something miraculous happens or unexplainable.

I have truly witnessed many miraculous events in my life.

 

[Chinchilla]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the idea of miracles

If you believe Genesis 1:1 that God created heaven and earth , then creating few fish or wine is nothing compared to that ...
If you believe that some guy 2000 years ago literally came , died and then rose from the dead everything else is possible aswell .

 

[LoricaLady]

Here are some well documented miracles for you.

A new book called Physicians' Untold Stories lists many doctors' reports about divine intervention they have seen in their practice. In one case a woman who had not walked for years, and who was on her death bed from multiple sclerosis. was prayed over. Suddenly the Almighty told her to "Get up and walk." That she did, with the sudden appearance of new muscles in her legs. She is now leading a completely normal, healthy, life.
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And there is much, much more...
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Now in the Bible we are told of a Man Who believed in Adam and Eve and Noah as being actual, historical figures. The Bible says He did miracles and raised the dead and healed the sick. He multiplied food out of nothing. He said we could do even greater things than He did. The Bible also describes His death and burial. Is there any actual scientific data to support those stories?
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See secular news reports about Val Thomas, dead for 17 hours but now alive and normal after prayers from her family and her Church.

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See Medical Marvel Beyond Chance, from a secular source, with a pediatrician giving his report. this one attesting to a dying child's healing which cannot be explained by modern medicine, and came after a relative laid hands on her and prayed for her.

The DNA in every cell in her body was changed.
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See CBN's short vid with Dean Braxton. You'll hear his critical care doctor, rated the best patient care doctor in Washington state, saying "It is a miracle...a miracle..." that Braxton is alive, has no brain damage and is normal in every way. Why? He had no heart beat and no respiration for 1 3/4 hours! His family believed in divine healing and they and others were praying for him.

. Also see CBN Dr. Chauncey Crandall Raises A Man From The Dead.

Part 1. This video is a bit faded but has the most complete information on this story.
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Get Dr. Richard Casdorph's book The Miracles. There he gives medical documentation for miracles, mostly, but not all, from Kathryn Kuhlman's healing services. Casdorph came to Kuhlman's meetings to debunk her but turned into a supporter, as did other doctors. You can see him and other doctors in some of her healing services on YT. (She is now deceased.) Delores Winder is one of the cases documented in his book. You can watch her amazing story on YT with Sid Roth.

The book The Audacity of Prayer by Don Nordin lists medically documented miracles.
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On Andrew Wommack's vids you can see doctors talking about "miracles" too. At the end of the book Don't Limit God you see a medical statement by a doctor saying that his patient used to have M.S. and diabetes but is now cured.
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Bruce Van Natta was in a horrific accident where he lost about 80% of his small intestine. Someone he didn't even know was told to get on a plane and lay hands on him and pray for him. His small intestines grew back competely and you can see his doctors testifying to that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYwFqeHBA28&t=5036s
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Here we see many witnesses reporting donated food being miraculously multiplied for people who lived in a dump in Juarez. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwsuYYIJ3Rg&t=7s
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And btw do you think that Someone Who can raise the dead and heal people of deadly "incurable" diseases, Someone Who can make body parts and food out of nothing, Someone Who created time, space, matter, and energy - needed "evolution" to make life forms? No, He created them fully formed and fully functional in 6 days just as Genesis, a Book He always supported, tells you.
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Then there is the Shroud of Turin. If you don't know, the Shroud is a blood stained linen burial shroud with the faint image of a crucified man on it. If you have heard that the Shroud was proven to be a Medieval fake based on carbon 14 testing, in the documentary Jesus And The Shroud of Turin you can see the very inventor of carbon 14 testing saying that the sample was invalid due to contamination. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTtDhvk_aw4
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The vid demonstrates many miraculous features such as pollen from Jerusalem and faint images of flowers that are found only in the Jerusalem area during the spring, as at Passover when Messiah was crucified. With modern technology we also see that the Shroud has an x ray quality which reveals the bones and dentition of the Man on the Shroud.
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In the 70s a NASA scientist noticed the Shroud's photographs had inexplicable, unique in the world, qualities. He got up a team of scientists, called STURP, to examine it in person in Italy. (No, the Shroud is not "just a Catholic thing" as the Vatican only came into stewardship of it fairly recently in history.) They used NASA, and other, high tech equipment with 100s of thousands of hours of research. Their findings are seen all over the net and were published in respected science journals.
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The team was composed of 3 Jews, at least one agnostic and one atheist, and people of various faiths. They all agreed on these things: The Shroud image was not painted on, and they have no clue how it got there. It exactly matches, down to blood stains where a crown of thorns would be, the description of Messiah's death and burial as given in the Bible. The image could not be duplicated with modern technology.
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About the Shroud I say "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck, maybe it's a duck."
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Maybe that Man on the Shroud is your very Best Friend and Savior. I pray you will find that out. You're going to need a miracle some day friend. They are out there in abundance for those who humbly seek them from their Creator, the One Who made all that DNA out there, and Who said, "Whoever comes to Me I will no way cast out."
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It's not about religion. It's about Him. And you.

