Re: [asa] Miracle healing?

Hi Christine,

A couple of years ago we had two (!) similar instances in families
within our church in the space of a fortnight.

The first isn't, admittedly, very impressive: a pet dog who had eaten a
rather sizable meal of snail-bait was taken to a veterinary hospital and
pronounced "brain dead". Within 24 hours he was - to the vet's amazement
- back to full health.

The second, however, was considerably more interesting: the sister of
one of our congregation collapsed and "died" - she was only kept alive
on life support in order that her family could make it to the hospital
to say their last good-byes. When they eventually did "flick the switch"
she not only lingered on, but made a full recovery - again within 24 hours.

Of course, the families concerned had asked us to pray in both instances
and we jokingly refer to the former as "the trial run."

Basically, I don't really try to explain these sorts of events. I don't
know whether they are better described by appeal to miracle, or by
simply saying "stuff happens." I simply don't know what to do with the
"data."

On the theological side, I think I would only make two cursory remarks;

(1) It seems that even if the above can be ascribed to the category
"miracle" then it doesn't seem necessary to deny that there were
recognizable physical processes going on. I simply DON'T adhere to the
idea that a miracle is a violation of a law of nature - so I don't find
particularly compelling what is probably the most obvious critique of
the above, namely that we only call such events "miracles" because of
our lack of natural explanation.

(2) I think that "miracle" should probably be used only in reference to
events with a clear revelatory context. That is to say, it seems to me
that in biblical miracles there is more going on than simply a highly
remarkable event. The biblical miracles ALSO evidence some sort of
divine disclosure - that is, not only is their divine action there is
also some sort of narrative which makes theological sense of the
specific divine act. For me to be very comfortable in calling the above
"miracles" I would need God to also disclose something of why he chose
to act in this specific way in this specific instance.

In regards to the two "near death experiences" I mentioned earlier, my
personal view is that both events are quite remarkable, but given that I
don't know for sure that God was acting for a particular purpose, nor
what he was thinking at the time, I'm somewhat reticent to refer to
either as a "miracle".

On the other hand, I don't regard it impossible that God may have been
speaking to somebody else at the time. Perhaps it's possible that such
events can be divine disclosures ("miracles") for some, but not for
others? Interesting to muse on the fact that it was the woman's strongly
atheist brother who was the one leading the prayers by her bedside!

Blessings,
Murray Hogg
Pastor, East Camberwell Baptist Church, Victoria, Australia
Post-Grad Student (MTh), Australian College of Theology

Christine Smith wrote:
> I'm no doctor, but if rigor mortis really was setting
> in and there was zero brain function, I don't see how
> this couldn't be a true miracle :) --any doubters out
> there want to put out an alternative explanation??
> http://www.newsnet5.com/health/16363548/detail.html
>
> In Christ,
> Christine (ASA member)
>
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Received on Fri May 23 19:45:10 2008