Are there no more ‘biblical’ miracles today?

Image from stevenhartman.com

[First posted in 2016; we haven’t changed our perspective on this topic.—Admin1.]

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Look at that book, some of us Sinaites might learn something from taking that course or simply ordering the book.

There has been, for 7 years now, an ongoing debate among Sinaites about the topic suggested in the title of this post. Majority of us do not believe that biblical miracles still occur today, and note please that the defining word is “biblical”.

We do have one faithful Mormon who opens her testimony with “in my simple thinking”, regarding how prayerful life is rewarded with positive answers or so she claims; she is exasperated with our skepticism because she definitely believes that God has worked miracle after miracle for her. She considers ‘answered prayer’ as ‘miracle’.

Others are non-committal, because hey, God might not grant them a miracle if and when they desperately need one. The key phrase as our Sinaite-Mormon says is “just believe” and “have enough faith” — typical of Christian orientation. In fact, we have not forgotten the stock Christian teaching that God always answers prayers—

but not always with a yes;
sometimes it’s a no;
and other times it’s ‘maybe’ or ‘wait’ or ‘not now’.

But let us not confuse answered prayer (the positive one) with miracle.

I for one have become a skeptic because after years of praying not so much for miracles but even just small divine interventions, I have waited in vain. I accede to the thinking that coincidences might indeed be considered answered prayer but honestly, if I did not act and move on the problem, nothing would have happened. In short, miracles just don’t fall on our lap! God gave us a brain, the Torah for wisdom, plain common sense, opportunities to hit or miss, use or misuse, and depending on serendipity, yes, everything might just fall in place for our benefit.

Don’t I have enough faith? I sure do, but I have studied the Torah and YHWH’s dealing with Israel enough to not expect Him to do for me what He did and continues to do for Israel. I do not expect God to do what He expects me to do for myself and even when I’ve done everything on my end, I should not be disappointed if He still doesn’t bail me out. So far, I’ve arrived at my own solutions from my God-given brain plus lifelong lessons learned from plain common sense. Now, if I have not acted and done nothing and God surprises me with something totally unexpected, I might change my mind about answered prayer but when it comes to miracles today?

What do we mean or understand by the word “miracle”? It is casually used in normal conversation to refer to anything unusual, beyond one’s ability to effect, perhaps an unexpected blessing (but never a misfortune) that comes our way and yes, often, answered prayer about something the pray-or wants so badly but could not accomplish on his/her own.

Some dictionary definitions:

an extraordinary and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency;
a remarkable event or development that brings very welcome consequences;
an exceptional product or achievement, or an outstanding example of something.

Most answered prayer belongs to #2 or #3 but #1 should be the agreed-upon understanding when we use the word “miracle”.

That clear, here’s a post from Chabad. org that puts that specific category in the Jewish perspective:

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/3375779/jewish/Why-No-Biblical-Miracles-Today.htm

And just for balance, here’s a Christian perspective that is much different from the way most miracle-demanding Christians think and that is why I chose to feature it:

http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/27615/why-are-there-no-longer-large-scale-miracles-from-god

Let’s get something straight; what Sinaites do agree on is this: the Torah is full of ‘biblical’ miracles the God of Israel accomplished on its behalf. After all, YHWH consistently calls Israel “My firstborn”, “My son”, “My servant”,

the only nation initiated and formed and birthed by YHWH Himself,
Who committed Himself to be faithful because He loved their patriarchs,
Who was ‘personally’ involved in their past, present and future to see through its fruition His pre-destined plans,
even if they did not initially seriously obediently responded in action, even as they verbally said “we will obey” but often did not as their national history, enshrined in their Scriptures attest to.

For those who are incredulous about whether or not the God of Israel still performing miracles for His Chosen Nation today, take time out to watch this video:

http://jewtube.tv/israel-conflict/amazing-miracles-war-gaza-probably-havent-heard-yet/

As we have learned from a lifetime of bible study, and as we continue to believe, the God of Israel is committed His promises to His servant-son Israel till the end of the age. It is evident that the God of Israel continues to aid His chosen son-servant-nation. This inspires awe in the belief system of ‘outsiders’, gentiles like us; we take notice when we learn about modern wars waged against but which do not vanquish Israel, a small yet surviving people/reborn-nation that has learned from millennia of anti-semitism to protect themselves and the borders of the small piece of territory allotted to them by the United Nations in 1947. Yes they are back in the land, a strange phenomenon for skeptics but not for prophecy-watchers who connect it with Isaiah 66:8:

“Who has heard such a thing?

Who has seen such things?

Can a land be born in one day?

Can a nation be brought forth all at once?

OK, OK! I do believe in miracles. . . but only for Israel, then and now.

Now what about us, gentiles, outside of the “chosen” ? Can we expect miracles from the God of all nations, the same God of Israel, Creator/Revelator on Sinai? Has He made any commitment to ‘outsiders’, gentiles?

First of all, do the Hebrew Scriptures record miracles performed by the God of Israel for non-Israelites? If so, what might have been the purpose then?

Well, come to think of it, there are examples of miracles performed for non-Israelites. To be technical about it (the Rabbis won’t like this), remember that Abraham was the first of the patriarchs of Israel; he was gentile, and the God who spoke to him performed the miracle of birth in old age for this man of faith through his skeptical wife Sarah. Everyone else before Jacob the first Israelite, was gentile, from Adam and Eve to Noah. What miracles can be noted for those generations before Abraham?

The 2nd generation patriarch Isaac was the father of Jacob whose name was changed to Israel, and if we’re going to be persnickety about this, the nation/people of Israel descended from him through his 12 sons who became the 12 tribes, etc. etc. But since all three patriarchs are considered progenitors, yes they could be referred to generally as ‘Israel’, from Abraham to the Jews today; in fact, Abraham has been referred to the first “Jew” which again, is neither accurate nor proper, what with the descendants of Ysmael also tracing their roots back to Abraham.

Technically, the term “Jew” wasn’t used until much much later when Israel was already occupying the land and divisions had resulted between the 10 tribes occupying the upper kingdom called “Israel” (to confuse us further!) and lower kingdom “Judah” (2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin).

To save myself the trouble of further explaining here, please go to this link:

http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm

Now back to the question — did the God of Israel ever perform miracles for the benefit of non-Israelites? Go to a related article, click this link:

The UNchosen: What if you were a gentile slave in Egypt?

Source: Exodus/Shemoth 24 – "the sight of the Glory of YHVH (was) like a consuming fire" -- We gentiles living in this 21st century are able to experience that climactic moment [God appearing on Sinai] by reading and studying this portion of the TORAH. Indeed, we see YHWH not quite as dramatically as the mixed multitude did, but perhaps even better through these accounts recorded in Exodus. There is a saying that hindsight is 20/20 vision, i.e., we begin to see and understand the question marks in our past only later in our lives, as we mature and hopefully become wiser and more introspective about the meaning or seeming meaninglessness of happenings in history, whether personal, national, or universal. Søren Kierkegaard adds a twist to this: “Only 20:20 vision is hindsight. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” As we endeavor to understand each portion in the TORAH of YHWH, much of it will seem irrelevant to our current situation but if we see beyond the time-bound cultural and religious situations and begin to understand what truly has not change—human nature and the Great Revelator who designed the perfect blueprint for living in peace, happily and contentedly with family, community, country and the nations, the unquestionable conclusion is: TORAH is relevant to ALL humankind, not just to Israel, to this very day.

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