Quote:
Originally Posted by pianoperformer  ALG, those who also performed miracles had the backing of God. |
Sure, if you like to put it that way .... but this only goes back to questions like:
1. who does God back;
2. how does one get God's backing;
3. what is God anyway;
4. if God is in all things, aren't you just an extension of God yourself;
5. if God is omniscient and omnipresent, how could you EVER do anything without God's involvement anyway.
Also you may be interested in noting the distinction between performing a miracle, and being the beneficiary of it. For example, Jesus performs a healing miracle, and the sick person is the instant beneficiary of it. The only pre-requisite, according to the Bible, is that the sick person needs to have faith.
If you really stare at it, you'll see that "faith" is pretty hard to define. What exactly must the person have faith in?
(1) That the strange-looking man standing in front here who just introduced himself as "Jesus from Nazareth" can heal me?
(2) That the strange-looking man standing in front here who just introduced himself as "Jesus from Nazareth" is the Son of God?
(3) That I may be healed, I don't know how exactly, but somehow it is just possible?
(4) That I may be healed, I don't know how exactly, but somehow it is not merely possible, but absolutely certain to happen, because of God?
(5) That I may be healed, I don't know how exactly, but somehow it is just absolutely certain to happen, because of some mysterious powerful force in the universe that cares for me?
(6) That I may be healed, I don't know how exactly, but somehow it is just absolutely certain to happen?
Etc etc. You'll see that the distinctions in the formulations above can be quite fine; they slide into each other quite fluidly. For example, if (4) works, why not (5), and if (5) works, why not (6)?
And if (5) and (6) work, why would people not see paranormal events (like miracles) occur in their lives, just by the fact that they held complete faith (or a strong belief) that a certain result would occur ....... WHETHER they actually believed in "God" or not?