How can miracles by true?

 

1)      An atheist (Richard Dawkins) once said this about Christianity:

2)      “The virgin birth, the Resurrection, the raising of Lazarus, even the Old Testament miracles,
All are freely used for religious propaganda and they are very effective with an audience of

3)      Unsophisticates and children.”

4)      This man has claimed that those who believe in miracles are lacking in intelligence or maturity.

 

5)      One of the reasons some refuse to believe in God are the miracles described in the scriptures.

6)      This objection may seem quite sensible to some, but in many ways, it is a very odd objection.

a)      What if the Bible were a book that had no miracles?  Everything in it was non-supernatural.

b)      Stated another way, what if the Bible presented God as a non-miraculous God?

c)      If the Bible had been put together in this way, skeptics would still not be pleased..

d)     They would ask, “How can there be a God who does not demonstrate miraculous power?”

e)      Skeptics would tell us that if there is a God, He would need to have supernatural power.

f)       When the Bible does affirm that God has supernatural power, the skeptics also object.

g)      They claim that supernatural power violates the laws of science and must therefore be false.

 

7)      A court reporter once made an interesting observation.

a)      He said criminals will often say and do nearly anything to escape the wheels of justice.

b)      Some lie; criminals have concocted the most improbable types of stories to explain away evidence.

c)      Innocent people are blamed; false alibis have been given; there are attempts to discredit the police.

d)     Crooks try to hoodwink the judge and jurors; people sometimes re-write history.

 

8)      After sitting through many criminal cases this reporter made this observation:

9)      “I have never seen a miracle defense in a criminal case.”

10)  “No one has ever said their fingerprints were put on the murder weapon by an act of God.”

11)  One man did try what was called the “Twinkie defense.”

a)      He said this treat elevated his sugar levels and the extra sugar caused his criminal behavior.

b)      People do not appeal to supernatural events to explain away criminal charges.

c)      If they did appeal to the supernatural, they would not be believed.

 

12)  Our world pays a lot of attention to science—things that be tested, repeated and observed.

a)      Miracles are not in this category, so many think they must be untrue.

b)      Miracles are written off as legends or “good tricks.”

c)      Let’s be clear on this point.

 

13)  If there is no God, then it is foolish to believe in miracles.

14)  Miracles only make sense if there is a supreme deity.

a)      The Bible affirms the existence of God, as well as supernatural signs because of His power.

b)      God’s word has some specific information  about miracles.

c)      For instance, we find some material on when they occurred.

d)     During periods of change or great significance God gave/used miracles.

e)      When it was time to deliver Israel from Egypt, we read about miracles.

f)       As God was preparing Israel to be the vehicle to bring the Messiah into the world, there were miracles.

g)      When the New Testament era arrived, there were many miracles.

 

15)  These miracles were not just here and there; they were numerous.

16)  In the New Testament era John said (20:30) that Jesus did “many other miracles” not mentioned in his book.

a)      In 21:25 John said the miracles were so numerous it would be difficult to record them all.

b)      John 2:11 refers to Jesus’ first miracle and says this was the “beginning” of them (implying more).

c)      Throughout history God has been a “miracle working God.”

 

17)  Skeptics often claim that miracles “contradict science” and must therefore be rejected.

18)  Miracles do not conflict with science because they are not in the realm of science.

a)      Miracles are in their own separate category; that is why we call them miracles.

b)      Science is a field that recognizes various truths such as gravity.

c)      A miracle (Jesus walking on the sea for example) is not part of that scientific law.

d)     We might say a miracle “interrupts” (transcends) scientific laws such as gravity.

 

19)  To illustrate the thought suppose someone knocks off a book from a table.

20)  Gravity means the book would fall to the floor.

21)  What if we grab the book as it is falling so it never reaches the floor?

22)  There is no contradiction with the law of gravity; the law about gravity is still true.

23)  We, however, temporarily suspended that law; we intervened and in a sense superseded a natural law.

24)  In many respects this is also what has happened with miracles – natural law is overridden.

25)  This is easy to understand, but many will simply not hear of it, especially in academic settings.

 

26)  We live in a world when a lot of well educated people lie and lie a lot.

a)      Our universities, by in large, are to be a place where there is “freedom of thought.”

b)      People are told they need to be open to “all the possibilities” of a subject.

c)      Every possible explanation of a subject needs to be considered.

d)      After all, this is supposedly what education is all about – learning, seeking knowledge and answers.

e)      People boldly proclaim their receptiveness to all things until someone asks a question or two:

 

27)  “Could God exist?  Could God have created the world?  Could God perform miracles?”

28)  When these types of things are said, minds snap shut.  There is no more open mindedness.

a)      God cannot be considered as a possibility for creation or anything else.

b)      Miracles are off the table as far as a possible explanation for some of man’s biggest questions.

c)      Well educated people have said that there is no possibility of God creating all things,

d)     But there is a chance that some type of space creature formed us and our planet.

e)      This is literally the reasoning some have and are using.

