Dan and I watched an episode of the British version of "Eleventh Hour," a series that ran for four episodes in 2006.  The last show of the series was called "Miracle."  The story involved a young boy who had a tumor.  He drank water from a spring that had recently begun flowing again and he was cured of cancer.

Naturally, the press got onto the story and swarms of people with cancer started showing up to "take the waters."  The show's hero, Ian Hood (wonderfully played by Patrick Stewart) sets out to disprove the miracle.  By the end of the show...SPOILER ALERT...he proves that the boy's tumor was healed by heavy water leaking from a secret nuclear weapons factory.

Which leads to the Sunday question:

Given what I've just described in terms of plot, is Hood correct that no miracle has take place?  Or is it a miracle of sorts that the boy happened to be near heavy water which he drank and which cured him?

 


Comments

Bob Denst

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:48:50

I guess I am of an older persuasion that holds to miracles being obvious signs of the hand of God at work in ways that essentially "break the rules" of how we understand His creation normally operates.

However, I would also be inclined to say that in the story you relate, it is an example of His grace at work. It is unmerited, yet a tangible manifestation of His love for us. These incidents may take the form of the mundane or the unique and special. Opportunities, gifts, blessings, insights, all of these can be the attire that grace takes on.

I also believe that the line between these can get blurred at times but it seems to me that whenever there was a miracle, it was quite obvious that God was at work. The event was such that people were immediately aware of His power in such a clear way that it left them speechless.

 

chuck

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:24:52

Believe in miracles thru god they can come thru

 

Lori

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:44:04

Definitely still a miracle. With the Divine, there are no coincidences. Shouldn't water from a nuclear factory cause a tumor not cure it?

 

Laura

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:49:29

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the comment post! If I gather the gist of your argument, it is that miracles are interventions of the divine that contravene natural law. I'd agree that most of the miracles in the Old and New Testament fit this profile...but there are others that are not so clear.

Joseph being saved from his brother's plot could have seemed to be just good luck, but I see it as a miracle.

The woman at the well had her life completely transformed by a few minutes of conversation with Christ. Isn't that as much (or more) of a miracle as turning water into wine?

I suppose my argument is that there are different levels of the miraculous. There are those flash in the sky, huge ones. Then there are the everyday miracles that folks might tend to write off as coincidence or fate.

We seem to be close to agreement in all but vernacular. Grace is a lovely aspect of God. And in itself is a miracle.

 

Laura

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:50:08

Hi Dad,

They do indeed. Amen and amen.

 

Laura

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:51:55

Hi Lori!

I agree with your take, fwiw. What many people take as coincidence, I see as God's hand. Small miracles are still miracles.

As to the science behind the program, it made sense at the time that the "heavy water" would cure the boy (like chemo in a way) because it was his "first line treatment" sort-of.

 

Bob Denst

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:48:46

Yes, ultimately it is more a question of where one decides to draw the line between miracle and grace. But I also believe that the work of grace (general and specific) is no less remarkable than the feeding of thousands with 5 loaves and two fishes.

Maybe it was my Catholic upbringing that has me leaning towards a concept of miracles that entails His upsetting the laws of nature.

I agree that there are times when it is less clear exactly how God is working. The important thing is that He is. I doubt that He makes a conscious decision and says "Now I will work a miracle" or "Now I will exercise grace." It's likely all the same to Him, just different flavors.

I know that His grace has worked in me at times in ways that I would consider nothing short of miraculous because of how in contravened my internal nature. I know that He provided my with an ability to forgive when I was incapable of such a thing. Looking back, I can honestly say that He did something wondrous.

 

Laura

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:28:59

Bob,

I like your analogy to flavors--all part of the sense of taste, yet subtly different. I can buy that the same thing is true of grace and miracles.

I wasn't raised Catholic, so I don't carry the same training on miracles that you do. Maybe that's why it's easier for me to blur the line between miracles and the everyday workings of grace.

Still, when I consider Christ's life, what stands out to me as miraculous are the lives he transformed from the inside out rather than the healings or the loaves and fishes. Which is exactly what you mentioned at the end of your comment.

The contravention or conversion of internal nature is the greatest grace and the greatest miracle of all, imho.

 



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