"Howard J. Van Till" wrote:
> Robert Miller asks:
>
> > If we didn't believe in miracles
> > why would we pray for healing, or a job, or any number of things that we
> > ask God to intervene on?
>
> The answer to this question hangs on the specific meanings of "miracles" and
> "intervene" as they are here used. Do these terms entail the idea of what
> Griffin identifies as traditional _supernaturalism_ (God breaks the
> continuity of the creaturely cause/effect chain; God overpowers creaturely
> systems to bring about an outcome that creaturely action could not have
> accomplished)? If so, then Griffin would object and say that that is
> precisely the supernaturalism that must be abandoned is the science/religion
> warfare is to be resolved.
>
> However, Griffin fully believes that intercessory prayer is wholly
> appropriate and that God does act "variably" in the world to bring about
> outcomes different from what may have otherwise occurred. One of Griffin's
> goals is to articulate a concept of divine action that is both variable (so
> that, for instance, it can constitute a response to prayer) and
> non-coercive. Traditional supernaturalism includes the option of coercive
> divine action, which process theology finds objectionable.
>
> Bottom line: If I have read Griffin correctly, he believes that you may
> indeed pray for healing, a job, etc., but that in so doing you should not
> expect God to act _coercively_ in response. Rather, you should expect God to
> act "persuasively" in calling upon the creaturely system to effect one
> possible outcome (the desired one) rather than some other (undesirable) one.
> Griffin does not believe in miracles in the sense of coercive supernatural
> interventions, but he does believe in the appropriateness and effectiveness
> of intercessory prayer.
Whether we believe that miracles happen or not, we have no business
_demanding_ that God heal (or whatever) by miraculous means. It isn't our place
to tell God how to do God's job. God can perform a miracle if God wants to, but
both our experience of the world and belief in God's granting of integrity to
creation should lead us to _expect_ that in the vast majority of cases God's
work of healing will take place through the course of natural processes (in
which I include the technological application of those processes by medical art
& science). & in fact that is the best way of understanding the traditional
practice of anointing the sick with oil together with prayer for healing: Olive
oil in biblical times was considered a medicine & today it serves as a symbol of
all medicines.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
"The Science-Theology Dialogue"
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