Why aren't there any present-day miracles?

Question

Back in Jesus-times, miracles happened all the time. Raising the dead, healing the blind, parting seas, turning water to wine...

Why don't we have these today. And please dont' say something corny like giving birth is a miracle....

Uncle-What am I not looking at, exactly..Be more specific. Parting seas is pretty blatant..I'm talking about these sorts of miracles...

OK..a lot of you are saying there are and it's being dismissed...Have YOU seen a miracle? Please explain something you've seen..

BTW..I believe in a higher power but I always wonder why nothing cool happens today. I guess Jesus must be present for these things to occur?

PhotoMe-That should have been on the news worldwide...

Answer 1

There are. here's just one testimony:

"Praise the Lord! My name is Dolo Sono. I grew up in an area where nobody had ever heard of Jesus Christ, not even once in our lives. My fathers worshipped the spirits for countless centuries, and they encouraged me to follow them and become a priest of the Donyi-Polo (Sun-moon) religion. We didn’t know who the Creator was, so my tribe had no option but to worship His creation. We considered the sun and the moon our father and mother, giving sustenance and light to us.


My son developed a blood disease. He suffered terrible pain as his condition worsened over time. My wife and I could hardly stand to see the pain he was in. I called on the spirits to help, but he only grew worse. I visited other priests and asked them to pray for my son, but the more they prayed, the worse he became. Then, like a dagger through my heart, my precious son died. I was grief-stricken, and wept uncontrollably as I stared at my little boy’s lifeless body. I didn’t realize it at the time, but a Christian lived in a nearby village. When news spread that the Donyi-Polo priest’s son had died, the Christian came to my house and asked if he could pray for my son, who had been dead for four hours already. I didn’t see any harm in letting the follower of Jesus pray for him. He started to pray, and a short time later my boy suddenly came back to life! He sat up and was fine.

We later found that he was also completely healed from the blood disease that had caused him so much suffering! As you might imagine, when news of this great miracle circulated, everyone was amazed and rushed to our home to see my son for themselves. I didn’t know anything about Jesus, but from that moment I knew that He alone was the true God, and I decided I would serve Him for the rest of my life. The first thing I did was search for other Christians. I thought they must be really special and powerful people, because they followed the true and all-powerful God who has the power to bring the dead back to life and change people’s hearts on the inside. After searching far and wide, I was shocked to discover that there was just one church in my entire region, with only eleven people in it.

The eleven Christians were weak and persecuted. They met in a small, run-down building. I found this really sad. My own temple where I had served as a priest was beautifully decorated by comparison. I could scarcely believe that the followers of Jesus were so crushed and timid even though they possessed the Truth. My forefathers had followed Satan for centuries without any light from God. Those who followed lies were much larger in number than those who followed the Truth. This was wrong, and I decided to do something about it. From that day onwards I determined to help God’s Church grow.

From the day God raised my son from the dead, I started telling people about Jesus. This was the least I could do. I thought everyone would be excited to hear about Jesus, but I soon found that it made people angry. My own parents and family threatened to disown me if I continued to follow Jesus. I told them I must follow Him, because He is real and he raised my son from the dead! I started preaching everywhere I could, walking from village to village and encouraging people to abandon the false worship of our forefathers and to stop bowing down to the sun and moon. I didn’t know anything about the Bible, but I boldly testified to what had happened, and that Jesus alone was true and powerful. A short time later someone told me there were many Christians in Nagaland, a state south of Arunachal Pradesh. This news excited me, so I caught a bus there and met with many true believers in the Lord. Almost the whole of Nagaland was Christian, and I was greatly encouraged. I returned home with more Bible knowledge, and could better explain the gospel to people.

