by It’s a fascinating question posed by Mindcleaner. Why doesn’t God just do some miracles to make men believe in Him? Mindcleaner states that there are tribes that tell of amazing things happening, and you’ve heard them from your own missionaries, so why not in the U.S.?
It’s possible that it is because we live in a world that’s hard to be amazed. Even the miracles that we do see or have record of we try to explain. Just a few months ago they were claiming to know how the three men survived the firey furnace– because of a trapped air pocket. And the explaination of Noah’s Ark being a local flood. People do not look at God when a miracle happens, they look at men.
But this whole concept is not new. In fact, it happened in Jesus time. If you remember, Jesus would not perform miracles for the Pharisees. They begged Him for a sign and His response was that it was a crooked and perverse generation that looked for signs. But then he would go and heal a person who had an illness since birth.
I think the key is best found when Jesus healed the paralytic. The man was lowered down into the house on a stretcher, and instead of saying “Be well,” Jesus said, “Your sins be forgiven you.” But the point was next– the Pharisees thought this blaspheme because only God can forgive sins. Jesus follows up with the statement, “So that you may know that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins, arise, take up your bed and walk.”
Miracles aren’t done because God has to prove Himself. The evidence for God is all around. Miracles are used to make a difference in people’s life, and to accomplish Christ’s purpose in the world– to change those that were once God’s enemies into worshippers. Our hearts (as a society) are hardened– that’s why we don’t see miracles.
Most definitely. We as Americans are trained to be skeptical. That there’s always a catch or a ruse to things that we see that are amazing.
I have heard about miracles being performed, generally through prayer, but miracles nonetheless. I think that it is easy for us to see a miracle if our minds and hearts are open to see it, unfortunately so many of us are not willing to admit that God is the creator of these miracles if there is no bolt of lightning. Of course if there were then we’d have to prove the scientific and healing powers of static electricity…
I think this points to another important point– our forefathers were able to be much closer to God because they did not question the “why” but gave glory to God. Now we have to have a natural reason for everything.