miracles

* Don't Say Thus Saith the Lord If the Lord Hasn't Spoken: The crash landing in the Hudson river by US Airways pilot "Sully" Sullenberger was called the "Miracle on the Hudson." Last week, many said it was a miracle that 15-month-old Angel was found alive 10 miles from her Indiana home after a tornado. Sadly, yesterday in the hospital baby Angel died. Bob points out that when Christians wrongly allege that something is a miracle, they lost credibility with unbelievers and therefore undermine the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is quite unlike any miracle in the Bible that God would throw a baby across town only to have her die of her injuries. Christians will give on another a lot of slack, but non-Christians will remember our fabrications. When we are so often seen to be obviously wrong, people won't believe us when we defend God's Word on other issues. In his article Miracle Dynamics Bob describes from the Bible the surprising negative effect of miracles on most people, in chapter 10 of The Plot, which is Bob's life's work and an overview of the whole Bible, Bob lists all of the 343 miracles and series of miracles in the Scriptures and what kind of effect all those miracles had on the people who received the miracles, and also on those who witnessed the miracles. This all makes for a stunning Bible study!

* Crimes Crying Out for a Flogging: Punishment by flogging is the only just and workable solution to America’s much needed tort reform.

Special Edition of Real Science Radio

* Jim from Denver Upset at Bob over Katrina: Is angry at Bob Enyart and Doug McBurney for saying that Hurricane Katrina was not a judgment from God but a random storm. Christians often confuse superstition with spiritual maturity. God does not crash cars and planes in order to show how loving He is by saving some of the passengers. God is not a Bible version of the pagan Zeus who hit people with lightning bolts, for if that were true, the evidence is that lightning rods have ruined that kind of divine aim.

* Scurvy and Plane Crashes: And if a sailor broke out with scurvy because as punishment for his wayward life, then the vitamin C in a lime now prevents divine retribution. When God actually does miracles, like the parting of the Red Sea, restoring sight to the blind, and the raising of Lazarus, even unbelievers acknowledge the miracles. Today, alleged miracles are claimed by true believers only. Drunk drivers often survive while killing innocent young victims, and research would show that Christian passengers have no greater survival rate than atheists in plane crashes. If a plane came straight down at a thousand miles an hour and was demolished, and four hundred passengers survived standing unhurt at the crash site, that would be a miracle. God can do miracles, but the "miracles" flippantly claimed by so many discredit the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And what's worse, those who speak for God without authority and wrongly attribute murder, disaster, and judgments to God are ignoring the warnings against such in Scripture and instead are behaving like Job's accusers Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and like the religiously superstitious men whom the Lord corrected in Luke 13:1-5.

* US Airways Plane Lands in Water: Christians often confuse superstition with spiritual maturity. God does not crash cars and planes in order to show how loving He is by saving some of the passengers. God is not a Bible version of the pagan Zeus who hit people with lightning bolts, for if that were true, the evidence is that lightning rods have ruined that kind of divine aim. And if a sailor came down with scurvy as punishment for his wayward life, then the vitamin C in a lime now prevents divine retribution.