Do miracles still happen today? If so, which ones are from God and which are from Satan?

-- Luke Juarez (hubertdorm@yahoo.com), October 05, 2004

Answers

People say that childbirth is a miracle, but it really isn't. God created humans with the ability to reproduce, and we can scientifically explain the process. Amazing yes, but it doesn't defy the natural order.

-- Luke Juarez (hubertdorm@yahoo.com), October 05, 2004.

Jesus turned water into wine. Water doesn't turn into wine. People don't become alive again (physical bodies) once they've died. I think mathematicians would calculate impossibility of feeding 3000 people with a tad of fish and some loaves. These are miracles. oh, and humans still cannot walk on water sucessfully.

-- Luke Juarez (hubertdorm@yahoo.com), October 05, 2004.

Miracles are those signs that defy the laws of nature. Heck! the mere fact that nature exists is a miracle.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 05, 2004.

Ha! forget the wine for a moment, try making water from nothing.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 05, 2004.

I'd say yes. A miracle from God would not contradict His revelation and the fruits it produces would be holy. Sometimes the truth doesn't come out right away though.

-- Andy S ("ask3332004@yahoo.com"), October 06, 2004.

well, something happened to me recently.

hanging on my kitchen wall is a little font for Holy Water that is attached a picture of the Blessed Virgin. somehow (the possible miracle) the font fell from the picture, spilling the water to the ground, even though the fonts holds the tiniest amount of water and is made of plastic (ie virtually weightless), and even though it was pretty solidly fixed to the picture.

my initial thought was one of fear that i was being reprimanded. i am a devotee of the Blessed Virgin. She was telling me to be a better person.

then i thought - having spent far too much time in these parts, obviously - that Our Lord was telling me to hold back on the Marian Devotion and to spend more time with Him.

then i thought - hang on, that's Holy Water from a N.O. Church.

well, a possible miracle but one that has only confused me.

i will try to be a better person.

i have re-bonded the font. i have recovered from what was quite a shock. and i will try to take something from the experience.

but yes, Miracles definitely happen, all the time, perhaps in front of our very eyes - but we just never notice.

prayer is not pointless. we get what we deserve and sometimes it is what we want. sometimes, just sometimes, it is a Miracle.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), October 06, 2004.

A miracle is something that cannot be rationally explained as having occurred as a result of any natural cause. Something falling off your wall hardly qualifies. If you are concerned about which Catholic Church the holy water came from, then God probably is speaking to you in the strongest of terms. But not by making things fall off your wall.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), October 06, 2004.

What will happen the day that all miracles are "rationally" explained?

For example: Super Conductivity, Transmolecular Transportation "Beam me up, Scotty", The Curing of the Sick, etc.

I mean right now it seems so supernatural, but what if it can be explained, and worse yet, can be replicated by mortals and their technology, science, or skills/talents?

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

I know, "It is God working through man's designs."

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

BTW, it seems very rare that anyone who is sick gets "cured". They are only comforted until death arrives. The symptoms are treated, but the disease or illness rarely gets eradicated. The real miracle is the absolute cure.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

I guess the real "cure" is death followed by resurrection on Judgement Day.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

"A miracle is something that cannot be rationally explained as having occurred as a result of any natural cause"

Really?

the feeding of the 5,000 is, according to skeptics, the original version of the "Stone Soup" tale.

Chemistry teachers around the world can make liquids change color - water to wine....

anyways, the real point of my post is this - some people could witness Miracle after Miracle and not notice. i see Creation as an inescapable Miracle.

and, in this vein, there is some probability, howsoever small, that what happened in my house has no rational basis in science; and i am open to that probability, though i do see it as somewhat remote. you seem to *know* otherwise.

finally, the fact that i have N.O. Holy Water in my house (incidentally, blessed by a priest that does not use water for Baptism, and who thinks that female ordination is still "up for grabs", and who i actually like though i doubt he is Catholic - though you knew none of this) ought to have signalled that there was a real point to the post - in that i did have N.O. Holy Water in my house.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), October 06, 2004.

"the feeding of the 5,000 is, according to skeptics, the original version of the "Stone Soup" tale"

A: Yeah, right. And Jesus didn't die on the cross, He just went into a coma from which He later woke up, unaffected by the loss of most of His blood. I said "rationally" explained.

"Chemistry teachers around the world can make liquids change color - water to wine.... "

A: Yes, as a biochemist I am quite aware of such tricks. In fact I have put on a "chemical magic" show for various audiences a number of times. However, I wouldn't offer the resulting colored solution to anyone to drink; and if I did I doubt very much that their reaction would be "you have saved the best wine until last".

