Given my formative, if not formal, religioous education and inspiration was provided by Cecille B. DeMille in "the Ten Commandments", I tend to like my miracles to be bigger and grander than blood oozing from a picture, milk seeping, or sucking up, from a ganesh statue, turning water into pudding, or creating holy ash.
Parting of the Red Sea -- now THAT was a miracle to behold. Turning the Nile red with blod wasn't bad either. The staff to snakes one was ok. The latter two had symbolic significance, but I like my miracles to have a practical value -- like the parting of the Red Seas -- saving the fleeing hebrews. I was sad the egyptian warriors got killed when the sea closed up -- I guess they were not God's chosen people. Which raises the prospect of a real miracle: God deciding that all of humanity are his chosen and beloved -- and clearly communicating this to all his priests, rabbis, imans, pastors, preachers, shamans, etc that preach in HIS/HER name. But back to visible miracles. As I said, I like the practical kind. I don't see oozing blood helping anyone other than increasing "faith" -- which could mean increasing magical thinking. I would be far more impressed by master Jesus if he stood on the beach when the Tsunami was roaring in and said: "In the name of God my father, and through his power, I command you killer wave to stop in your tracks and leave the millions you are about to kill, and 100's of millions you will leave homeless, to leave all of these my beloved chilren, leave them in peace." Now THAT would have gotten my attention. It meets all my criteria for a good miracle: i) its BIG, ii) its not subject ot trickery and magic manipulation (even David Copperfield or Doug Hennings could not do THAT trick), iii) it does some good for humanity beyond the symbolic. Until I see that kind of miracle, I will be content with minor miracles, people who spend 24/7 helping others, the march of science and technology, a spectacular sunrise, my growing vegetable garden, the stars at night. Those are far more impressive miracles to me than some oozing blood. --- In [email protected], nablusoss1008 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Miracles in India > Two portraits of Jesus on a remote Indian island began bleeding in > March 2007. Eric Nathaniel, a police radio operator in Port Blair on > the Andaman Islands noticed blood trickling down a portrait of Jesus > in his house on 8 March 2007. "We lit candles and prayed all night > and a little later the blood dried but it soon started trickling down > from the hands and heart of another portrait in the house," Nathaniel > said. Thousands of people have since visited Nathaniel's house to see > the portraits. > In another report from India, blood oozed from the eyes of a statue > of Jesus in the yard of a Catholic church on 12 February 2007. The > statue at St Joseph the Worker Church in Ghoreghat, Madhya Pradesh, > was first seen weeping by Chandrawati Armo, who, after cleaning the > statue, noticed it shedding blood from both eyes. > Armo told the church's assistant priest, Father Pappachan. "I raced > to the statue and found blood oozing out of its eyes," he said. > Pappachan smelled and tasted the red substance and was "convinced it > is a miracle." The bleeding statue was also witnessed by nuns and a > villager. The flow of blood stopped, and the blood on the statue > clotted. Clots are also visible on the statue's hands, according to > Father Florentius Kujur, the parish priest. Many people have visited > the church to view the statue. (Source: Union of Catholic Asian News; > Reuters) > (Benjamin Creme's Master confirms that these were miracles manifested > by the Master Jesus.) >
