|
Miracles
Four ways of understanding miracles
It really happened (The
Fundamentalist View)
The miracle really happened in the way it is
described. This point of view accepts that sometimes God can
'bend' the laws of nature to make something happen.
It is a misunderstanding
Something happened, but it wasn't
against the laws of nature. Because those present did not
understand what was happening they said it was a miracle. It may
have been an optical illusion, or there may be some other
rational explantion.
Example: The disciples thought Jesus was walking
on the water, but actually he was just walking along the shore,
or the water was very shallow.
It is an exaggeration (or even a lie)
The real events have been completely
exaggerated in the miracle story. What really happened (if
anything at all) was quite ordinary. The teller of the story is
deliberately exaggerating.
Example: Jesus did not feed 5,000 people with five
loaves and two fishes, but by encouraging them to share they
were fed.
It is a symbolic story
The story is not meant to be taken literally.
It is not so much untrue as told to make a point.
Example: The story of the virginal conception of Jesus
(that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus) is told to
emphasise the importance or holiness of Jesus. It need not be
taken literally.
Activities
Take a miracle story (such as the feeding of the 5,000). How
could each of the above interpretations be applied to it?
or
In groups of four look at one or more miracle stories.
Each person must take one of the above points of view.
Which do you think is the strongest point of view?
Evaluating
There is a fifth way of looking at miracle stories. It goes
like this.
Ask: why is the story being told? What point is the
teller of the story trying to communicate?
Answer this question first.
Then: will the answer to this first question change if
the miracle did not actually happen as it is described?
| 
Signposts
is a Painsley Small World