The tribes of Arunachal Pradesh have worshipped spirits and demons since the beginning of time. The only other religion that people respect is Buddhism, which came from Tibet many centuries ago. As I continued to preach about Jesus, I experienced many attacks and problems. People thought my conversion to Christianity had brought great disgrace on my ancestors, especially because I had been a priest. I was beaten on many occasions, and attacked with swords and spears, but God preserved my life, and there were always a few people interested in listening to my message. Jesus helped me so much in those early years. Once I visited some villages for the first time and found that God had prepared the people by giving them dreams in advance of my arrival. Because of this, the people were kind to me and listened to the Good News I had come to share. I believed everything the Bible said. I read that Jesus told his disciples to only take one coat with them when they went out to preach, so I only wore one shirt until it was filthy and covered with lice. The years went by and I was so glad that many more people in my tribe and other tribes started to follow Jesus too. In many places I saw people healed by the Lord and delivered from demons. Hundreds of people believed in God. In each place where people decided to follow Jesus, we organized small house groups for them to meet together in.

A strange thing happened right at the time when God was moving so powerfully and saving many people. Other Christian leaders started to attack me and tried to stop me preaching. They said I was not qualified to preach, because I had never been to a seminary. I told them it was a shame I didn’t fit into their mould, but that there was no way I could stop preaching because Jesus was in my heart and He must come out! This only seemed to make these religious people angrier and they even traveled around different villages, telling lies about me and warning people not to listen to me. People in many places turned against me and refused to welcome me. God encouraged me from the Bible, as I read how many of His children in other times had experienced similar opposition from those who claim to be His followers. Jesus was always attacked by the Pharisees, and I realized that there were many people like Pharisees operating in Arunachal Pradesh. I wept many times because of the lies being spread and the great opposition. I became depressed. Then one night I had a dream where I heard a voice saying, "Dolo Sono, I have called you to preach. Get up and preach!" I replied, "But no churches want me any more. The religious people have told the unbelievers not to listen to me. What is the point?" I then heard the Lord say, "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble."

After this dream I knew that I could no longer bow to the threats and intimidation. I read in the Bible that if God is with me, who can be against me? I obeyed the Lord and started preaching again, and God helped me and opened many doors and opportunities. In many villages, people who had worshipped the sun and moon were saved and Jesus entered their hearts. For years now I have been travelling all over Arunachal Pradesh. People know me as the former Donyi-Polo priest who found the true Way. By the power and grace of the Living God we now have more than 60 fellowships, and more people are meeting Jesus all the time. Please pray for our state, and the 60 tribes who live in it. Please pray that everyone in Arunachal Pradesh would soon love Jesus. Thank you and God bless you!"

Answer 2

One reason is the history effect. As time passes, memory fades and consolidates. Insignificant details disappear and significant details become emphasized and exaggerated. If one looks at Exodus, one can read about a "strong wind" turning back the waters of the sea. Was it an overnight shifting of waters to expose a shallow bed or a cataclysmic wall of surging water held in abeyance by the hand of God? Which makes for a more impressive story? To eyewitnesses, simple events can assume great significance. Remote listeners need literary help to convey the impact. Did Jesus really turn a few fish and loaves into a mass banquet, or did his act of hopeless generosity inspire others to share their hidden reserves? Either version is miraculous to those who understand, but one is definitely more magic

Another important reason: the bar has been raised. The rise of Science has increased our understanding of how the body and the universe work. With the benefit of the germ theory, psychology, modern pharmaceuticals and therapies, physics, chemistry and astonomy, we are able to detect, predict, diagnose and cure far more effectively than was ever possible in the days of guesswork and superstition.

One of the things we can better detect is fraud, so we've grown more skeptical about those who claim to use supernatural powers. For every genuine wonder, there are a dozen hoaxes by those who would profit from others' gullibility. Yet there are assertions that miracles occur most offten among people who expect them. In other words, people see miracles because they want to. Jesus himself complained that he could not perform miracles among people who didn't believe in him.

This is not meant to impugn their authenticity, merely to suggest that faith is a part of the process. Perhaps one person's miracle is another's cheap trick. The difference is the effect on the lives of the witnesses. Those who are open to the miracle see the signs of divine work, those who aren't see nothing special.

