Where are the miracles???

[ThatRobGuy]

I find that when I talk to Christians, they feel that one of the main things that separate their faith from all others, is the miracles that have happened in the name of their God and Jesus Christ. They feel that miracles are the validation of his supernatural status.

My question is...Why don't we still see miracles today???

The bible claims medical miracles, instant property transformation in liquids, and the overcoming of this worlds natural laws.

All of these were tangible miracles, why don't we still see these happening? If God wanted to validate his existence with miracles that you could see with the naked eye, why did people 2,000 years ago get the advantage of seeing these when we are expected to believe it just because it's in a book that's only about 50% factual in the first place...

Your thoughts??

 

[Axioma]

These days, God prefers to imprint vague images on food.

 

[rambot]

Also, society today refuses to use the term "miracle" to define anything they can't explain (unless they pervert the meaning completely to refer to a football play).
So, it's not that they aren't happenning, as a culture we no longer put value in the inexplicable; it's disregarded.

 

[567234ta]

These days, God prefers to imprint vague images on food.

LOL thats usually answering a prayer for someone who has been praying for money so they can sell it on ebay.

I think its a miracle that God still loves us despite our lifestyles that reflect his non existence.

 

[StarCannon]

There are no miracles...
... because no one's bothered to report them?
... because they don't happen to a lot of people?

I'd have to say it's a combination of the two, plus the simple idea that peeps just don't know how to water into wine these days! All that knowledge lostlostlost when the Library at Alexandria was burned down.
Given time and training, anyone could heal the sick and make the lame walk again. And turn water into deliciously fine wine.

 

[rambot]

There are 6.5ish billion people on the planet. It's pretty presumptuous to think that ANYONE knows everything that's happening around the world.

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Miracles happen. They just aren't nearly as obvious. Back then sure - but back then people didn't go by faith. God existed. There really was no question so He had nothing to hide. Now it's based on the prospect of faith and belief. There's no point in having faith if God does some wonderful miracle that everyone can see. He does work through small miracles - simple things that can't be explained and games of chance where you get the least likely outcome. To me, that's a miracle. Especially in cases of life or death chances, that you would get the one and only outcome that lets you live on.

 

[StarCannon]

Now that whole reasoning up there is enough to turn anyone off from christianity. Why is a god who was sooo profilic so many years ago decided to play hide and seek with men? After all, he had no trouble smiting down egypt and killing all those tribes in Canaan.
And now it's a matter of "faith"? Uh uh. That kind of reasoning simply cannot fly in this day and age.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Miracles happen. They just aren't nearly as obvious. Back then sure - but back then people didn't go by faith. God existed. There really was no question so He had nothing to hide. Now it's based on the prospect of faith and belief. There's no point in having faith if God does some wonderful miracle that everyone can see. He does work through small miracles - simple things that can't be explained and games of chance where you get the least likely outcome. To me, that's a miracle. Especially in cases of life or death chances, that you would get the one and only outcome that lets you live on.

Is it really possible to have a miracle that's not obvious

If there's something happening that doesn't even stand out enough for people to notice, I would have to say that it's less than miraculous. If the latter part of your explanation is true, we're not all equal in God's eyes if he gives a certain generation an unfair advantage.

If it turns out that I'm wrong and the Christian God does exist, it's not really fair that someone who lived long ago got to watch him raise from the dead (live and in person), and I'm expected to believe it with the same amount of conviction even though the only account I have is a book that's hundreds of years old and passed through generations of translations (and happens to have other stories that have been disproved by science).

That's like me telling you to believe something completely against the norm and using a Dr. Seuss book as justification.

 

[Verv]

Haha, well, it is pretty simple:

If we had miracles that proved the existnece of a Christian God it would take away the Faith element that is vital to the Christian religion. If there was proof that there was a God who performed miracles exclusively to Christians it would no longer be a test for the people on Earth but it would rather be a meaningless exercise.

No miracle will ever be proven.

Most miracles in your life will be things that appear entirely as chance and not provable.

 

[Garyzenuf]

Haha, well, it is pretty simple:

Yes it is...

If we had miracles that proved the existnece of a Christian God it would take away the Faith element that is vital to the Christian religion.

With proof you would not need faith, so?

If there was proof that there was a God who performed miracles exclusively to Christians it would no longer be a test for the people on Earth but it would rather be a meaningless exercise.

No it would just let more people believe in him, isn't that what he wants. No?

No miracle will ever be proven.

Fot the simple reason they don't happen.

Most miracles in your life will be things that appear entirely as chance and not provable.

Exactly, they're not miracles, only life.

*

 

[FaithLikeARock]

Back then, being forgiven wasn't quite as easy as asking. You had to follow the rules and you had to give sacrifices. Had God not shown Himself and connected then, people wouldn't bother. Not to mention that back then, there wasn't even a Bible for people to share. All they had was word-of-mouth and faith. And when you're giving up livestock, you need a little more than that. For the most part, God had to make sure the people remembered Him.

After Christ came, we were no longer bound by the Levitican codes. We have a lot more free will among the people (so long as it isn't against the law of the government) and we don't do physical sacrifice. We have the Bible and really, compared to Judaism, it's a lot easier to have faith in something when that something only asks for an optional monetary donation of what you make, not a required sacrifice. So there's no reason to make obvious miracles. Jesus says in the New Testament that people who believe only based on miracles don't believe in Him - they believe in the miracles.

 

[gwenmead]

What exactly counts as a "miracle"?

 

[PhilosophicalBluster]

@ OP

This is why Deism rocks.

 

[PantsMcFist]

The lack of miracle reports, IMHO, can be blamed in part on rational skepticism. It's like seeing a UFO. People have preceonceived ideas about people who believe in such things, and there's a pretty strong social stigma attached as well.

 

[cantata]

Why is faith a virtue?

 

[Oneofthediaspora]

Why is faith a virtue?

This really deserves its own thread.
It's a question far too little asked.

Why don't you start a thread on it?

 

[70x7]

2 Corninthians 5:7
"We walk by faith, not by sight."

Christianity is based ALOT on faith, but who is to say that miracles dont happen everyday? Just because you cant part the bath water does not mean that God does not exist.
Take a serious thought at this for a moment.
Say you have a coin and say that if God is real than it will turn up heads. You flip, it turns up heads. Do you drop everything and declare the existance of God or do you reason and justify and say that it was 50/50 in the first place so you need another flip of the coin to back it up.
Things happen every single day that we try to back up by reason by calling it the odds of "life".

"God, if You are real, please let me win the lottery" .....now who's agenda is that and are you really seeking to know the Truth?

 

[cantata]

This really deserves its own thread.
It's a question far too little asked.

Why don't you start a thread on it?

Good idea.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

2 Corninthians 5:7
"We walk by faith, not by sight."

Christianity is based ALOT on faith, but who is to say that miracles dont happen everyday? Just because you cant part the bath water does not mean that God does not exist.
Take a serious thought at this for a moment.

...how many more followers would he have if he started parting bath water? If more tangible miracles took place today, Jesus would have more followers...which is what he wants, right?