Here are the completed notes from the Sunday Evening Service October 11, 2015:
Scripture: Matthew 8
Review – Defining a Miracle:
- A Supernatural Intervention – God, who is continuously active in the world, breaks His usual pattern and does something extraordinary
- A Miracle Transcends Natural Laws (but doesn’t break natural laws) – A miracle overpowers the law of nature – it is an exception to a natural law
- A Miracle has a special purpose
Authentic Miracles are part of the means of establishing the true religion.
What about the Other Religions that Claim Miracles?
Are miracle claims the same for all faiths?
- Muhammad is said to have healed the sore eyes of men
- Some Hindus and Buddhists claim they can levitate themselves or others
- Joseph Smith said he could translate “reformed Egyptian” even through he couldn’t read Egyptian
- People in the occult claim they can predict the future by looking into crystal balls or reading cards or tea leaves
According to C.S. Lewis – “All the essentials of Hinduism would, I think, remain unimpaired if you subtracted the miraculous, and the same is almost true of Islam, but you cannot do that with Christianity. It is precisely the story of a great miracle. A naturalistic Christianity leaves out all that is specifically Christian.”
Are all miracle claims alike? Or are Biblical miracles different?
6 Reasons Biblical Miracles are Different from other Miracle Claims:
- There are hundreds of Biblical Miracles (250+ mentioned in Scripture, 60 in the Gospels alone)
- Biblical Miracles are immediate and permanent
- Biblical Miracles fit reality (unlike legends and fables)
- Biblical Miracles involve no ritual or formula
- Biblical Miracles were recorded while the eye witnesses were still alive
- Christianity makes unique miracle claims for its founder
Miracle Workers:
- The consistency and authentication of Biblical Miracles can become the standard by which we judge all other so-called miracles and alleged healings of our time.