There is no such thing as "N.O. Holy water". There is holy water - period. The phrase "novus ordo" applies to the approved format of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, nothing else.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), October 06, 2004.

Paul,

What would be your reaction to me if I said that I could breathe underwater for at least 10 continuous minutes?

1. I'm exaggerating.

2. I'm crazy and suicidal.

3. I'm a miracle worker.

4. I can actually do it and you know exactly how I can do it.

My point is that the Scriptures do not reveal how those signs/miracles were done. It is left up to our understandings or perceptions to call them "miracles".

BTW, I can breathe underwater.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

Jesus calms the storm.

Skeptics told me that Jesus was familiar with the weather patterns of his surroundings and, therefore, could predict when the winds would die down. All Jesus had to do was to time his words at the calming of the winds.

My question to the skeptics:

Well, if Jesus knew the weather patterns, so must others who have to work day-in-day-out year after year. They, too, would have the "power" to calm the winds. It would not have been considered a miracle by the everyday people.

Jesus takes mud and spit to cure a failed eye.

The skeptics tell me that it was probably curable eye infection or condition that simply needed an abrasive solution to do the disinfecting.

My question:

If that was all that was needed, anyone could have done it, especially the guy with the bad eyes.

Jesus walks on water.

Skeptics say He might have walked on a sandbar or underwater elevation.

That sounds too simple and too easy to be called a miracle. Jesus would have been called a fraudulent person trying to pass Himself off as a miracle worker, walking on sandbars.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

And then there is the symbolism school of miracles.

Jesus didn't actually "walk" on water or calm the "storm". Water is symbolic for something--life(?). The storm is symbolic for chaos and bad stuff. In other words, Jesus has the truth and teachings to bring order and peace to our lives. Miracles are just symbolic teachings.

I'm not sure about some miracles anymore. I thought they were all 100% true. I read that in Quantum Mechanics minute matter can exist in two places at the same time--bilocation. It is theoretical, of course, but if it is true, I have some figuring to do.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

I better say this:

Every miracle performed by Jesus was done in order to edify His Salvation plan on earth. Those signs were the work of God. The miracles showed (shown)that we have the offer of Redemption, which will bring us into the Kingdom of God in Heaven.

The miracles were not necessarily meant to prove that Jesus was who He was/is. At least, this is my view on miracles.

Others claimed to perform miracles, but I question what their motives were. It would seem logical and evident to concluded their works were to edify themselves.

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

indeed Rod

the NO can be terribly dogmatic until it comes to Dogma.

i have no doubts about Miracles, or their continued possibility. that is why we have the Saints.

i can only speak for myself.

must dash now. have a good weekend.

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), October 06, 2004.

Do we classify all workings of God as miracles then if creation itself is one? We all probably know at least one time, personal or otherwise, in which the Spirit of God (or maybe angels?) was definately at work. To those who reject God, and even to some who don't, these might be seen as coincidences, no matter how improbable. Yes, creating water from nothing is a miracle. But is water still created today? Hasn't God created the earth to sustain and replenish? Mmm, no i'm thinking environmental and how long it will be until fossil fuels are exhausted.

-- Luke Juarez (hubertdorm@yahoo.com), October 06, 2004.

What did Adam and Eve require for life? What do we require now for life that is so different from Adam's day? Did Adam need miracles?

Technology is wonderful, but it is also a pit. We have fallen into that pit in believing that Man can answer to all those problems in life. Man has created solutions to the problems he has created. It is a vicious circle started by Man. What is it that really need? We have everything. So, we live a little longer than our fathers. We still continue to die like them, yes? Everything I see is an illusion. All we really need is a firm faith in God. But, even faith can have its time of weakness. Remember the birds?

I read that the red knot is a bird that can travel across continents in order to find their nesting place. That is amazing when we realize that the same nesting place is used generation after generation. The big deal come more amazing. The little hatchling become able to fly. Those little birds have some kind of pre-mapping or programming that allows them to fly back to their original home to start the cycle again. How do these birds know the way back to their home when they have never flown the course before? There has to be something inherited in their genes. That sounds miraculous to me. That sounds like God at work to me. How much more important are we than the birds?

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 07, 2004.

Ok, I won't tell anyone how I can breathe underwater, ha!

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 08, 2004.

you are half-man, half-Rainbow trout?

-- Ian (ib@vertifgo.com), October 09, 2004.

Hee..hee....

Actually, I think I'm half-man and half-man part of the time.

The answer is very simple. I was hoping Paul M. would have engaged in this little riddle. A little light hearted volley isn't a bad thing.

Anyway, the answer:

Place a vessel of water above the head and breathe till the cows come home. Simple!

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-- rod (elreyrod@yahoo.com), October 09, 2004.