29)  When our world says we can consider anything and then says “God is the exception,” it lies.

a)      When people refuse to entertain all possible explanations, they are intellectually dishonest.

b)      We may not like some of the explanations that are given on certain subjects.

c)      Some explanations of a matter may be so wild they deserve little consideration.

d)     To immediately reject an explanation without any basis is nothing but prejudice.

 

30)  When we consider God or the possible existence of God, we have a logical explanation for some things.

a)      For instance, a God makes sense when it comes to the origin of the universe.

b)      Where did all things come from fits in well with the existence of a supreme deity.

c)      We all know that something cannot come from nothing.

d)     If we bought a piggy bank and put it in a corner, money would not somehow appear in the bank.

e)      If that bank sat there for 10 million years, money would never end up in that bank.

f)       For money to appear in the bank, someone would need to put it in the bank.

g)      An account with a zero balance cannot grow without help.

 

31)  A lot of people believe in the “big bang” theory (everything was created at some point in the past).

32)  When asked where the bang came from, scientists say they do not know.

33)  Our experts do not believe matter is eternal; at some point in the past matter had to be created.

34)  Since nothing comes from nothing, something had to exist.

a)      Men may not like to consider that God was the author of the “bang” in creation.

b)      That is one possible explanation and it must, therefore, be considered.

35)  Suppose that we heard a bang this morning.

a)      People turn to us and say, “What caused that noise?”

b)      We say to them:  “nothing caused that loud noise.  It just happened and there is no basis for it.”

c)      We tell the person who asked, “Noise is sometimes made without any cause – it just exists.”

d)     No one would believe that.

e)      If this is true for a small bang, what about a “big bang?”

 

36)  Gen. 1:1 says there was a “big bang” – in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 

37)  Whatever begins to exist (and this is true of earth and space) has a cause (basis).

38)  It is not possible for there to be an infinite (limitless) number of causes.

39)  At some point in the past there was a beginning (a starting place).

40)  Something must go all the way back to the beginning and “God” is a possible explanation for this fact.

a)      Some might say, “What caused God to come into being?”

b)      The Christian reply is:  God is the “uncaused cause.” 

c)      That is, God did not “begin to exist.”  God has always existed.

d)     Some have said the universe must be eternal, but also insisted that there can be no eternal God.

e)      Why can we believe in an everlasting universe but not an everlasting God ?

 

41)   God not only makes sense when it comes to the origin of things, He makes sense of the complexity in the universe.

a)      When scientists look at the world, they find an orderly arrangement.

b)      Throughout Gen. 1 we find an emphasis on making things orderly.

c)      The odds for a “life-prohibiting universe” are much greater than a “life-sustaining” universe.

d)     Our world is not only “life-sustaining,” it is perfectly arranged for man.

e)      How did we “luck out” with such a perfect arrangement?

f)       The odds are so far against random chance it is impossible to believe it was just a matter of luck.

g)      God is a very good explanation for an orderly arrangement for our world.

 

42)  If a supreme being exists, we have a basis for objective moral values.

a)      Objective values are moral standards that are true across the board.

b)      These standards are true for all people, in all places, and at all times.

c)      A person may not believe them or accept these values, but they are always true.

d)     Where do these standards come from?  We have no earthly explanation for this question.

e)      Some who do not believe in God condemn torture; they say it is wrong and evil.

f)       What is the basis for condemning torture?

g)      We might say that some actions are not advantageous to society and therefore bad.

h)      How can we say with 100% confidence that some things such as torture are evil (wrong)?

i)        I once had someone tell me, “Well, we just know those things are wrong.”

j)        What type of proof is that?  What is the basis for “knowing” that some things are wrong?

k)      If we believe torture is wrong and others do not, what makes our view right?

l)        A supreme deity (God), if such exists, allows us to declare that some things are morally wrong.

 

43)  God allows us to explain many things, and a belief in Him is consistent with Bible miracles.

44)  Some claim that God does not exist and miracles are false because there is not enough proof.

45)  In actuality there is proof for God—a lot of proof.

a)      We cannot see God; it is also true that we are no longer seeing “miracles.”

b)      What people fail to realize is that there are different types of proof.

c)      Suppose we want to establish whether or not someone is in his office.

d)     We could go to his office, door, knock, and wait for him to say “enter.”

e)      We see the man face-to-face and that face to face meeting proves the man is at his office.

f)       God could offer this same type of proof to us; in the past this is what He did.

 

46)  There are other ways to prove a man is in his office.

a)      We see his car in the parking garage.  We are told by his secretary that he is in his office.

b)      We see the light coming from underneath his office door.  We hear him having a phone conversation.

c)      Would we conclude (believe), in this second scenario, that the man is in his office?

d)     Yes, but our proof would be different from the type where we actually meet the man.

e)      God has used this second type of proof for us in our age.

f)       All around us there are clues (evidence) about His existence and power.

g)      This is why the Bible uses terminology like “see and ye shall find.”  “Seek, knock, ask.”

 

47)  Miracles make sense, God makes sense, and the Bible makes sense.

48)   If we have come to the conclusion that God exists and His miracles are true, are we serving Him?