"Mira" means "look", and "miracle" literally means "manifestation" or "sign", something that can be seen by those who are looking. The entire purpose of a "miracle" is not to transcend the laws of the universe but to reassure believers that God is acting through the event. The Christian Bible seems to lump "signs and wonders" together but they are two distinct things. A "wonder" is an impressive, inexplicable phenomeneon. More important is the "sign", which indicates God's cooperation and approval. In a genuine miracle, God is not trying to impress us or do us a practical favor, God is just being God, manifesting among his people. The perception is up to the perceiver. Those who expect miracles will find them.

Answer 3

Actually there are many present-day miracles! I personally have seen people healed and have experienced true prophetic ministry - not talking about a study of the end times but rather where modern day prophets had a prophecy for me and others from God.
Some good non-fiction books to read on the subject are:

When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson
Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere
Stories from the Front Lines by Jane Rumph
The Heavenly Man by Paul Hattaway

Also go to churches where such things are given opportunity to happen. God Bless!

Answer 4

each and every man or woman who says that each and all the small issues (beginning of a new child, getting good grades, looking a penny on the floor) are miracles is in simple terms attempting to rationalize their very very own ideals. A miracle is a few thing incredible that occurs at in simple terms the nicely suited time. in spite of the undeniable fact that, by way of this definition human beings can carry out miracles. If we instead use the theory that a miracle could for sure be the artwork of God, there have in no way been any. isn't it ironic that as quickly as you like God that might actually assist you're making money human beings say that it would not happen by using fact God's no longer your servant. meanwhile, whilst undesirable human beings ask for foodstuff or medecine and not something happens, "believers" locate another clarification. the two miracles or available or they at the instant are not. human beings shouldn't in simple terms locate excuses each and each time a miracle would not happen. enable's settle for it, till every physique thoroughly is conscious what God is questioning in any respect cases, no one could attempt to rationalize why God isn't helping.

Answer 5

In your additional details you state that "I guess Jesus had to be around for these things to occur". Moses and the parting of the Red Sea happened 2,000 years before Christ. The Bible is rife with miracles from the Old Testament to the New. To Christians, the age of miracles ended with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus but it didn't begin with him.

The closest thing I know of to an authenticated "miracle" is Joan of Arc. That a poor, illiterate peasant girl should rise to lead the armies of the greatest nation in Christiandom (at that time) is inexplicable. I don't know how diseases work; they appear, they can go away, but I do know that fifteen year old girls are not given control of armies. Hers is without a doubt one of the strangest stories of all time.

As for biblical miracles, I don't believe they ever happened as related in the bible because all we have for evidence are holy books (not the best reference).

And to those who speak of the "power of prayer": China is an atheist country. They don't pray but they have great motivation and have, genetically, a long life span. So do the Japanese, and they don't believe in the Christian God either. Of course, this can't be explained by the "Power of Prayer" studies and so is ignored.

Answer 6

Hope I don't sound corny but I've had a few miracles happen to me. 1. I was cured of a disease that supposedly cannot be cured. 2. I was hit by a car going 85mph (I was also in a car) and walked away with a totaled car, no injuries, and people saying I should've been killed. 3. I just missed the 9/11 attacks even though my uncle died in them. 4. I had a weird feeling that my boyfriend was in trouble one night and started praying and crying harder than i've ever prayed. while praying i got this overwhelming tingling sensation that i've never experienced before. when he got home he told me that him and his friends got into a bad car accident (he wasn't driving)and they were in the hospital. then he noticed two weird footprints in our liv rm carpet where i had been standing and praying. i looked at my feet which were clean as whistles. how did i leave those footprints there? then the weirdest part about it was that they were in reverse! what should've been light was dark and what should've been dark was light, almost like a picture negative. if you dip your feet in black paint, the black part is going to be where you stepped. but with these footprints, it was the other way around. we took pictures and no one who came to visit could explain what substance was leaving those prints in our carpet. I have alot more weird things I could mention. I don't know if they are miracles or just weird things and coincidences, because when I tell people they say, "wow that's a trip" and that's it. I think we see miracles all the time and shrug them off as something else.