 

[LoricaLady]

If most of us were really honest, I think we would have to admit that the ultimate miracle, someone being healed of an incurable disease, is very rare. Having said that, I do believe that such miracles do happen, but not very often.

I think there are reasons why miracles are rare. One reason, seems to me, is that the Church rarely teaches to do what Messiah said we should do, namely cast out evil spirits, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and do "greater things than" He did.

Also, people are not praying, jointly and individually for miracles but are relying on things like modern medicine, for example.

 

[Job3315]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the idea of miracles. Not that I don't think they exist but with the concept of them. I was listening to the Soul Detox sermons and he was talking about how part of relieving the burdens of the soul that weigh you down is to remember the miracles in your life that God has done. A simple enough matter, I thought. But as I wrestled with the idea I honestly had a hard time pinning down what exactly a miracle was. I suppose that shows how far down the rabbit hole I've gone if I'm beginning to question that sort of thing.

There are the easy miracles that you can pick out easily like a sudden influx of money from nowhere or an uncurable disease being suddenly cured. These happened and I have no doubt about that, particularly ones that have been prayed for. But part of faith goes away when I know that there are plenty of other cases of people that do die from those uncurable diseases. And then there is a relative of mine who suffers through dementia and I just know that there's no way God would cure that. As a matter of fact, I hear my grandmother every night crying saying "Dear God, help me, help me!" I think this more than anything has probably made me jaded/cynical to the idea of miracles.

And then there are the "minor miracles". I just have become so blind in my faith that quite frankly I can't pick out what's supposed to be a miracle because I prayed for it or that it just happened because of the normal mechanics of the world and people. Like for instance, I just got a new job. Sure it was difficult getting the job, I had to jump through several hoops to get there but I did. Was that a miracle on God's behalf or was it due to my persistence and interview skills alone? Could it have been both? And I don't get why we would thank God for food if it was purchased with money I earned from a job I work. God didn't work the job for me after all.

I'm probably looking at this all wrong, I'm just I guess trying to believe in miracles again. Even if it's just the small ones.

Have you heard of Todd White?

 

[Any]

God made the food we eat and he made us. We breathe and we are still here, that alone is a miracle. Look outside at the trees, the sky, the animals. Amazing. The fact that the sun is the perfect distance from the earth to sustain life is a miracle. God loves us.

People suffer. At my church my pastor shared a story about this women who was dying of cancer. God didn't heal her but every day she said "God is good" up until the day she passed. A lot of people were amazed that she continued to say that "God is good all the time" She admitted she didn't know why she wasn't healed but she knew it was for the best. Her tragedy is a testimony. Her mindset is a miracle.

