Hi George,
I took the liberty to rename this thread
George Murphy wrote in part:
> > But what if God specifically ask us to pray for a miracle such as a
healing?
>
> But does he - i.e., tell us to pray not just for healing but for
> _miraculous_ healing?
That is the way I read James 5:13-16
>
> The function of OED is to explain the ways in which English words
have
> actually been used, & this is indeed an old and still common understanding
of
> "miracle" by Christians (e.g., by Aquinas). But the Bible gives no
precise
> definition of the types of events which can be described as "miracles."
> Moreover, in none of the accounts of things we would commonly describe as
> "miracles" does the Bible tell us that God acted in an unmediated way &
not
> through cooperation with any creature. All these events of course _are_
> understood to be due to God's action, but so is the "natural" growth of
grain in
> the fields.
> Thus there is no compelling theological reason to say that any
events
> which have taken place in the world are beyond the capacities of "the
operation
> of any natural agency" _in cooperation with God_. Of course _without_
divine
> cooperation no natural agency would be able to accomplish anything or even
> exist.
> N.B. I am not saying that God _cannot_ do anything beyond the
capacity
> of created things nor am I saying dogmatically that God never has done
such a
> thing.
I agree that the Bible is not a document of precise definitions but I
understand that
one of the principles of hermeneutics is to try to determine how the
original recipients
of the text understood it. When Jesus or Peter or Paul raised someone from
the dead
I think it is safe to say that the witnesses understood that to be an act of
God, a miracle.
That does not require that we understand it in the same way, but it does
require that
we need some compelling reason to dispute the eyewitnesses. That miracles do
not conform to our present understanding of the laws of nature is not a
compelling
reason. Even John Polkinghorne has found room for miracles in quantum
uncertainty
and chaos theory. In my earlier post I mentioned that Jesus refered to His
miracles
to John the Baptist to authenticate His ministry and messiahship. I think it
is safe
to say that John the Baptist understood that there is an intrinsinc
difference between
healing a blind person and the "natural" growth of grain.
Bob Miller
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