Answer 7

This is a good question. In Jesus' time, people expected a Messiah who would deliver the Jews from Roman rule and would be a worldly ruler - not a Heavenly one. People had trouble coming to terms with the notion that Christ was not the type of Messiah they had envisioned, even though Old Testament prophets foretold of His coming and His purpose. Jesus knew many would believe He was and is the long-awaited Messiah without miracles, but He also knew that many would not believe He was God's Son without physical proof. Jesus performed many miracles because He knew many people needed that in order to believe, and they spread the word about the miraculous things that Jesus did, which in turn caused people to go to where Jesus was and listen to Him speak.

The greatest miracle of all was when after His willing death on the cross, He came back to life on the 3rd day after He was killed and not only came out of His burial clothes in such a way that He seemed to have vaporized (the clothes were seemingly untouched and still lying there), but He emerged from the tomb which had a boulder at the entrance so large that it took several people to move it. Not only did He do that, but the Roman soldiers sent to guard the tomb did not even notice a thing. All of those miracles are exceptional, but pale in comparison to the miracle of Jesus rising from the dead on the 3rd day and conquering death once and for all. Many people witnessed His appearance after His death and wrote testimony to that fact. There is no more need for miracles, after the greatest miracle of all - Christ's conquering of death. Now all that is left is for generations after Christ's time on earth to believe that miracle and accept Him into their hearts so that they too can conquer death and live with Christ forever when they die.

Answer 8

There are Miracles today! But most people are so afraid of public ridicule that these Miracles are kept unannounced.

Just look at this section of Yahoo answers. Imagine if the harassers and hecklers, here, heard of (or even saw) any Miracles.

In my country, people have even been institutionalized for insisting that they have witnessed Miracles. It is even forbidden for mental illness to be treated by casting out demons.

And, yes, I have witnessed several true Miracles. But, the recipients of these Miracles did not want publicity or attention.

Remember, the Bible said that there would be unbelievers. Those of us with faith accept the ridicule of others for what it is; unbelief. Keep your faith and strengthen it by fellowshipping with other believers. You will witness Miracles. God bless.

Answer 9

Frequently, some people confuse a "miracle" with a "magic trick."

There are plenty of miracles occurring every day.

I have a friend (age mid 40's), who 3 years ago, closed his business, took a farewell trip around the country, selected his casket and personally orchestrated his funeral because he was diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 colon cancer and was given 3 months to live.

During this period he made a routine doctor visit to have his progress checked. The cancer was gone. There is no scientific or medical explanation why it disappeared.

Many, many friends (and strangers) prayed for him, spent time at our church's Perpetual Adoration Chapel, he received the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, had a few Masses read in his name, etc.

The cancer has been gone for three years and there's been no sign of recurrence.

I would consider this a miracle.

Also, miracles aren't necessarily the result of happy or positive events. I've seen first hand a friend who came from an intensely dysfunctional family and they were all highly estranged. Their father suffered a sudden and horrible death.

The entire family reconciled shortly after the funeral and most of their "dysfunctions" have disappeared.

Answer 10

The power of God was lifted from the earth after the church fell into apostacy after the last apostle died. The power of God or the priesthood was taken for the earth for a long time. There are miricals through the power of god which was restored upon the face of the earth by Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. I have experianced miriacals my self, ones that have saved my life. It was by the power of the priesthood which is given to my father. One of these miricals was when i was paralized. I couldn't move, my dad gave me a priesthood blessing. After the blessing was over, i could move. It was a miracle. I talked to docters and what ever and the condition that i had should have been hospitalized, but by the power of God i was saved. I know it was true and god knows it was true. There is no way i can deny this.

Answer 11

I think the reason is because we do not identify the miracles that happen in our lives. Too often things work out just right or something happens in the nick of time and we say, "boy we were lucky". If you ever read about the aftermaths of hurricanes, there is almost always a story about a house or two that is left completely untouched while everything around it is destroyed. Or people getting in a horrible wreck and coming out without a scratch. Things happen all the time that shouldnt and they are positive things. Those things are miracles.