God also took away my suicidal thoughts I dealt with for 7 years. That's something I am so amazed about and I love him so much. Miracles are everywhere, big and small.

 

[LoricaLady]

God made the food we eat and he made us. We breathe and we are still here, that alone is a miracle. Look outside at the trees, the sky, the animals. Amazing. The fact that the sun is the perfect distance from the earth to sustain life is a miracle. God loves us.

People suffer. At my church my pastor shared a story about this women who was dying of cancer. God didn't heal her but every day she said "God is good" up until the day she passed. A lot of people were amazed that she continued to say that "God is good all the time" She admitted she didn't know why she wasn't healed but she knew it was for the best. Her tragedy is a testimony. Her mindset is a miracle.

God also took away my suicidal thoughts I dealt with for 7 years. That's something I am so amazed about and I love him so much. Miracles are everywhere, big and small.

That is wonderful that the Father took away your suicidal thoughts.

As for that woman who was not healed of cancer I am sorry but I don't see her tragedy as being a testimony, but just as a tragedy. As someone said, if the Father wants people to be ill for any reason, then it is a sin for us to go to doctors. When the crowds, in the thousands, came to Messiah "He healed them all."

He didn't say "Well, I'm not going to heal you, over there, because your misery will make a great testimony." Also, btw there is no record of him or any other healers in the Bible saying things like, "Well, first you have to list and renounce all the sins of your ancestors." Healing was quick and simple with few words.

See this priceless vid called 10 Things Jesus NEVER Said About Healing.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

I'm having a bit of a problem with the idea of miracles. Not that I don't think they exist but with the concept of them. I was listening to the Soul Detox sermons and he was talking about how part of relieving the burdens of the soul that weigh you down is to remember the miracles in your life that God has done. A simple enough matter, I thought. But as I wrestled with the idea I honestly had a hard time pinning down what exactly a miracle was. I suppose that shows how far down the rabbit hole I've gone if I'm beginning to question that sort of thing.

There are the easy miracles that you can pick out easily like a sudden influx of money from nowhere or an uncurable disease being suddenly cured. These happened and I have no doubt about that, particularly ones that have been prayed for. But part of faith goes away when I know that there are plenty of other cases of people that do die from those uncurable diseases. And then there is a relative of mine who suffers through dementia and I just know that there's no way God would cure that. As a matter of fact, I hear my grandmother every night crying saying "Dear God, help me, help me!" I think this more than anything has probably made me jaded/cynical to the idea of miracles.

And then there are the "minor miracles". I just have become so blind in my faith that quite frankly I can't pick out what's supposed to be a miracle because I prayed for it or that it just happened because of the normal mechanics of the world and people. Like for instance, I just got a new job. Sure it was difficult getting the job, I had to jump through several hoops to get there but I did. Was that a miracle on God's behalf or was it due to my persistence and interview skills alone? Could it have been both? And I don't get why we would thank God for food if it was purchased with money I earned from a job I work. God didn't work the job for me after all.

I'm probably looking at this all wrong, I'm just I guess trying to believe in miracles again. Even if it's just the small ones.

Miracles and God go hand in hand, but often we will only get a miracle if we spend a lot of time in prayer. Even then for me miracles have only happened every six months of my life. Having miracles does not make a person more "saved", but it does give great confidence, when you start to seek and receive miracles it strengthens your faith. I am sure I would see more miracles if I submitted more to God's leading. There was a story of a prophet in the bible who saw a great miracle, yet he did not follow God's leading, and for that he died. We need to be submitted to God, to see big miracles. The more we submit, follow Jesus, the more of the miraculous we will see.

 

[LoricaLady]

Briefly, please remember that no one can expect to ride a "magic carpet" of miracles through their entire life. If that were the case life would forever be bland and boring.

We should strive to accept the good that comes in life and also accept the bad. If for no other reason, the bad is a reminder of what is good. Also, the bad we experience is an opportunity to prove our faith. It's easy to praise God during good times; bad times provide the opportunity to show our faith when it's not so easy.

