Do you believe in miracles?

The Bible contains accounts of what we call God’s miracles.
Does God still do miracles? What do they look like today?

BAILEY

“I absolutely believe in miracles! Each miracle of the Christ was an un-veiling of the power and character of the Blessed Trinity, a sign and wonder of His messiahship as well as a foreshadowing of the Kingdom that is and is yet to be. And the good news is, the Blessed Trinity is alive, well and at work in the world today. Consistently and with an aim towards that which is best for humanity, God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit work miracles everyday. Each time a person shares rather than hoards, each time a brave soldier or rescuer acts beyond the bounds of self-preservation for others, each time a relationship is healed, each time a spiritual conversion occurs, each time a struggling addicted person finds freedom from addiction – in all these ways and thousands of others, a miracle occurs. My sense is that God, as the sovereign of His Creation can intervene in ways we humans can’t understand. But it doesn’t stop there! God also works miracles through our scientists and health care professionals. Our challenge is that we often have divided minds. We think if we can explain something, then, it’s not a miracle; if we can’t understand something, it’s the work of God. This is the faulty old God-of-the-gaps in human knowledge argument and a false division of God’s sovereignty which I reject. In contradistinction I stand with Christian martyr and theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer who once said, ‘ ... how wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed further and further back (and that is bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know’.”

-- The Rev. Mike Bailey, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Zion Street

HELFAND

“When it comes to miracles, I think that we look too hard to find them. In Judaism, the first thing we are supposed to do when we get up in the morning is thank God for waking up again, for returning our soul to our body. As the morning blessings continue, we begin to appreciate the miracles of everyday life like having clothes on our back, food to eat, and for other fundamental necessities. A teacher of mine recently told me that every time he drives by the hospital where his children were born, he recites the following blessing taken from the Babylonian Talmud: in a place where a person experienced a miracle, one should say “Blessed be you, Lord our God, who performed for me a miracle in this place.” Do I believe in miracles? Yes I do. The challenge is not believing in miracles; rather taking the time to notice and appreciate them in our lives, whether big or small.”

— Rabbi Corey Helfand, Beth Shalom of Lake Norman

LEMINGS

 “Our God is a miracle-working God who does not change. Therefore, I would contend that miracles are still happening today. In Hebrews 13:8 the Scripture says, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.’ Then in John 14:12, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing and even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.’ Obviously the greatest miracle of all is when someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior. But beyond the miracle of salvation I have witnessed God bring miraculous provision in time of need. I have seen God heal illnesses and restore life when the doctors had given up hope. The day of miracles has not ceased. We simply need to believe in a God with whom all things are possible.”

-- Farrell Lemings, senior pastor, Grace Covenant Church, Statesville Road

NORTON

 “Yes, God still does miracles. They look much like they did in the Bible, people get healed, demons get exercised, storms get calmed. The thing about miracles is that by definition they are rare occurrences. If they were normal, every day, kinds of things, then they wouldn’t amaze us. God is careful with miracles though, even in the Bible. They are given to bring people to faith in Jesus, by showing either His compassion, His power or His authority. The danger is that people will have faith so that they can experience miracles, this is not what Jesus wants. Jesus wants us to have faith in Him because of who He is, not because of what He can do for us. But, like a good Father, God hopes that we will ask Him for what we need. So if you need to be healed, ask God, and maybe, just maybe you’ll receive your own miracle.”

-- Rev. Travis Norton, assistant pastor, Community in Christ Lutheran Church, Norman Island Drive

SHIELDS

 “The early Rabbis (200-600 AD) affirmed the truth of the miracles in the Bible, yet still had trouble accepting miracles that violated the laws of nature. They resolved this tension by explaining that the miracles were in fact natural events engineered by God. For example, God planned the earthquake that would bring down the walls of Jericho. Some Jewish thinkers (Saadiah Gaon and Maimonides) posited that descriptions of miracles were not meant to be taken literally. They were instead meant to reflect a prophetic experience of dream or vision. We can view miracles in the Bible in a metaphorical or allegorical manner.

On a practical level, I personally believe that we bring about miraculous events through our partnership with others and our sense of holiness (God) in our lives as we perform sacred acts of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). Miracles require that we do our part. ‘Pray as if everything depends on God but then act as if everything depends on you.’"

-- Rabbi Michael Shields, Lake Norman Jewish Congregation

RUFFATTO

 “Some people feel that God needs to ‘prove’ Himself to them. ‘If only God would perform a miracle, sign, or wonder, then I might consider Him to be true.’ While miracles in Scripture did serve to authenticate the performer of the miracle (Acts 2:22), they did not always cause the people to change their minds, hearts and behavior. When God performed amazing and powerful miracles for the Israelites, did that cause them to obey Him? No, the Israelites constantly disobeyed and rebelled against God even though they saw all the miracles. The same people who saw God part the Red Sea later doubted whether God was able to conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land.

Jesus performed countless miracles, yet the vast majority of people did not believe in Him. If God performed miracles today as He did in the past, the result would be the same. Many might be amazed and even believe in God for a short time. That faith would be shallow and shaky especially when faced with the difficulties of life. God performed the greatest miracle of all time in coming to Earth as the Man Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8) so that we could be saved (John 3:16). God does still perform miracles — many of them simply go unnoticed or are denied. But, we do not need more miracles. What we need is to be thankful for every breath and heartbeat we’ve been given, hold on to God’s grace and believe in the miracle of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.”

-- The Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto, Point of Grace Lutheran Church, 20700 N. Main St. Suites 102 & 104