Remember to thank Him for the bad as well as the good.

I don't think a life of miracles would be a bit boring, but extremely exciting. We see the apostles performing many miracles. i doubt they ever got bored with them.

 

[Aeradom]

I hope I'm not violating some taboo on responding so late, I've just been incredibly busy with starting a new job and my grandmother recently having a pen stroke. But there was something else that I didn't really cover in the main post, as it kind of wandered off into a different direction than I really intended. And who knows, maybe this is better meant for it's own post but we'll see.

The biggest issue I have right now with identifying miracles is separating the miraculous from the mundane. Use to, I'd have no problem with thanking God for my meal or my job or what have you. But then I started to think, "Wait, did God provide me with this food? Or did I provide me with this food through the job that I work?" Then it goes a little beyond that and I start to think about thanking God for the weather but then, isn't that just a natural system God put in place long ago? That one I can see thanking him for in perpetuity, but it's other stuff like the car, food, bed to sleep in that I just feel uncomfortable thanking God for.

So I'm conflicted. On one hand, I'm certainly thankful for God working in my life to provide me with the opportunities but I'm not sure just what specifically to thank him for. I think that's why in the original post I talked about the big miracles if you will, because those are undeniably from him. And the reason why I mentioned to soul detox videos is that they said part of dealing with a heavy soul is recognizing the good God has done. That's why I brought all this up.

 

[Hazelelponi]

That is wonderful that the Father took away your suicidal thoughts.

As for that woman who was not healed of cancer I am sorry but I don't see her tragedy as being a testimony, but just as a tragedy. As someone said, if the Father wants people to be ill for any reason, then it is a sin for us to go to doctors. When the crowds, in the thousands, came to Messiah "He healed them all."

He didn't say "Well, I'm not going to heal you, over there, because your misery will make a great testimony." Also, btw there is no record of him or any other healers in the Bible saying things like, "Well, first you have to list and renounce all the sins of your ancestors." Healing was quick and simple with few words.

See this priceless vid called 10 Things Jesus NEVER Said About Healing.

Jesus healed as a sign to the people that He was the Messiah sent from God.

The disciples and apostles the same, they spoke on Gods authority, evidenced by miracles.

The miracles also were a type for us. We were blind to God's truth before we come to faith, and Jesus healed our blindness. We were dead in our sins, and He raised us from the dead. On and on we could go, it all had a deeper meaning that applies to what Jesus does for us all as Lord and Savior.

We were all healed of every disease we are afflicted of that leads to death - the second death - the day we came to Jesus, just as those crowds were healed by Him. And, it IS a miracle.

Various miracles CAN happen today, but if/when they do its for a sign to those who don't believe, and will ALWAYS point in some way to Salvation through our Lord Jesus the Christ.. People can be healed of a physical ailment today, but perhaps only after learning what we needed to learn from the experience.

I don't think we can expect miracles in the same way today as 2000 years ago, as I don't think taking away physical disease or pain was ever the point of miracles. It wasn't to remove the human experience from this life, but rather show us God.

We will be raised incorruptible, and be before the Throne of God where there will be no more sickness, pain or tears after the judgement. .. but that is for the next life. Not necessarily this one.

This one, we actually do learn from the human experience. And its a learning process I think we all need. We can't truly KNOW good unless we experience evil, we can't know love without knowing hate. We can't appreciate the better without knowing the worse. We can't have empathy without knowing pain.

We will never know our own selves until we are pushed to the limits of what we are capable of... we can't know trust unless we are in a position to rely on another.

Between here and there, this life and the afterlife, the miracles we daily experience might seem "small", but their impact on us is huge. They remind us of faith, and love, and the beauty of Jesus and sometimes we get a rare glimpse of the afterlife..

And no, that doesn't make going to a doctor some kind of sin, but rather is just one more part of life that we may learn something from, or be someone else's lesson.